Quick Takes: "The Boys" Edition

Seven snippets of life right now, in no particular order.

1. Thomas loves being a big brother.
   He loves taking care of John Paul and especially his two babies.  The bigger one on the bottom is his baby Paul that Grandma got him to help with the transition to a little baby.  The smaller one on top is John Paul's little baby, but Thomas adopted him as his own.  I walked into the boys' room the other day, and Thomas was sound asleep with his babies, all napping together.
2. "The boys"
   Thomas has taken to calling himself and John Paul in the third person.  In the morning, he'll climb in the crib with John Paul and call out to me, "Mommy!  The boys are ready to get up!"  He loves being part of "the boys". "Mommy, the boys are ready to go to Costco!"
3. Jonathan was a superstar during his first "boys weekend" with both Wee Skis.
   It's not easy being on your own with both of them, but he was amazing. Especially since Thomas was pretty sick most of the weekend with some sort of bug. I came home to a much better sight than I was expecting, given the circumstances. One of my favorite quotes ever comes from Jonathan's Facebook post last Saturday:
   

   So, apparently life with just dad is rough:
   Thomas: When is mommy coming home?
   Me: Tomorrow Night.
   Thomas: Are you kidding me? I'm gonna need some holy water.
   
   Shelley Sprouffske, somehow you make our house less demonic???

4. "I need to spit."
   What we now know translates to "I'm going to throw up."  We had a rough Thursday last week, where Thomas threw up all over his bed during naptime.  He didn't "spit" again until I returned home on Sunday, and woke us up last night to tell us. We stayed up with him for a few hours, keeping him upright while his tummy settled.  I found an awesome recipe for homemade pedialyte, and have kept that in both boys.  John Paul seems to have avoided getting sick.  Here's praying Jonathan and I do too!
5. Thomas is doing so well in potty training.
   I find it hilarious that one of my favorite phrases right now is "Mommy, I pooped in the potty!"  He was so discouraged during the worst of his illness, when he had the runs and there was no stopping it.  When he started to get back on track this morning, he said, "Mommy, I use my underwears again.  I'm a big boy again."  "I know, sweet child, I'm so proud of you!"  "You're zel-come, Mommy.  You're zel-come."  :)
6. This was my first weekend away from John Paul.
   We began planning for the 2013 Relay training season in Las Vegas. I soaked up a little sun on Friday (95 degrees!) by the pool and got a good jump start on training for the Summits this fall.  Friday night was so tough to fall asleep...but come Saturday night, I had a bubble bath and got eight uninterrupted hours of sleep.  I won't lie -- it was heaven.  But I was extremely happy to come home, drive down the driveway, and see the boys jumping up and down. 
7. So hard to believe John Paul is almost one!
   How can a year have flown by?!?