TTT: Season 3, Episode 42

1. I'm burning the candle at both ends right now! We leave tomorrow around lunch time for Austin to attend my cousin Audry's wedding. As I mentioned last week, Rudy is going to be the ring bearer and he's so excited for his moment in the lime light! Just as how life typically behaves prior to any form of traveling, there's been a massive snowball effect taking place across all aspects of life around here. And though my mind has typed out my packing list, not a stitch has been pulled from the drawers. Heck, the suitcases aren't even out yet. Tomorrow morning promises to be a madhouse. But I have to say, I can't wait for the wedding! It's been a long time since I've seen my mom's side of the family all in one place. (I missed the huge family reunion the took place just days after Grant was born last summer.) Considering the family is so massive, there's never a dull moment and it's a blast getting to have fun and catch up with everyone. But back to Rudy....Be still, my heart!

Really!?! He's literally the cutest little man to ever wear a tux. And actually, I'm quite fond of knowing he's mine! (this adverb-happy caption is just for you, Mom and Dad! ;)

2. One huge component to the snowball effect taking place around here is definitely the whole sewing machine transition. In fact, I'd consider it to be the avalanche. Not sure if I've ever explained this on here before, but I run on a one week timeline for my shop. So if a customer places an order on Thursday, it will ship by the following Thursday. Usually, it's fairly easy for me to keep up with this schedule. But when you spend two full nap times shopping for a new sewing machine instead of filling orders...and this just days before leaving on a weekend trip...well, the rest is history. But alas, I do have an awesome new sewing and embroidery machine sitting up on my sewing table. I ended up spending way more than I imagined, but I think in the end I'm going to be glad that I did. And heck, she'll pay for herself quickly. I'd classify her as a dream machine. At least for what I'm needing right now. Just a few days in and I'm already in love!

The boys are fascinated by how the machine can sew "all by itself!"

3. Running errands with all three boys isn't easy. A four-year-old, a three-year-old, a one-year-old, a shopping cart, a list, a crowd. There are many, many variables. But lately, it has seemed like errand running with the monkeys hasn't been too bad. The older two have developed an understanding of how to act and how to help mom. But then there's Grant. He's certainly the most spirited of the bunch right now. We set out to run a bunch of errands yesterday beginning with Rudy's tux fitting. Since I knew I'd need both arms free to dress Rudy, I strapped him in the stroller. All was well for the first ten minutes. But not so much by minute forty-five when our salesman had wandered off to help another customer, Rudy and Kolbe were entertaining themselves in the mirror tunnel, and I was doing my best to avoid letting curse words slip from my mouth. Grant was in full on caged animal mode, and though I took him out of the stroller for a bit while we waited, his goal in life was to run wild in the Men's Wearhouse. I felt like I needed an alcoholic beverage by the time I left the place. Our next stop was Target. I convinced myself that maybe if I bought a pretzel to share with the boys, they'd be really well behaved while I raced through and grabbed what I needed for our trip. Luckily, this was true for the older two. But again, then there's Grant. He has figured out how to stand up in shopping carts. Even when strapped in. Why can't they make them with five point harnesses!?! So being the desperate mom that I was, I put him in the bin part of the shopping car and just decided to walk along side of it so I could hold on to him. Despite my efforts, he just had to have that last chunk of pretzel in Kolbe's hand. He went for a forward somersault move in an attempt to get it. Yes, with my ninja-like mom skills, I did catch him prior to hitting the ground. But not without incurring the wound below. And that's just half of it. The top of my foot has two similar gashes along with bruising. I'm going to go ahead and nominate myself for the first person to come out of her shoes on the dance floor at the wedding this weekend. And as for the errand trip...Grant went straight to nap time when we got home. It was for his own safety.

Part of Mama's boo-boos

Ahh. I nice, peaceful picture of the boys reading books with Dada. Wish the whole week had been this calm!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 41

1. I'll be the first to admit that one of my least favorite aspects of kiddie rearing is dental hygiene and care. My kids have never been fond of brushing their teeth. Except for Grant. Right now he thinks it's the coolest thing ever. But he seems to be the exception to many things, so Grant aside, it has always been a battle. And I'm always the bad guy forcing them to brush, "brushing too hard", "gagging them", etc. Ugh. But alas, it is a necessity. Beyond the fact that no one likes stinky breath, all kinds of problems can show up down the road when baby teeth aren't cared for properly. Plus, Kolbe has his own set of issues from his clefts. He's had an extra tooth behind his top front teeth that we've know would need to be pulled for a long time. Between Mark's job changes and changing insurance, we just haven't gotten around to doing it. About a month or so ago, Rudy fell while rough-housing in the family room and hit his mouth on the frame of our couch. His gums bled a little right after and the next day he said it hurt while brushing but then we never heard anything more from him. Sure enough, just recently we've started noticing that the tooth is turning gray. So between Kolbe's tooth and now Rudy's, we decided to head to the dentist this week. Despite the fact that they act like I'm brushing their teeth with a razor at home, they were perfect patients at the dentist's office. (Imagine that.) They each got a cleaning and x-rays done...and came home with plenty of goodies! Kolbe's tooth extraction is scheduled for two weeks from now. We've been discussing it with him for a long time so he knows it coming, but I'm sure it will still be tough. Keep the little fella in your prayers! He's been through a lot with his mouth and is always a trooper. As for Rudy, the dentist said there's no evidence of any damage or real problems so she thinks we should leave it and monitor it for the time being. He may develop more problems down the road and have to get it pulled, but it could also possibly lighten back up and be just fine. She said that since he's only three, it's better to leave it there for now and pull it down the road if it becomes more of a problem. That way he won't be missing a front tooth for roughly four years. Considering that Kolbe will be five in a few weeks and we've yet to have an ER visit, any broken bones/stitches/etc, and a "dead" tooth with Rudy is our first accident, I'd say we're doing pretty well!

In the waiting room at the dentist! Two brave boys!

2. Rudy's tooth is not the only thing that was confirmed dead this week. Sadly, my sewing machine, Number Two, was laid to rest as well. Number Two lived a short but very full life creating hundreds of items (actually, over one thousand!) for many customers. If you've been reading for a while, you're probably thinking that it hasn't even been a year since my first machine died. It's true. Number Two was purchased last December. Like I said...a short life. But she admittedly was a cheap, necessity-type buy in that my first one died, I had a huge stack of have-to-get-out-in-time-for-Christmas orders to sew and just needed something functional in a hurry. But considering the fabric that I sew with is thick and I'm sewing multiple layers of it...with thick elastic in the middle too!...it's hard for just about any machine to stand much of a chance. And I'll fess up...I'm definitely not the best caregiver. I'm usually in too much of a hurry to get one more order done or rushing off because babies are waking from naps and sure enough, the lint builds up until the machine jams and I have to take it apart. That being said, Number Two did really well considering her quality level and what I put her though. I did take her completely apart in hopes of resuscitating her little sewing machine heart, but to no avail. So this time around I'm going to make some changes. I still can't bring myself to drop roughly $2,000 on a dream machine, but I'm trying to take a little more of a get-what-you-pay-for approach along with adding embroidery since it's been something I've been needing to add to my shop options for a long time. Plus, I suppose I'll vow to provide better care and maintenance as well. I mean, it's not like a little spray down with some canned air takes more than five seconds! In the mean time, I'm working on the beauty below. She's my mom's sewing machine that's got to be a good thirty to forty years old. Sure, she's missing many, many, many of the common features of more modern machines (cough, cough- well placed thread cutter- cough, cough), but overall, she's a real work horse and is getting the job done just fine! There's something to be said for a solid metal machine that beats today's largely plastic-cased machines hands down. 

3. Time for some tidbits!

- Our colds that started last week still haven't gone away. No kidding, I woke up this morning feeling like I might have gotten a little bit worse instead of a little bit better. And I even went to bed early last night! Grant's nose is still running like a faucet and Rudy's voice still sounds like a boy going through puberty. Ten days is enough. Go away.

- I ordered, yes, ordered the boys' Halloween costumes this week. I cringe at the word only because their costumes have all been handmade in the past. But they're begging to be Hulk and Batman. Despite the fact that they've never seen a movie or show involving Hulk or Batman. And so it begins. I gave in, realizing I couldn't make their costumes for as cheap as I could buy them. Boo. Next year I will remember to plant my (much cuter!) ideas much earlier on!

- I'm looking really, really forward to next weekend. Headed to Austin for my cousin Audry's wedding where Rudy will serve as the ring bearer. Can't wait to see all of our family!

Little Rudy loves to take pictures. It's so fun to look through them and see what he sees.

I mentioned that we've developed somewhat of a war with Grant and eating. Namely, he likes to exert his power in the form of refusing to eat anything. A few days ago I was craving onion rings like crazy so Mark brought me some home. And while Grant wouldn't eat things that we know he loves, he sure did throw down on an onion ring!

A few weeks ago Mark took Kolbe on a little man trip and this week Rudy got his turn. They headed to Toys-r-us to walk the aisles and then, of course, off to get a dipped cone!

Kolbe had picture day at preschool this week and on the way out our front door  he blended in so well with our fall decorations that I had to get a pre-picture picture. He's just too cute!

Kolbe's number one fan at soccer!!!