Happy Mother's Day...to me!

After what was not the best of weeks, I had a fabulous Mother's Day! The morning started with a craving of McDonald's pancakes. So Drew loaded the boys in the car and drove through McDonald's as well as Starbucks (decaf of course) for the perfect Mother's Day breakfast. We had a nice family breakfast and just hung out around the house because we went to church the night before. Right when Andrew woke up he told me Happy Mother's Day and we had to go to church. I told him we had already gone the night before. But he told me that his teacher's told him on Mother's Day you had to go to church. What a good boy for listening to his teachers.

Matthew took his morning nap and then we headed to my parent's for the perfect Mother's Day lunch. Everyone was so relaxed and enjoying the day. We enjoyed being outside watching the kids run around and play. After the fact, I discovered Drew had been feeding Matthew whole grapes WITH THE SKIN ON the entire lunch. I about had a heart attack, doesn't he know Matthew could have choked?! He told me to chill out and continued feeding Matthew grapes. Guess that's what happens when dad is in charge. My mom gave all the girls a gift card for a mani/pedi...just what I needed! Thanks mom.

After lunch we headed home for naps and everyone took one. It was so nice. Then we all woke up and I decided to embrace the day and take advantage of my mani/pedi. Drew said he'd be happy to watch the boys. So off I went. Oh it was so nice to get the nail polish off my toes that had been on there for 3 months. I enjoyed every moment. I grabbed dinner and headed home. As we were eating I discovered that Drew accomplished one of my least favorite tasks...grocery shopping WITH BOTH BOYS! I was so thankful. I asked if he picked up some apples, bananas, or grapes. He said no but he did get 3 bags of chips:) While they were shopping Andrew picked out a Mother's Day card for me too. He was so excited to give it to me because it had a picture of Elmo that he had colored. I started to read the card out loud and it said, Happy Mother's Day GRANDMA! I was laughing so hard. That's boys for you...attention to detail, not so much:) After dinner we were talking about how my day was almost over and Andrew asked when it was going to be Son's Day:) How funny that he knew to say son, we got a good laugh from that as well.

We got the boys in bed and I convinced Drew I really needed to end the day with some ice cream. He never argues when it comes to ice cream so he went to pick it up. Meanwhile, I thought Andrew was asleep and I hear him come out of their room. I met him outside his door and he says to me, "Mom, I'm sorry your day has to end." Now if that's not the perfect end to Mother's Day, I don't know what is.

No filter

Last night we went to one of our favorite pizza places, Racanelli's. Drew and I were trying to talk between all the boys' requests. We'll all of the sudden we hear Andrew yell...and I mean yell, "FAT GUYS!" Two "larger" men walked into the restaurant and Drew and I didn't notice them until Andrew brought them to our attention. Drew's first reaction was to ask Andrew what he said. Not exactly something we wanted him to repeat. This was not the busiest time for the restaurant so there was only one other table besides us at the time. Luckily I think the men were talking and not paying attention to Andrew because they ended up sitting one table over from us. CLOSE CALL!

Barely Alive

That's how I've felt the past few days. What is going on?! I thought 12 weeks was the magic number! Now, I don't want you to think I'm being a baby, of course I know there are much bigger problems in the world but this is the reason I'm blogging. To remember the good times and the bad:) So here we go.

Saturday, we had a showing at our house around noon. Luckily Andrew was invited to a birthday party and our whole family was able to attend so we knew we would have somewhere to go. Well I woke up Saturday morning and my wonderful husband started Matthew on his breakfast and brought me my bagel in bed. This has been helpful with the "morning" sickness. On this particular day I wasn't feeling that great after the bagel and I think Drew could tell. He told me to take my time and he would start cleaning up the basement with the boys (not an easy task!). I started to feel guilty and decided to suck it up. I got out the vacuum and in the middle of vacuuming our small area rug had to run to the bathroom. Oh boy! Now this is coming from a person who actually has a phobia of getting sick. I would rather have a broken bone or get stitches, I know, I'm weird! Anyway, I was so weak at this point I had to call Drew up to get me a wet cloth and help me up. So he helped went back to the boys and I headed back to bed, thinking about everything that had to be done. Well I finally mustered up enough strength to fold some laundry and let the boys climb on me while Drew worked on the upstairs. We were out of the house in time and the day got better from there.

Then Sunday. Once again, wonderful Drew, did something wonderful. He volunteered to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity. On any other day I would have been so proud! But considering the fact that he had to be out of the house by 7am on the day of our first official Open House, and me in this condition; let's just say, I could have had a better reaction. The day actually got off to a smooth start. Matthew took a good nap while Andrew watched too much TV and I cleaned the inside. Then Andrew and I went outside and he was my big helper sweeping the deck and getting all of the "helicopter leaves" into the yard waste can.

Once Matthew woke up we headed to my parents where we would hide out during the Open House and then stay for Sunday dinner. Again this went smoothly. Andrew ran a few errand with my mom, Matthew and I played outside and everyone was happy. Then it was time for nap. About this time I started to get a horrible headache. Not sure what a migraine is but this hurt. So I thought I would get the boys down and then take a little rest myself. RIGHT! Well Andrew has been a bear to get down for nap lately. I know he's getting older and we are losing nap (even though he gets up before the sun). So I have been setting a timer where he has to stay in bed for 1 hour. As long as he is quiet he can do what he wants. This has actually been working at home and he's usually asleep in 10 minutes. Well Grandma and Poppa's house is always a different story. Looking back, I'm not sure if this is one of those times where I should have let him win because I was too tired to fight but I didn't. I didn't back down. He was literally given more than enough chances to stay in bed. Finally after every consequence I could think of I told him if he got out of bed one more time, I was taking him home and leaving Matthew there with Grandma. Well guess what, he got up. I went down told my mom the story, he threw a fit. I gave him one more chance! He got up again. I marched him to the car, kicking and screaming and off we went.

Now what do I do? Well I cried. Don't really know why besides it must have been my breaking point. Then of course Andrew fell asleep once his wailing and screaming stopped. So I decided to drive around and look at a few areas we are thinking about for our next house. In the end, it was nice and relaxing and I was able to have quiet time. We got back to my parents and the evening went smoothly and my mom made her famous mashed potatoes and roast beef...the only thing that sounded good to me. Thanks mom!

That leads us to today. The day that will never end! I woke up with my head feeling like there was someone in my head with a little hammer knocking on both temples. I managed to get out of bed and get Andrew to school (my saving grace). I brought Matthew home and he was ready for nap. I laid him down and thanked God I could rest. Well that was short lived. I finally dozed off and heard my little man not so happy. He is usually a great napper and was acting off. So now I'm praying he's not coming down with something. I decided to go look at more neighborhoods in hopes he would fall back to sleep. He didn't but was quiet and happy so that was nice. After lunch we got Andrew and headed home. At this point my head was hurting so bad that I was in tears. I was just praying I could get both boys down for nap and sleep it off. Well I didn't make it that far. Before I knew I had myself locked in the bathroom...you know. NOT FUN! I managed to get the boys down and took a little rest. Thankfully our neighbor Kelli was out her with 2 kids and Andrew barely had his eyes open before he was out the door. Drew came home to relieve me a little early because he was headed to the Cardinal game tonight. So I showered, went and got some chicken noodle soup and started to feel human.

Last but not least, bedtime: Matthew couldn't get comfortable cried off and on for an hour (still praying he's ok). Then it comes time for my anti sleeper, Andrew. He's usually pretty good about not waking up his brother and staying in bed but whenever something is a little different in the routine, you never know. So Drew was out and I put him down. I'll just list the 5 reasons he got out of bed.
1. needed water, even though he had some right before I laid him down
2. had to go to the bathroom
3. couldn't think of an excuse
4. **the classic** "Mom my penis is pointing up! FIX IT!"*** where's dad when you need him?
5. Starving

Finally asleep. And that's where I'm headed after a prayer for a better day tomorrow!

It's Official

Our house is on the market and...I'M PREGNANT! I am about 11 and half weeks. It's been a rough first trimester but I'm hoping it's winding down. I was sick with both boys but not this bad. I'm thinking I just haven't had as much time to rest since I'm running around with them and trying to keep the house ready to show. I'm just praying my energy comes back soon and I can eat something besides carbs. So it's an exciting time for the McLaughlin clan. Please keep our new little baby in your prayers!

Also, if you know anyone in the market for a cute little house in Glendale here's a link to our listing: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1089-Chelsea-Ave_Glendale_MO_63122_1108621099

Why did I name this blog, "Never a dull moment"?

Well we were excited. Sunday was the big day. Kathy was coming over to finish the paper work and put the house on the market. Drew, Chris (our handyman) and I were working hard all weekend to get the house in tip top shape. And my wonderful mother took the boys both days so we would be able to work productively. All was going as planned until...RAIN, RAIN, RAIN for 24 hours straight. The hour before Kathy arrived Drew was working on the basement and felt something wet. NOOOOO! He pulled up our carpet squares just in time and he saw we had a little leak.

Kathy arrived about 5 and was very impressed with how the house looked. Then we told her about the water. She said we would just put a "Coming Soon" sign in the yard and once the rain stopped we would be good to go. So we did some paper work and took some pictures and up went the sign. Once Kathy left we calmed the crazy boys down. I started to feel guilty because Andrew was out of control, wild and asking millions of questions about the house selling and I thought he was feeling anxious about the whole situation. But we got them in bed.

We were then woken up at 1am by Andrew. Drew put him back to bed. Then he came in again at 3. This time Drew was a little out of it and said to Andrew after touching his head, "is your room hot?" Once I heard that, I shot up and said, Drew he must have a fever. I ran and got the thermometer and the Tylenol and sure enough the first reading was 102.5! He got in bed with us an he was an absolute furnace. Of course I couldn't go to sleep with him like this. He was shivering and shaking and not making a lot of sense. We got him to lay down and then he started breathing weird. This is when I really began to panic. I was thinking maybe I should let him stay up until his fever went down a little. So about 4 I turned on some cartoons (thank God for Tivo) and he fell back to sleep around 5. He woke up for the day around 6:45. He wasn't really hungry all day but his temperature never went above 99 and he was his wild self. I am so thankful...what a weird situation!

After talking to my dad Monday morning, we decided it was best to have the basement looked at. In order to do this we had to cut a hole in our basement drywall (that really ups the resale value:)) and then have the Crack Team come out and see what they could find. We started to call around for additional bids since we thought the first was a little high, but once we heard they had a lifetime warranty and could do it right away we bit the bullet. Now that it is fixed we are able to sleep at night knowing we won't have any issues with this when in comes to an inspection on the house. Chris came back out today to start putting the drywall back up. So now we are back on track and only about a week behind schedule...could be worse.

In other scary news, my sister in law Christina, John's wife, had a big scare late Monday night. She is pregnant and due at the end of May. She was having some bad abdominal pains, ended up going to the hospital. Very long story short, had her appendix taken out. Then had very strong contractions all day because of the trauma from the surgery. The contraction medicine finally started working late last night, so the contractions have stopped. She is still in the hospital recovering. According to John, today she is in a lot of pain from the surgery and having a hard time eating which makes it tough to give her the right pain meds for her and the baby. The baby has been a trooper through this all and is doing well according to doctors. Please keep them in your prayers!

Where do I begin

Man have we been busy! So Drew and I met with our realtor (my God mother) Kathy Crane last Tuesday. We decided it's time to put our cute LITTLE house on the market. Kathy came over and told us some things that would be good to get done before we list it. Luckily, there were no surprises and somethings we thought we would have to do that she didn't think would be necessary. So we made our list and have been busy marking things off.

Thursday night we decided to relax and have a movie night. Drew and I watched Marley and Me once the boys were in bed. Talk about a tear jerker! I thought it was a great movie, everyone can use a good cry every once in a while. Drew said I may as well have rented Friday the 13th (guess it wasn't what he expected).
The timing worked out really well because last Friday (Good Friday) Drew and my mom were off work. So we rented a UHAUL and cleared out our basement storage so potential buyers could actually see the storage instead of wall to wall boxes. My dad, brother John and Drew's friend Graham ended up coming over as well to help out. Thank you everyone!

Then Saturday, after we dyed our eggs, my mom, Andrew, and I went flower shopping while Drew and Matthew waited for the mulch to be delivered. We picked up more pansies than you could imagine (I found out they are really the only flowers you can safely plant right now with our crazy weather) and some pretty flowers for our pots which can be moved in at night. So during naps Drew and I planted away and were happy with the results. Then it was off to a quick dinner and back to Lowes for the 4th time in two days. On this trip we picked up a few bushes and more potting soil to finish our yard project. Later that night I found out I am not in "planting" shape as I was unable to move with the pain in my lower back.

EASTER was a great day! We went to our usual 7:30 mass. Drew surprised me with Starbucks after. Then we came home and the Eater bunny had stopped by while we were at church. Matthew picked up one egg and lost interest while Andrew hunted away. Then we laid Matthew down for a nap and Andrew watched the new train movie the Easter bunny left in his basket. Then we headed to my parents for a delicious brunch and outdoor Easter egg hunt. Matthew REALLY got into this one. It was so cute. Andrew and Kiersten were all over the place getting as many eggs as possible while Matthew was in his own little world collecting his own eggs. He then convinced my dad to take him back outside and "rehide" the eggs so he could do it all over again. I guess it was a good thing we had a practice hunt at home. The boys took naps at Grandma and Poppas while the adults watched the Masters. Then we came home to unload, then guess where we went?! Yep, Lowes.

Monday my mom was off school again so she came by and helped me with some house stuff while Andrew was at school, she couldn't believe how quiet the house was:) Thanks so much for all your help mom. Then Monday evening we headed to the Mac store because my computer would not turn on. Unfortunately my hard drive had crashed ( I know shocking with a Mac!) but the good news was they replaced it for free and Drew had backed everything up a few weeks ago so not much was lost. Thank you God!

Tuesday, we had Jim, the tree guy come out and trim our big front tree. It was the best entertainment the boys have had in a while (too bad it wasn't cheap). Then Jim told me he had to get his other truck to get all the wood. I thought he would be back shortly but there were still hundreds of limps in our yard as we went to bed last night.

Yesterday Drew headed to jury duty:) I took Andrew to school and luckily when I got back Jim was here cleaning up the mess! I must say, the neighbors were quite intrigued by the mess so it was nice to have it out of the way. Matthew and I met Drew at Quiznos on his "lunch break" it was really nice. We rarely get to see Drew during the work day. Then Drew surprised us and came home around 4 and said he didn't have to go back to jury duty! My mom offered to watch the boys so Drew and I could grab a bite. We had a delicious meal at Deweys and realized we needed to have some adult conversation, thanks again mom!

A Snowy Opening Day

Who would have thought Opening Day for the Cardinals would be a snowy one? Everyone at the McLaughlin house has on their Cardinal red and is ready for the '09 season! Go Cards!

It's also a big night in basketball. If Michigan State wins...I win the pool at Drew's work! Go Spartans!

We had a busy week last week, actually I guess it was mainly a busy week for me. I had an event every day from Wednesday to Sunday. Thanks to Drew, Christina and Mrs. Saracino, the boys were in good hands and hopefully Matthew is starting to understand, mom will come home! Some of the highlights of the week included my friend Brittany's wedding shower, a cocktail party at my high school celebrating my 10 year reunion (I'm old, but not as old as Drew:)), and a baby shower for Christina. It was a busy week/weekend but lots of fun.

*I have also added a link on the side of our March snapfish pictures.