welcome distractions.

Every weekend I find myself repeating "This is a great opportunity, don't whine. This is a great opportunity, don't whine". It's hard not to whine a little though with homework that is due every Saturday until nearly Christmas. I'm ecstatic to be wrapping up a Graduate Certificate in Academic Advising from Kansas State University! This is my last class and I'm so excited to meet my goal to have some kind of conferred graduate-level credit. I'm about a third of the way through a Master's program, as well, but I've put that on hold for the time being.

With the end of my certificate only several months away, I find myself having flashbacks to 'senioritis' and finding the remaining course requirements a little daunting. I also have these two to keep me on my toes while I study, so at least they break through some of the monotony from reading!

Going back to grad school has given me a whole new level of appreciation for students who are in the same boat, or who are starting from scratch with a full-time job and other obligations. My hat is off to these folks because it is not easy! I feel like I am juggling time, people, and I would just cry if something happened to my Google calendar.

That being said, this has been a great crash course in learning to prioritize what means the most in my life...which means that most of the time, there are a lot of silly moments like this :)

brat(y) diet.

Disclaimer: This post talks about bodily fluids and one way to help make them not so bad. Skip it if you don't want to know about all of the 'ins and outs'.

I was really looking forward to today. See, I had this fantastic idea to take today off and work on homework, since Chris would also be home. The plan was to send Nate to school for a while so that we could both work on some 'to do' list items and then spend the weekend doing something fun. Well, you all know about best laid plans ...

I initially woke up at 2:30 a.m. to Nathan screaming, saying he needed to go to the bathroom and that there was a monster in his room. I ended up passing out in there after getting him back to sleep. Fast forward to 6:30 a.m. where I am woken up to this gagging sound. Instinctively, I picked him up and held his head over the side of the bed ... just in time, too, because he threw up everywhere. This was followed by diarrhea. Fabulous!

On the plus side, I didn't have to take unplanned time off of work to keep Nate home from preschool because my time off was already scheduled. On the downside, Nate isn't feeling too hot and I haven't gotten anywhere with my homework.

Enter the BRAT diet - and no it's not a diet for when your kid is being high maintenance :)

The BRAT diet is this ingenious way to help provide bland foods for your child in order to help their tummies get back to normal by eating:

• Bananas
• Rice
• Applesauce
• Toast

We did this last time that Nate had an upset tummy and it worked like a charm. I'm hoping that it continues to do so this time! Technically, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends not changing your child's diet within 24 hours of getting sick, but I just want him to feel better fast. Good 'ole WebMD has more to read up on if you want. I personally like to modify the BRAT diet into the BRATY diet, with the addition of yogurt. I place a ridiculous amount of irrational hope in yogurt and the probiotics that it contains to help Nathan feel better and keep him in good health.

As of this evening, Nate is finally interested in eating some of his BRATY foods and has not expelled anything from either end for quite a while. He's still not acting like himself, though - he asked to come lay down inside rather than playing outside...and he made some weird little nest in the floor of our room.

little helper.

One thing that I've been working with Nathan on lately is helping him to understand how he can help contribute to keeping our household up and running. Thinking of these as pre-chores, I'm trying to teach him responsibility and to have a sense of pride in what he does. Is it too early to help boost intrinsic motivation?  Granted, Nate generally requires complete supervision and it takes a heck of a lot longer to do, but that's the tradeoff for teaching little ones and starting them off right!

Nate's current 'jobs':

• Feeding the dogs: they love him because he always tries to give them extra food
• Cleaning up toys: every night I have him clean up his toys before he's allowed to watch an episode of Magic School Bus, Curious George, or Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood before bed
• Helping throw away trash: to include putting trash in the can, as well as helping to take the cans to the road for trash day 
• Getting the mail: he loves this doing this anyway
• Being my big helper: grocery store, vet office, Costco, you name it - any time that there is an errand to be run, I tell him that he has to be my big boy and helper. Most of the time it makes a world of difference! 

This afternoon we took one of our dogs to the vet for her yearly check-up. The whole way there he sang the Doc McStuffins song 'Time for Your Check-up' to her, which was incredibly sweet. By far, Nathan's favorite way to be picked up from preschool is with a dog in the car!

nathan-isms, vol. 2.

A post with no photos, imagine that! Nathan continues to crack us up on a daily basis. Here's a perfect seven of some of the most recent Nathan-isms :)

- 1 -

A futile attempt at getting a picky toddler to eat vegetables: 
Me: Do you want to eat this? It's like a chip.
Nate:  (after thoroughly examining the carrot shaving, tries it, and screams) WHAT ARE YOU TRYIN' TO DO A ME?? That's 'isgusting!

- 2 -

When getting get picked up from daycare: 
Nate: It's so hot. It's making me sick!
[seventy-five degrees outside, beautiful sunshine]

- 3 -

After a talk about modesty:
Me: We're getting pizza delivered for dinner!
Nate: I'm gonna eat it .... and they won't see my BUTT!!

- 4 -

Working on days of the week: 
Me: Do you know what today is?
Nate: No
Me: It's Friday!
Nate: Are you serious??? YAY!!

- 5 -

When swinging around a toy and accidentally hitting Chris:
Chris: Ow! That hurt!
Nate: Sorry, Daddy. I do not want to hurt you.

- 6 -

When needing to use the restroom during dinner: 
Nate: I need to go potty! I be right back.
[a few minutes later, as Chris checks on him]
Chris: Nathan Charles!! We do NOT eat pizza on the toilet!! 
Nate: Why? It's yummy. 

- 7 -

Sounding out words:
Me: What animal is this?
Nate: It's a chimpmonk.
Me: Can you say CHIPmonk?
Nate: Chimpmonk.
Me: Repeat after me: chip.
Nate: Chip
Me: Monk
Nate: Monk
Me: Great! Now try saying chipmonk.
Nate: [with great a great flourish] Chimpmonk!

firetruck.

What's better than a fun family outing? A fun family outing that is FREE! We went to our third Build & Grow Clinic at Lowe's today where we built a little firetruck with Nathan. The store in our town was also putting on a public safety day, so there were firetrucks and an ambulance outside, too.

Nate is very honest that "Daddy made this", but here he is with his finished firetruck!

 Is it strange to match your child's clothes to whatever event you're going to? Knowing that today would be firetruck-centric, I put Nathan in his firetruck shirt. I like to do it for the photos, but the firefighters noticed and loved it :)

Nathan was very excited to be able to get up into the trucks and see all of the different buttons and tools. Let's be honest, Chris was too! I don't think that either one of them really wanted to get out of the trucks.

One of the trucks had an American flag painted into the grill, which was pretty neat. It made a great photo backdrop!

I love that we've been able to find fun things to do as a family that also have an educational aspect to them. The emergency personnel at the event were very sweet with the kids and helped to explain the different tools and even helped me get Nate to pose for some of the shots. The weather was gorgeous today, too, so it was a great day to spend lots of time outside.

the work of a toddler.

I love having a job that affords me the opportunity to work from home most of the time. It's a great way for me to be able to balance my work life and my personal life without being too overwhelming or exhausting.

This morning, I was working in our guest room/home office and Nate came stumbling in half asleep.

Nate: Mommy, I help you work.
Me: Okay, sit on the bed and get to work.

The next thing I know, he's found my tablet and is watching an episode of Curious George. It's amazing how tech savvy little kids are, even though it makes so much sense.

Nate hard at "work":

joint birthday party.

Two weekends ago our family threw Nathan and his cousin Miles a joint birthday party. Nate turned three in early August and Miles will be turning two later this month. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday that these two were still so tiny...

I can't get over their baby pictures! It makes me want to go back to all of the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and being perpetually thrown up on just to have the baby stage back again ... almost :)

Now that our boys are full-blown toddlers, we are able to see them interact in new and fun ways. They had so much fun at their party! The theme was superheroes - Spiderman for Miles and Batman for Nathan. Most of the play time at the party turned into playing with cars and anything that Miles calls a "vroom vroom". I love that they are into the same things!

What a nice way to celebrate our boys in a low-key, family oriented way! Chris's parents came up from Texas and we just had a few people over to help celebrate with these two little guys!

Happy Birthday to my adorable nephew and to my Nate Nate! I can't wait to see what trouble these two are into next year! :)

so long sweet summer.

Summer is over and, let's be honest, I'm kind of glad! While we did a lot of fun things this summer, heat and I are not good friends. I think I've decided that fall is my favorite season, so I am eager to welcome it back!

Of course, that's not to say that we didn't take full advantage of the last few weeks before it was officially 'back to school' season. Yes, bad blogger - it's been a while.

First up, Nathan got a taste for t-ball with a set that he received for his birthday. My child is inherently blessed with common sense because every time I stood in front of him (at a distance) with the camera, he angled elsewhere. This action montage took some coaxing to hit the ball my way, but he definitely has some power behind his swings!

Last month, I posted pictures of Nathan dressed up like a puppy with the promise of something more serious and more human in the future. Well, consider the promise delivered because here is a little collage of him giving Chris and I check-ups. We get several check-ups every day and he asks for them, too.

We also squeezed in a few more visits to Splashdown before it closed up for the season. In lieu of splurging on a nice waterproof camera, we rented a locker for $5 and took pictures of Nate in the kiddie area. I love the look on his face here!

Nate also discovered (finally) how to go down the slide with a little bit of speed, rather than scooching along. What a happy boy in the water!

You might remember that Chris and I celebrated our fifth anniversary this summer! I thought that we agreed to no presents, but apparently that was only one sided. I received an amazing Chrome book and speaker for our bathroom. So a bit belated, but hopefully worth the wait -- Chris and his new grill!

Great summer, but I'm excited for the fall season, the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and the holidays!