Photo Friday

Here's a few pictures from this last week.  They're in no particular order.  But then again, our lives rarely follow a particular order.

milk, food coloring and dish soap make a fun, snowy day activity!

look who's trying to sit up!  And he found his toes :)

watching the football game

A Balloon Suprise

This afternoon we received a fun surprise at our house!

The card read:

Congratulations!  We're so proud of you on your potty training success! 

Love Grandma Marty and Papa Dave

Brooks was so excited.  And even more exciting (for me, not him) was that before he came downstairs and saw the balloons, he pooped on the potty!  And his usual reward for pooping is a new balloon.  Well, this was the grand-daddy of all balloon rewards!  Thanks Papa Dave and Grandma Marty for balloons.  Brooks loves them!!!

The Answer to all of Life's Problems

I bet you didn't think there was such a thing, but my four month old has proved otherwise.  Whenever things get tough for him (you know, all those terrible four month old problems he has), this is his "go-to" solution.  Night or day.  This is his answer to all his problems.  What is it you may ask??

Roll over.  Yep, that simple.  When life hands you lemons, just roll over.  At least that's what Carter does.

Hungry?  Roll over.

Tired?  Roll over.

Bored?  Roll over.

Need to burp?  Roll over.

Need a diaper change?  Roll over.

Happy?  Roll over.

Crabby for no apparant reason?  Yep, you guessed it.  Roll over.

Anytime Carter needs anything, he rolls over.  The funny thing is that it usually doesn't solve the problem.  (Well, unless it's the "I need to burp" problem, because the pressure on his tummy does make him burp.  But then he usually spits up and rubs his face in it which makes him cry anyway)  And when he realizes that rolling over doesn't feed his hungry tummy or change his diaper, then he gets even more upset.  (And changing the diaper of a baby who feels the need to roll over isn't so easy by the way.)

So I guess I don't have the answer to all of life's problems for you.  I'll keep working on it.  But until then, you can enjoy some super adorable pictures of my roly-poly baby :)

do you see my baby pushing himself up?  Who gave him permission to get so big?

He'll totally hate me for this someday

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 7

8:30pm
Well, our day started early in this morning.  As in 1am early.  Chris woke up to Brooks crying in his room and he went to check on him.  I figured he had finally pooped and wanted his diaper changed.  But when Chris went in he found that Brooks had puked.  All over himself.  All over his bed.  (sigh)

Brooks had complained that his tummy hurt earlier that evening and he didn't eat any dinner.  But I figured it hurt because he hadn't pooped since Friday afternoon.  Guess that wasn't it.  So we're trying to clean things up and Brooks is just crying.  He was tired, obviously not feeling well, and most of all he was upset that he could no longer wear his Buzz Lightyear jammies.  It seriously took me 10 minutes to convince him that Elmo jammies would have to do for tonight until we could wash Buzz.

We cleaned him up and tucked him back into bed.  Only to hear him throw up again 15 minutes later.  And again half an hour after that.  Poor kid.  There wasn't anything left in his tummy at this point, but I felt so bad that was sick.  We were out of clean sheets, so I just threw a blanket down over his bed for him to sleep on.  And of course he threw up on his pillow too so he didn't have one of those either.  His bed was looking pretty bare.  But fortunately that was the end of it and he slept straight through until 9am this morning!

He still didn't have much of an appetite today and just nibbled here and there.  I was trying to push fluids as much as I could.  My biggest concern with pukey sick is dehydration more than the throw-up itself.  So because his body was just absorbing all the water and juice he drank, he didn't pee too much.  But he did tell us when he had to go and always peed on the potty.  I'm feeling pretty confident that he can stay dry most of the time.
But he still hadn't pooped.  It had been over 48 hours since his last bowel movement (see?  I know his poop schedule better than my own)  So right before bed Chris sat him down on the potty one more time to see if he could get him to go.  They sang songs and told stories.  Anything to keep him interested in sitting there and pooping.  And he did!  Finally.

The problem though, was that since he hadn't gone in so long it was a really hard poop and his bottom was actually bleeding a little bit.  He was hesitant to even stand up after he went.  I wish I knew how to get him to poop more regularly.  Then it wouldn't hurt so much and he wouldn't be so upset by it.  But it seems the eternal battle with every kid potty training is how to get them to poop.  Hopefully he'll fall into a routine and become more comfortable with going on the potty.

Well, that's it!  Our potty training week has concluded and overall I say it was a success.  It was worth hunkering down and just doing it!  But I am looking forward to actually leaving the house this week.

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 6

9:00pm
Well, today was pretty uneventful (thank goodness!)  No potty accidents.  He was wet when he woke up from his nap, but just his underwear.  His bed was dry.  So it must have been just a little oops.  He didn't poop all day, which is a little disconcerting to me.  He used to poop every day at the same time ... like clockwork.  But now he waits until the very.last.moment possible to poop and we just hope he catch him before it becomes a disaster.  So I find myself hovering.  Do you have to poop?  What about now?  Now??  I don't want to put extra pressure on him, but seriously, if I have to deal with poop in underwear again I may just scrap the whole thing and put him back in diapers until he's 5!  Ok, maybe not but seriously, it was bad. 

So that's it.  I think we're in the home stretch and within a day or so I might just declare Brooks potty trained.  But then again, as soon as I do that we'll regress right back to having potty accidents all day.  So maybe no delcarations, but perhaps just a little less hovering.

To combat this otherwise boring potty training update, I'd like to note a few other observations during this process.

• Never have I been more aware of someone else's fluid input and potty output during the day.  It's like I measure it.  Ok, you drank 6oz of juice now, in about an hour there should be about 4oz of pee.  Ok, go!  I know eventually I won't freak out about it as much, but now I am hovering.
• Toddlers do not instinctively know how to pull up their underwear.  Since this potty thing is becoming more routine, I figure it would be wise to teach Brooks how to dress himself.  Well, at least the bottom half of himself.  But whenever it came to pulling up his undies, he'd grab them from the bottom and pull - twisting them into this bunched up mess on his 'you know what'.  So it took a few days, but I'm proud to say he can confidently pull up his underwear "from the top" and cover all necessary parts.  Most of the time.
• Potty training has not reduced my handling of poop and pee.  In fact, it has increased.  Instead of changing Brooks' diaper just two or three times a day, I'm now having to empty the little potty every times he goes.
• Diaper sprayers are useful for more than just spraying off cloth diapers.
• I sometimes just want to skip washing hands after going potty.  I know it's what we're "supposed to do" and yes it does eliminate germs.  But it takes forever for Brooks to wash his hands (push stool in front of sink, turn on water, get hands wet, squirt soap, rub hands together, rinse off, dry hands, move stool over to light switch, turn of light and done)  And that doesn't include the many times of me saying "Don't play in the water.  Just wash your hands.  No, seriously, stop playing in the water!"  And my hands are so chapped from washing them so many times.
• It's a good thing Brooks' pants have adjustable waists.  His pants barely stayed on his skinny little butt while he was wearing diapers.  Now with underwear there's little hope of them staying on at all!  Cinch 'em tighter!

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 5

2:30pm
Well, today is day 5 of our potty training endeavor.  After a really great day yesterday with no accidents I wasn't sure if I should expect the same today or prepare for some regression.  This morning went really well.  Brooks peed in the potty a few times and didn't have any accidents!  We're on the right track.

Right before nap time, he peed like usual.  Then he went into his room for nap.  I could hear him playing around in his room, which isn't too unusual for him to do before he falls asleep.  Then he comes knocking on his door saying he has to go potty.  Yeah!  I'm glad he's taking initiative to pee.  So into the bathroom we go.  No pee.  Then he starts playing with everything he can find in the bathroom.  Ah, so you don't have to pee, you just are putting off taking a nap.  You clever toddler, you.  So pants back on and back into his room.  I go to nurse Carter.

While I'm nursing I hear Brooks literally running laps in his room.  Good grief, what is that kid doing??  I finish feeding the baby and head into Brooks room to tell him to go to sleep.  And then I smell it.  That wretched awful smell.  Poop.  I tried not to be upset, but I really wasn't looking forward to cleaning this up.

"Uh oh.  You had an accident" I say.  Brooks wasn't as upset as I thought he would be.  But he certainly didn't like the feeling of poop in his underwear.  Hopefully this was a learning experience for him.  So I lay him down on the bathroom floor totally perplexed as to how I'm going to remove these poop-filled underwear without getting it everywhere.  And well, I never figured that out because as I took them off, poop smeared everywhere.  All over his butt, down his legs.  Oh gross!  And in the process he's kicking his legs because he just wants to get out of these poopy underwear, smearing poop even further.  On the floor, on my hand.  "Stop kicking!!"  I yell at him.

I manage to extract the underwear from his bottom and begin the multi-wipe process of cleaning him up.  I ask if he has to pee and he said no.  So I put him in clean underwear and pants and tucked him back into bed.  So there I am.  Just me and the poopy underwear.  Showdown.  Should I wash them in the sink?  Ew, no.  The bathtub?  That would probably clog up the drain.  And then I remember.  We have a diaper sprayer!  So I head downstairs, holding the offending undergarment at arms length and proceed to spray it off in the toilet.  I washed out the undies, threw them in the wash and scrubbed my hands with soap.  Done.  I know I'm naive by saying I hope I never have to do that again, it's true.  Here's hoping for a better afternoon.

4:00pm
Brooks woke up from his nap and thankfully he was dry.  He peed on the potty right away.  Then he said "I don't poop on Woody.  That makes him sad."  :)  Brooks sat down for a snack and had quite a bit to drink.  I'm not going to prompt him going potty this afternoon to see if he will tell me when he has to go.

5:45pm
Sure enough, Brooks came and told Daddy that he had to go potty.  Sat him down and he peed.  This is giving me hope after our poop disaster this afternoon.

10:00pm
The rest of our evening was pretty uneventful.  Well, except for our little "fire hose" incident.  From the very beginning we always taught Brooks to point his penis down while peeing.  (makes sense, right?)  He's always complied but tonight while peeing he pulled it out and well, you can imagine what happened.  He was so non-chalant about it as I started freaking out "Put it down! Put it down! Put it down!"  Fortunately the mess wasn't large and considering our poop incident from earlier in the day, it really wasn't even that gross.

We went out for a short trip to the grocery store with no problems.  We came home, Brooks made one more potty trip and we put him to bed.  Then about an hour later, he came knocking on his door saying he needed to pee, and he did!  I was so proud of him.  We was wearing a diaper so could have easily gone in that, but I'm encouraged that he knows the "gotta go" feeling and wants to pee in the potty.  What a big boy!

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 4

2:00pm
The morning went great.  No accidents!  We even ... wait for it .... left the house!  In underwear!  And Brooks did great.  I didn't remind him to inform me if he needed to pee for fear that's all he would think about (Chris and I had a meeting, so I really just needed Brooks to sit quietly and play for an hour and not get bored and ask to pee every 5 minutes.  A mother can dream, right?)  We made it all the way home and peed on the potty.  I didn't want to attempt peeing outside the house yet.  I'm not sure how he would do sitting on a "big" potty.  I suppose we should try it at home first, but I'm nervous.  Several months ago in a small attempt to potty train, Brooks said he needed to pee while we were out shopping.  So I took him to the bathroom and help him on the toilet.  That totally freaked him out and he abandoned potty training.  I don't want that to happen again.  I'd appreciate suggestions on public peeing.  (and yes, I do realize how ridiculous that sounds.  I'm holding on to hope that someday I won't have to handle other people's bodily functions all day)

4:00pm
Brooks peed right before nap and when I got him up he was totally DRY!  The bed, the floor, his underwear!  I seriously felt like dancing.  And, maybe I did just a little :)  He sat on the potty and peed quite a bit.  I'm so proud of my big boy!!

We did have one accident during snacktime but it had nothing to do with potty.  Brooks spilled his milk all over his shirt and pants.  I guess we just can't go a day without a change of clothes, can we?

9:00pm
This whole day has been accident free!!  Woohooo!!  I'm so proud of Brooks.  Most times I've been telling him when to go potty, but a few times he's told me he has to go.  I think tomorrow I'll let him initiate going potty more.  I went out this evening to our monthly LaLeche League meeting, so Chris was in charge.  He said Brooks did great and went poop again on the potty!  I don't think I'm ready to declare this potty thing "mastered" yet, but boy today was encouraging.  Hoping for more of the same tomorrow.

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 3

2:00pm
Brooks woke up again with a wet diaper (as expected) but no poop!  He went and peed right away on the potty.  And the morning was accident free!  Hooray!  But I didn't really give him a whole lot to drink (other than milk at breakfast) because we went outside to play (it snowed this morning!) and I really didn't want to deal with a potty mess in snowpants :\

Right before nap Brooks asked to go potty.  Then as we headed upstairs to his room I reminded him that if he needed to go potty, to knock on his door and let me know.  I tucked him and as soon as I shut the door he came running and knocked on the door saying he had to go potty.  He just went, but since he hadn't pooped since yesterday morning I figured he was due.  So he sat down.  No poop.  Underwear back on, pants back on and into his room.  I go downstairs and he starts knocking on the door and yelling "I hafta go poop!!"  Back upstairs I go.  Sit him down.  No poop.  Got him dressed and back in his room.  Go back downstairs and yep, you guessed it.  He started yelling again "I hafta go pooooooop!"  (sigh)  I feel like I'm being played here but at the same time I don't want to deny him to chance to go potty.  So back upstairs I go.  This time I emphasized that this was my LAST time coming upstairs and he needed to poop NOW or he'd have to wait until after nap time.  Still no poop.  So I tucked him in and headed back downstairs.  I considered just putting the potty in his room, but figured that would cause more problems than it would solve.

And now it's quiet.  Sweet sweet quiet.  And Carter is sleeping too in my Moby wrap, so it truly is quiet in the house now.

3:00pm
Brooks woke up and I heard him yelling upstairs - his usual reaction when he finds himself all wet after naptime.  So I hurry upstairs and find him standing in the middle of his room in a puddle.  BUT his bed is dry!!!  Which means he made it through nap time without an accident.  That again made me consider putting the potty in his room during nap time.  We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.

6:15pm
My patience is running very very thin.  Brooks has discovered how to manipulate this potty thing.  As in, every 15 minutes he comes running urgently saying he has to go potty.  And since he hasn't pooped since yesterday moring (and with all those stinky farts, I know he needs to go) I take him seriously and sit him down.  I wish he would just poop - even if it was in his pants - just to get it over with.  It started right before nap time and has been the continued theme throughout the evening.  Pair that with a fussy baby who is nursing every hour (every.hour) and who refuses to sleep anywhere but in my arms and I am one exhuasted mama.  Oh, and Chris is at church tonight so I'm all alone tonight too.  (sigh)  He wanted to stay home but he has responsibilities at church teaching the boys class and I know he needed to go.

The plus side is that Brooks hasn't had any accidents this afternoon/evening, but how can he when he goes "potty" several times an hour?  So I declared tonight a movie night.  I just don't have the patience to do anything but sit and veg.  And since we hardly ever watch TV, Brooks will be occupied for the better part of an hour.  Then possibly an early bedtime.  Lord, give me strength!

9:30pm
The evening went better than I expected.  The movie kept Brooks entertained.  Add in a bowl of popcorn and we were golden for over an hour.  Food always makes my kids happy.  Heck, it makes me happy!  During the movie, Brooks said he had to go potty and he did!  Then about 15 minutes later he walked into the kitchen and I could hear the grunting.  I literally ran in the kitchen yelling "Noooooo!  Don't poop in your underwear!!"  I hauled him into the bathroom and sat him down on the potty.  I caught it in time.  No poop in the undies!  But after sitting on the potty for a whole 15 seconds, Brooks declared he was all done.  Knowing that he wasn't, I suggested we sing some songs.  This kid NEEDS to poop.  So we sang a song.  And another song.  And another.  And during our singing I saw the tell tale face of a pooping kid.  And when we looked?  Victory!!  Poop in the potty!  There was much celebration by everyone.  And Brooks received a new balloon.  This kid LOVES balloons and that's been his incentive for pooping in the potty.  Oh, you should have seen his face.  He was thrilled!

After that was bedtime.  We did the usual routine, put him in a diaper and tucked him in.  Here's hoping for a good day tomorrow.  We're taking our first trip out of the house.  Eeek!

Snow Day

Today is January 10 and for the first time this winter it snowed.  Not much to get excited about, but still it snowed.  And a certain 2 year old has been anxiously waiting for it to snow so he could use his new sled.  And I could hardly deny him the chance.  So despite the cold temps and the wind, we ALL bundled up and headed outside. 

are you ok, Carter?

Our "sledding" consisted of me pulling them back and forth through our tiny yard.  And after 15 minutes Carter and I were cold and we decided to head in.  Brooks was probably cold too, but the little Eskimo would live outside if I let him.  I had to bribe him with some hot chocolate just to get him inside.

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 2

1:00pm
We put Brooks in a diaper overnight.  If he couldn't go two hours during nap without an accident, there was no way he was going to make it 10 hours overnight.  One thing at a time.  So his diaper was wet this morning, as I expected, but it was also poopy.  Bummer.  I was hoping he wouldn't poop in the diaper but again, one thing at a time.

The morning went really well.  He had two small pees (you know, the just a dribble kind) on the potty.  So I started pushing the fluids.  Let me tell you, this kid does not have to be talked into a big glass of juice!  The boy slammed down 8oz in one gulp.  About an hour and a half later he comes running "Oh no!  I pee on Woody!!"  I looked and there was a tiny pee spot on the floor so we rushed into the bathroom where he finished peeing.  He peed a lot!  Good job buddy!  Other than that, the morning was accident free.

He peed right before nap time (twice) and again I left him in underwear.  I'll commit a whole week to him napping in underwear before we decide if he can handle that or not.  We'll see how it goes.

3:30pm
Well, Brooks woke up in wet underwear but it looks like it was less than yesterday.  That's good progress.  He was still sad about being wet, but after changing his underwear and peeing on the potty, he felt better.

9:00pm
This afternoon/evening we had two bigger accidents.  But I'm mostly to blame.  I lost track of time and both times it had been over an hour since he last peed and I forgot to have him sit on the potty.  I guess in the back of my mind I was hoping he would tell me he had to go, but I'm probably getting ahead of myself.  After both accidents, he was upset that he peed and ran to the bathroom and finished the job in there.  All good signs.

The hardest part of this day by far was not Brooks, it was Carter.  This baby would NOT sleep unless he was in my arms, which I can only do for a limited amount of time with a potty training toddler.  So with little sleep, Carter was super crabby.  Another reason why I probably wasn't as on top of it with Brooks today.  Chris was on baby duty tonight because I just couldn't take any more of a screaming, non-sleeping baby.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

The Potty Training Diaries: Day 1

1:30pm

Today we started potty training.  Really it's been a long time coming.  Brooks has shown signs of readiness for a while now: wanting to wear big boy underwear, asking to go potty & actually going, being uncomfortable in a dirty diaper.  He was ready, I was not.  I just couldn't motivate myself to commit to it.  That and I figure it would be better to wait until he was older (he's 2 1/2) and really ready rather than beat my head against a wall trying to get him to do something he doesnt' want to do.  But the kid can't wear diapers forever, right?  So we decided that since I have two weeks off from teaching class, now would be a good time to do it.  And this little tutorial helped give me a plan so I didn't feel so lost & frustrated in the process.  Here goes ....

All weekend we'd been "hyping up" the big boy underwear.  So come this morning, he was more than excited to put on his new Woody Buzz underwear.  We headed straight to the bathroom and he peed!  A good start.  We ate breakfast, then played and I figured in an hour or so I'd have him sit down & pee again.  Well about 45 minutes later I was cleaning up a pee puddle on the kitchen floor.  That's ok.  This is just day 1.

I told Brooks his pee needs to go in the potty & don't pee on Woody.  That seemed logical to him and I was hoping it would work.  He was so proud of his Woody underwear.  Was I wasn't expecting was this.  He figured out rather quickly that when he had an accident, he put on a clean pair of underwear.  A new pair of underwear.  So he started having little accidents on purpose, just to try so he could wear a different pair of underwear. 

Well that wasn't going to fly.  So I didn't put on him any underwear at all.  I have to say a skinny kid running around totally naked from the waist down is pretty darn cute :)  And within an hour he actually told me he had to pee.  And he did!  Success!!  Then a few more times that hour he said he needed to go potty and actually did.

Now he's sleeping.  In underwear.  I know I'm going to have an epic pee mess to clean when he wakes up, but since he usually poops during nap time, I knew putting a diaper on him would only encourage that.  I'm hoping that by the end of the week he'll be dry at the end of nap time.  I may be crazy.  We'll see.

3:30pm
Well, B woke up in a puddle, like I expected.  What I didn't expect was that he would cry.  I don't know if he felt embarassed or disappointed or felt like he failed.  But I gave him a big hug and told him that sometimes accidents happen.  It's ok.  He calmed down and helped me take the sheets off his bed.  He sat on the potty, but didn't go.  We'll see how the afternoon goes.

8:00pm
The rest of the day went really well.  Brooks had one little accident while eating snack, but he caught it early and finished peeing in the potty.  I'd consider that a success!  The rest of the night, no accidents!!  We even went outside and played for an hour.

The goal is to potty train this kid in a week.  Looks like we're off to a good start.

Watch Me Grow: 4 Months

So I actually had to go back and read the 3 month post from last month.  This baby is growing and developing so fast I can't remember what's new and what he's been doing for a while.  Here's what's new in Carter's 4th month of life.

Eating

• Carter's been spacing out his eating a bit.  He's averaging three hours between feedings;  sometimes eating every two hours and on occasion going four.
• He spits up all.the.time.  I thought that breastfed babies aren't supposed to spit up as much, but that isn't the case here.  Most people use spit-up rags for their babies.  We use spit-up ponchos.  I used to change whenever Carter unloaded his lunch on my shirt, but I gave that up after realizing I was going through more than four shirts in one day.  Oh, and his spit up stains too.  Lovely.  It's leaves these grease like stains.  Usually they come out with some pre-wash stain treatment, but that's only if I remember to do it.

Sleeping

•  Carter has started sleeping longer stretches at night.  He'll consistently sleep 6-8 hours at a time!  Woo hoooo!!!  It took a while for my body to adjust to his new sleeping/eating schedule, but after about three days we were good to go. 
• During the day he'll do one of two things.  He'll either take several shorter naps (30-45 min) throughout the day or take one long nap (2+ hours) usually in the early afternoon and then take short cat naps (15-30 min) the rest of the day.  It's a bonus if he and Brooks both nap at the same time.  Carter's favorite place to nap is still in my arms, but sometimes I'm able to lay him down in his bed, or nurse him to sleep in our bed.
• Carter usually goes to sleep for the night around 9pm.
• He loves to ride in the van and it's almost guaranteed to put him to sleep.  He's taken several naps in his carseat.

New Discoveries

• Toys!  Carter is grabbing at and playing with toys.  Usually they go straight into his mouth!  He loves to play on his monkey floor mat.
• Ceiling fans.  We don't have one, but we have friends who do and it is oh so entertaining.
• The mirror.  Carter loves to look at himself (and anyone else too) in the mirror.  That's usually good for a few smiles.

New Abilities

• Rolling Over.  Carter is the master at rolling from his back to his tummy.  To me that seems to be the "harder" way to roll, but he figured that one out first.  When he first rolled over, he looked at me and gave me the biggest grin!  "Look what I did, mom!"  Now he doesn't mind tummy time as much since he can get there himself.
• Rocking.  We have a blue rocking chair that Carter will hang out it sometimes and he's learned how to pump his legs in sync to rock the chair himself.  Brilliant!
• Talking.  And cooing, and laughing and screeching.  This baby has found his voice.  He loves to talk to his toys and to us.  And his newest thing is screeching.  It sounds like a baby dinosaur.  And to anyone else it would sound like he's crying, but he's not.  Carter just wants us to remember that he's here.

5:30

5:30 is the magical time of day.  Our favorite time of the day.  The time of day we look forward to most.  Why, you may ask? 

It's the time when Daddy comes home from work. 

When my little boy (the bigger little boy) goes running through the house yelling "DADDY'S HOME!"  When he shows off his latest creation, rambles on about what he did that day and then ventures to climb "daddy mountain" .... all before Daddy even has his coat off. 

It's the time when Carter busts out the really big smiles.  You know, the ones only Daddy seems to get.  And on really good days, he'll even burst into laughs and giggles when he walks through door.  This kid totally knows his Daddy.  And loves him!

It's the time when I can kiss my love after being apart all day (ew, mushy, right?)  When I can breathe a sigh of relief because I am no longer outnumbered by little people. 

It's the time when we're all together as a family.  And I love it.  I love that Chris has an 8-5 job that allows him to be home each evening.  I love that when he comes home, the first thing he does is play with the boys (after our kiss, of course :)  We play, we eat, we read books.

So 5:30 is my favorite time of day.  And to be honest, I'm pretty sure it's Chris' too!