It happened again.

So after last week's poo on the floor accident, we kept Si in his diaper for as long as possible...but how do you stop the poo in the tub? That's right, bath time was cut short this week by not Si, but Grace and a floating turd monster in the tub. It was like the scene from caddy shack as we grabbed them and yanked them from the tub. So once again I got to clean it up and scrub the tub clean of the poo. Oh but wait a minute, why did I clean this up? Other then the fact I'm nice? It's because Sarah had to clean up another brown present from "Mr. Shit" himself, Si. He ran off on another bath time evening as we were putting them in the tub. He went into Grace's room to do his business and baked a brownie right on her floor. So not getting new carpet in the house when we moved in was a wise decision and you probably think we have a nasty house; actually I keep a really clean house and as the old saying goes "shit happens". Well enough talk about dropping a deuce... I think I'm running out of creative words to call it anyway.

We have been taking full advantage of the pool and the kids love being in their "boats" (swim floats) finally and no one has pooed in the pool......yet. As we were enjoying the pool playing motor boat and bumper boats, I was spinning Si around in his float and my thumb nail scratched his nose and under his eye. Poor little fella had blood on his face and still wears the scratch a few days later. I felt bad and made sure to trim my nails extra close this time. Of course he wanted Mama after it happened and kept saying "dada dada blah blah" (not sure exactly what he was saying because he was crying, but I know he was not happy with me.

Grace finally has long enough hair to put in a ponytail which Sarah has been wanting to do forever, so it was a pretty big deal. She leaves it in for a minute so we can show her in the mirror, giggles, but then takes it out. I'm sure in time she will be asking for it.

They both are doing very well at naming colors and Si today was separating his blocks into piles by  colors. I was pretty impressed with that because I had really only showed him how to do that a few times. It was pretty neat to see. They are picking up on so much lately with identifying letters too. G & S have been copying everything we do so we have to be careful what they see so they don't try to mimic it. A perfect example happened one afternoon this week. Sometimes one or both kids are awake and hanging out in our room, watching Sarah get ready for work; contacts, make-up, etc. Later one day, Grace picked up some small plastic thing and tried to put it in her eye like a contact. She was watching Sarah in the morning put her contacts in and decided to be like Mama. Luckily she wasn't successful!

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog and feel free to share if you like.

Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: Here are a few of the interesting things you may hear throughout the week.

                     "No that doesn't go in your ear"

                     "Si get off of Gracie's head"

                     "Grace don't kick Si"

                     "No don't poke the dog in the eye"

                     "Take that out of your mouth, it's dog food"

                     "That's gonna... yep I bet that did hurt"

                     "Clean up time again"

                     " NO, nope, no, no and no"

Did that just happen?

Due to the heat over the last 2 weeks it was just too damn hot to do anything so I took a break from writing. It's been a crazy past couple of weeks and we had a lot going on, so here we go.

Our new playset almost caused us a trip to the emergency room and added to my growing number of grey hairs; how you ask? Well as Grace and I were swinging the baseball bat I look out of the corner of my eye to see Silas do a flip over the top of the playset and land on his back in the grass. I couldn't see exactly how he landed because he fell inside of the set and  my view was blocked. I saw enough with his feet in the air that it wasn't pretty and then heard the crying. Luckily he was OK after some holding and me checking every bone in his body wondering how nothing got broke, soon he was back at it. Things happen fast and I can't be everywhere every second but that will not happen again on my watch!

The yard is so dry and pokey that Grace gets about half way out and the realizes that her feet hurt so she stands there whining until we go get her, so she now needs shoes when we go outside to play. Si doesn't really care he just loves to run and NOT LISTEN when I ask him to come back. I have a feeling he may be the first to have a trip to the hospital for a broken arm or stitches. The boy has no fear but yet when we went to the beach he didn't like the waves. I don't know why but he didn't like them. He ran from them like they were monsters and was yelling for his "Mama Mama!" Grace laid down on the sand and loved it so much... she even took a wave to the face and was fine. They really seemed to do well at the beach and we are planing to go back soon as Sarah can get some days off work.

After the heat spell kept going on and on we decided what the hell, let's put our little pool up. I really didn't want to this year because it kills the grass but as bad as the grass is this year and  with the heat who cares! I rolled it out only to find a punk ass mouse had chewed three holes in it! A couple of patch jobs later and she is up and running looking ghetto as ever with clear hole patches  and an extension cord to run the pump. We keep it real! The kids love it and Sarah likes to get in, so what can I do?

This past week we had Malarie stay all week and she was a huge help. She interacts so well with Grace and Si and is never afraid to help out when we ask.  At nap times she helped me by putting Grace to bed. She did great and it was fun having her here.  So another great adventure in the books and off for some more excitement and grey hairs.


Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: This may be the best ever and is gonna be hard to top. So every night as it gets closer to bath time when the kids need a diaper change we try not to put them in one so we don't waste a diaper for just 10 more minutes of time, every once in awhile a stray stream might escape but nothing too bad. Well we will not do that anymore! As we are sitting watching naked Si run around the living room he goes over to play with a toy like nothing out of the ordinary and proceeds to squat and drop a deuce right on the floor like a dog! We quickly fall into action and grab him before he does anything else or decides to play in it. If we wouldn't have seen it I would have thought it was one of the dogs and blamed it on them. Who got to clean up that mess? You guessed it, me! Why? I have no idea I just did it out of habit and still in shock of what had just happened. So Si: when you get older I will always have that against you and say not only did I wipe your ass but I picked up your shit from the floor. Someday I expect you to do the same.

On our way!

Well here's to another great week of weather and fun outside. Our yard has now become full blown hillbilly with the old (but new to us) Fisher Price playset given to us by Papa and Nana. So we now have a mini pool, sandbox, the playset, and a slew of random toys in the yard. My goal is by the next month to have a actual play area set up instead of the clutter we now have.

We play hard all day which makes nap time still on the course of greatness and bed time seems to get easier every week. Grace has been a feisty little monkey this week in a good and bad way. She has been in a great mood but has been testing her boundaries with me and Silas. She seems to think if she looks at me while she is doing something it's OK or I'll just let it go. I can always tell when she is not suppose to be doing something because she gets this little smirk on her face and goes to do it anyway. Remember when you were a  kid and you always wondered how our parents knew we were up to no good? It's because even at this age there are tell tale signs of  a wrong doing about to take place or has just taken place.

We finally have a couch and love seat to sit on after about two months of sitting on a futon and now it has become a climbing circus all day. They have figured out that they can climb on the back of the couch and mess with the thermostat and they think it's funny that I don't like it. Somehow they managed to have the time and temp flash on the screen and I have no idea how it happened or how to change it. As long as it still works who cares!

Our big trip this week was to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. It's not cheap but we had a good time and they could not have been any better. We didn't have any meltdowns and they got in and out of the stroller with no fuss. I was a litte disappointed with the lack of animals there, but it still was a nice time. We even got to feed a giraffe lettuce and he licked Gracie's hand. Silas made enemies with the hyena when he smacked the glass and Mr. Hyena growled at him. It was good to see that we are all getting better about going to places and not stressing each other out over little things. They ended up falling asleep before we left the parking lot of the zoo and had a good nap on the car ride home. Once again we had a successful week and if it would rain I sure would appreciate it. I keep wishing the grass would grow so I can mow with the riding mower. I love that thing!

Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: OK, so this is going to be a rant of sorts this week instead of a moment so bear with me. So we watch the Disney channel from time to time... you know Mickey the Mouse and what not. I've noticed during the time between shows it seems like we are pushing our kids to become Rock Stars! I hope I'm not the only one who doesn't want their kids to be Rock Stars; everything from commercials to the music... it's always involving becoming a Rock Star. Do we really want our kids to aspire to be that? I think we all know what it means to be a Rock Star; it's sex, drugs, and Rock 'n Roll right? I played in bands for many years so I know what that is. What ever happened to kids wanting to be a doctor, or police man, or firefighter? I think we put too much on our kids to look like Rock Stars or act like famous people when really they should be focusing on what's really important: God, Family and a good education. I believe that children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way... LOL. I look at some of our youth that will control our future and think "Oh Hell No!" I'll end tonight with a clean version of some lyrics by one of my favorite bands, Rage Against the Machine, it speaks volumes of what our kids should be thinking. "Forget the G-ride, I want the machines that are making them."

Ouch Man!

Loving this weather still but where is the rain? The yard is starting to look a little rough and it's too big to water so I may have to do a rain dance.

So remember last week when I said we have no new injuries to report? Well that all changed Wednesday when Silas stepped on a thorny weed and got a couple of the nettles stuck in his toe. Needless to say he was not a happy little boy but managed to tough it out until I could pull them out with tweezers. He walked with a little limp and kept saying "ouch toe, ouch toe." Then Grace was sitting at her new table and chair set when the chair tipped back and her foot got caught under the chair as she fell on it. I really thought something was going to be broken with the way it happened but after some tears and comfort she was ok... but I was a little worried. So I'm hoping we can say "injury free" this time next week so OSHA doesn't come in here and give me a fine.

The new favorite thing to do is sit at the little table and chair set we got from IKEA and either color or read books. Coloring is probably the top of the list and I make sure I'm right there next to them so someone doesn't go running off and do some decorating... but overall they are really good about staying and drawing on the paper.

My latest project was building them a picnic table and it turned out great! All that's left to do is stain it and clear coat it so we can keep it outside to eat lunch and snacks on. They love sitting on it and I think it's going to come in handy this summer. I think next thing to build will be some chairs and finally put Si's work bench together so he can build things like his Dad does. Bob the Builder has nothing on me!

The other day we went around the whole yard and Grace picked little yellow flowers and put them in a cup she was carrying. We were out there for quite a while and she amassed a good collection of flowers, which she then took to the deck and dumped them out into a bigger bucket. I wish I knew what she was thinking sometimes when she gets that serious focus face on and puts things from one place to another and back again.

All in all, another good week at Camp Puterbaugh and we are even taking some Spanish lessons, thanks Dora the Explorer!

Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: I love hot weather, the hotter the better so I'm usually never wearing a shirt or shoes during the summer time. This past week I dressed the kids to go outside and put Grace in a wife beater tank top without shorts, Silas had just his diaper on, and I was my typical shorts-no shirt self. I can't help but think with all my tattoos and the way they looked we looked like a scene from an episode of Cops. All the toys in the yard, the dogs laying around and a couple of badasses playing in a pool with water soaked  diapers. It was a thing of beauty!

Worker Bees

What great weather we have been having, I hope you are enjoying it as much as we are! We have been taking advantage of this weather by playing outside all the time and enjoying the fresh breeze through the windows. We recently got the kids some little golf clubs and a sand box. The clubs have been carried all around and they try to hit the ball with the clubs most of the time. The other times they just take the clubs out and put them back in the holder over and over again, mainly Grace (the organizer). The sand box was given to us by a coworker of Sarah's. It's even filled with Pure Michigan sand from Lake Michigan beach, if you can believe it. I'm sure eventually we will have to fill it with sand from the bags at Lowe's but for now it's nice to have. A table will be next on our list of things to get so we can sit outside and color and eat lunch. I want to build one but we will see, I hate to buy things that I know I can do myself.

With the yard being so big and open I can wander around and do some landscaping and they stay right by the deck. Other times they follow me around and actually help with cleaning up. I did some bush trimming and they helped me carry it all the way to the fire pit across the yard. Then they would stack the trimmings into several piles as I cut it. Who knew I could put them to work so young? Si tried to eat a flower from the one bush and quickly spit it out with an awful face, so I hope he doesn't try that again at least with that plant. I made up a game of running from tree to tree and touching it to wear them out before nap and they love it. Silas has this fascination with holding a rock always and yes, he has even tasted them. So far we have had little to no injuries, even after Si took a tumble off the deck, he just got up, cried for a minute, and went back at it. If he doesn't know he's hurt he seems to not even bother with tears and just moves on. Grace on the other hand gets dirt on her and it's Scream Fest 2012 until it's washed off.

Our sounding of words has increased everyday and Grace has now caught up to Si with putting multiple words together like "Hello mama" "dog dog no". She loves to yell for the dogs when we want them to come inside and I'm slowly trying to teach them the names of the dog,s but when you have a dog named Monkey it's not the easiest thing to do. I have still had great success at nap time and Grace on occasion with fall asleep before I put Si down... sometimes I peek in on her and she sees me and starts to laugh so how can I get mad at that? I'm not sure if our old house had bad juju or what, but this house has made all of us feel more relaxed and at ease more then ever. So thanks again to our realtor Greg Courtney and Nana for helping with the move. So until next week... keep on keeping on.

Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: Ok, so nothing real crazy has happened lately but I will say that I pushed-mowed our yard this past weekend and holy crap was I tired. It took me two days and 2 1/2 hours each day to finish it. I thought my mower was going to burn up but I got it done. I just got a rider this week so good bye walking and hello sitting on my butt listening to headphones as I mow. Yes it does have a cup holder, if your wondering, which will have a beer in it.

New and Improved

So the move is official and we are all settled into the new house. What a difference everything has been since we moved into a bigger house. The sleeping around here has improved by 100% for the kids, which means it has improved 100% for parents too. Nap time has never been so easy and when I put Grace in her crib so I can go lay Silas down, she just lays there or looks through her book until I come and get her all tucked in. It's been just great! It has been a long haul with them and sleeping but we seem to have turned a huge corner and I think we are actually better than ever.

Silas continues to talk all the time and is starting to get quite the little personality. He loves attention and often cracks up when we laugh at him or if he sees something that he deems funny. It's always go time with him and he never holds back his energy until he wears himself out and then he is a great snuggler. Grace, well she is Grace. She is so precise with her decision making and has to have things in order or else she gets all flustered. We were playing in some mud we made by their little pool and Si loved it! As soon as Grace got mud a tiny bit of mud over her hands she went yelling to Sarah to have her wash it off, what a girl. You can't teach that stuff it's just how different some boys and girls are.

Getting a big back yard was the best thing we could have ever done. Not only can we wander for hours but I can let one go alone and still see them in sight and not worry about them getting hurt. We are in need of some outside toys now so were going to figure out what they would like best. For now they love the little pool and putting the mulch into buckets and their little wagon then dumping it out only to start over again. Everyday seems to get a little easier and they seem to improve with talking and how they interact with each other.

Wrestling is still an all time favorite around here and it seems like they take turns on who wins. I end this week sitting here looking out the back yard listening to the birds, in awe at the beauty which surrounds us. Take time to stop and listen, look around, and enjoy how peaceful nature really is if you can.

Mr. MOM Moment of the Week: So we're at the grocery store and we always go and get a cookie at the counter (they are free to little kids if you didn't know). It seems to make the trip easier. Here is Grace with a white dress shirt on and her hands are covered in chocolate. Oops! We forgot to bring in the diaper bag so now what? I did what any Dad would do... I put her little fingers in my mouth and sucked the chocolate right off! She was laughing at me the whole time but I didn't want to ruin her clothes. Someday she will appreciate that...I hope!

What's black, blue, and red?

Well, so far this week things have been pretty good and only a little blood, and some minor bruises. Any week free of major catastrophe I count as a good one. Silas got a bloody lip Tues. and I'm still not sure how. I was putting their lunch (mac and cheese, Annie's Homegrown makes a great kind) in their bowls when I heard a "thud!" When I went to pick him up his upper lip was bleeding, needless to say he was not happy. I didn't see anything around the couch area that could have caused it so it will remain a mystery. He's ok and food always seems to make his tears go away. As for Grace she fell running into the kitchen and hit her head on the transition strip, so she has a bump and bruise right smack in the middle of her forehead. Lately when she gets hurt she does this "ne ne ne" sound and I'm not sure what the heck it is or where it came from. I just say "I know I know" and comfort her. Just within the past week they have really become little chatter boxes and are starting to put together 2 and 3 words at a time like "hi doggy (aye dugdog)" or "hi mailman (aye mayma)". We wave at the mail lady everyday out the window and she gets a kick out of it and waves back.

Silas seems to be the talker of the two and Grace talks when she feels like it, or she has something important to say. The toy taking has started to really get heated and they always look at me as to say "What the heck, aren't you going to do something about this?" I gave them my empty container of coffee and you would have thought it was the greatest toy ever invented. Why is it the silly things like a box or newspaper turns out to be more fun then the toy you buy them? They fought over that thing and played with it for hours and still to this day they love to put things in it and shake it around. We were pretty busy this week going to the park to play with PaPa and then Aunt Britty came to vist. She bought Grace a purple tutu that she loves to wear. Thanks Aunt Bitty!

We went down to the school to play for the last time today and said hello to some neighbors. It takes us a long time to walk down the street because we like to stop and pick up sticks and grab flowers (dandelions) out of the yards. We are growing ever so anxious here to move so most of our toys are packed in boxes ready for the big moving day. It looks like Friday will be our day to move so the countdown begins. This house has been good to us and I have probably upgraded everything in it since we have lived here, so am I sad to see it go? NO WAY! The only one who likes this house and is sad to see us leave it is Malarie and I can't figure out why.

So bye bye neighborhood and hello country. This will be my last post until we move and get our internet, phone and dish hooked up on Monday so until then have wonderful week all.

Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: The sippy cups we have are just now starting to spill out of the tips and the kiddos know it. They shake them to get the milk out and love making a mess. A few days ago, I put them in their chairs for breakfast and gave them their milk as I got the food around. I didn't realize how much they were leaking so when I turned around I was shocked to see they both had a huge puddle of milk on their trays. Ya know what I did? That's right, I said what the hell and threw a hand full of cereal in the milk puddles and called it a morning, who needs a bowl!

I'm Back!

Yes, this is really me this time and I am back in the game after my year long tour of Europe, Scandanavia, and the Sub-continent. If you get that reference then you too are a Blues Brothers fan. I know it's been too long, but school work was taking up alot of the free time I had with the reading,papers, and what not. I can assure you this time I will be posting something every couple of days and keeping you informed on the goings on here at chaos central. So where do I begin? Do I really want to bring you up to speed on everything that has taken place in a year? Not really, I'm just gonna jump right into it like I was never gone. Hey man, a life of a stay at home dad is busy and every spare minute counts.

I can say I probably have every book in our house memorized "Is spot under the stairs? No! Is he in the piano? No!" That spot sure can hide, you would think since he is a dog looking for another dog he could just smell him right? We read alot here and it's Grace's favorite thing to do. We have a ton of words down and can say what every picture in our picture book is, just not super clear, but I can tell they are trying to say it and they do know what it is. Lately colors are tricky and everything is either yellow or blue, or as they say "wellow an boo." But we are getting better everyday. Counting seems to be even harder because rather then count the objects they want to just tell me what it is so we march around the house together counting 1..2..3..and a 1..2..3.. I guess like boot camp but I'm a litte nicer, plus it helps wear them out before naps. I'm sure if the neighbors can see in the window the must think I'm crazy walking around the dining room into to living room and back quite a few times a day.

We have a big move coming up and I can't wait until we have a HUGE yard to run around in. We plan on having a big garden and even getting some chickens so when can have fresh eggs. More to come on the move in later posts. What's the difference between a boy and a girl, other then the obvious? Everything! When Si wakes up he is 100mph all day long until it's time to sleep. He runs everywhere and sometimes into everything which is why he always has a bruise on his head somewhere. Grace is a little spoiled.. ok alot spoiled and she is also so organized in the way she puts things in place and back in the right order. Si just does whatever usually it is rough and tumble. They play together great and fight even better, but for the most part they are best friends. They share with each other better then I would have shared with my brother, but in time I'm ready for the melt downs and "he/she took my toy." So until next time and yes, there will be a next time, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Mr. Mom Moment of the Week: This happened a few months back but I thought I would share it. So I ran out of creamer for my coffee one morning, noticed Grace still had a milk bottle so I walked over got the bottle and squeezed the milk into my coffee. Don't freak out it was whole milk but I thought it was kinda funny.