Bedtime Negotiations

We've been struggling with bedtime. We're back to the bedtime negotiations, which include, but are not limited to:
I need water
I don't like that book I want a different book
I have to pee
I have to poop
I want another book
I need my earrings out
I want different jammies
I need more water
I need bedtime kisses
I need three kisses not two because I'm three not two
I don't want the covers
I want the covers
Only a little covers
I'm hungry
My hair hurts
Look at my finger
I need a bandaid
I have to pee again
I don't want any covers (again)
I need to cuddle
But don't touch me
Don't touch my stuff either
Don't look at me
I want the covers (again)
I need my friends (stuffed animals)
I need more friends
I need more water
I DON'T WANT THE COVERS

Each time we leave the room, she reminds that we forgot to give her goodnight kisses for that goodnight session. We can only give her the specific number of kisses that she assigns for that incident. Too many or too few is NOT OK.

This goes on for about 25 minutes AFTER LIGHTS OUT, on a normal night. Tonight was only 10 minutes, consisting of her yelling downstairs, "What's Liam doing?", "Who is your mom" "Who is my mom" "What month are we in" and of course, "I'm not tired" and "I want the covers". I finally just told her to reach down and grab them and pull them up and go to sleep, to which she responded, "Alright Mom!" and that was it.

Good Night.

December

Moving toward the end of the year, already. How so fast? Baby JJ will be one in a few days, but he still feels like a baby to me. He is so cuddly and loves to be held, plus he isn't walking so its easy for me to hold on to this last bit of babyhood with him. I know soon he will be a Toddler and this phase will be over, so I am enjoying these moments.

 

We went and picked put our Christmas tree this weekend. Of course Audrey picked the biggest one! We had to get something a little shorter but it is plenty fat. Once it drops and settles, it will be huge. She and I went to pick up some more lights, and while we were at the store I asked her how she wanted to decorate the tree. So you wonder, what happens when you ask a three year old girl how she would like to decorate? Well, you get purple, pink, and lots of glitter of course. It's actually really cute and I am so happy she can help us with things like this now. We went shopping together this weekend, just the two of us. She is such a big girl now and instead of sitting in the cart, she wants to walk. She has finally grown out of her "running" stage so I can trust her to stay with me while we walk. She even picked up her own basket and put her ornaments in there, and yesterday she picked out a toy for JJ for his birthday. She says it is very special and he will really like it. I know he will. :)

 

She's saying funny things every day. Today in the car she asked (Frantically), "Do I look so pretty? I forgot to look in the mirror at home!". I was shocked! I never talk about my appearance and I've never caught her checking herself out in the mirror before, so I'm not really sure where this came from. Later she came up to me and said, "Look at this booger!" while holding out her hand. Um, no thanks. She is so funny. She's asserting herself and demanding independence more and more every day. She doesn't want me to pick out her clothes. This is fine with me, I don't mind if she doesn't match (well, it DOES bother me, but I let her do it anyways), but the one problem is that she only wants to wear dresses. She only has a couple of long sleeve dresses, so we either have to layer shirts underneath or sweaters on top. I'm sure her teachers are wondering why I send her to school looking like she's headed to Sunday School, but I can't help it. If she wants to dress up, so be it.

Thanksgiving was nice this year. We spent some of the day at Cheryle's with Rachel, Gabe, Lauren, and Liam. Then we headed over to Josh's cousin Jill's house where we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening. The kids had fun but man were they worn out by the end! The next day we went to my dad's house for more gathering and eating. I love the holidays. Although it can be exhausting, I enjoy spending time with all of the family, and of course all the food. :)

We are all looking forward to celebrating Joshua's first birthday next week and of course, more celebrations for Christmas and New Years. More updates to come!

Poor Baby JJ!

He's so neglected on here! Poor second child. I was scrolling through my recent posts when I realized I hadn't updated about him in months. :( 

He is, of course, doing great. He's just a month away from his first birthday (OMG) and he is busy as can be! Crawling everywhere, and he also likes to "bear crawl" on his hands and feet with his butt in the air. He is nowhere close to walking! He won't even stand up unassisted - even though I know he can. I set him down on his feet the other day and let go. He stood there for a second, turned toward Audrey, and took a step before sitting down. This was the first and only time he has stood up unassisted and I haven't been able to get him to do it again. I think he's just too lazy! haha. I try not to get into comparison mode (Audrey was walking at 10 months) and remind myself that they are so different and he will walk when he feels like it.

He "talks" a lot. He says mama, dada, doggie, uh-oh, and he can "rawr" like a lion. He nods yes and no. He eats everything we eat, with the exception of peanut butter. I haven't tried it yet, but probably will shortly after he turns one. He's still breastfeeding, but I also give him whole milk in a sippy cup throughout the day. He prefers nursing to the sippy cup, but we will be weaned by the end of the year I predict. He's not been the best nurser, and our time is just coming to a close. It makes me a little sad, but for various reasons, I'm ready to be done for now.

He was sleeping through the night for a while there after we moved him into the bedroom he now shares with Audrey. I couldn't believe when we put him in the crib in there that he slept straight through the first night! He did that for a couple of months but then around 9 months he started waking again. He currently wakes once or twice a night to eat. I predict that will stop too once we aren't nursing anymore. He naps like a champ...one to two hours in the morning and 2-3 in the afternoon. This is sooooo nice. Audrey NEVER did this (40 mins twice a day..ugh!) so I figure his willingness to let me rest during the day makes up for his night waking. I don't mind it at all!

He has six teeth. Four up top and two on the bottom. He has been a pretty easy teether, some minor crankiness but almost no drool and it didn't come with ear infections like it always did with Audrey. He knows how to use those few teeth, though! We went through a rough patch where he would bite me while nursing...not cool. That stopped, but he still bites occasionally. He doesn't do it out of malice, but because he's just getting used to having them and using them for what they're intended! In addition to the biting thing, our sweet, gentle boy has quite a temper. He's very emotional overall, actually. He YELLS at us, he throws things (then looks at us to see our reaction), he gets too rough when we're playing and he hits, and when he gets upset, he throws the saddest, most pathetic Break-Your-Heart face at us and usually ends up getting his way. He does NOT like to be told no, it immediately induces tears.

 

 

Most of the time, though, he's a happy and easy going guy. He likes to eat, he loves his smoothies, and he laughs for much of the day. He thinks Audrey is the most entertaining thing in the world! He likes to cuddle and he dances to any music he hears. He is starting to warm up to his cousin Liam, but at first he DID NOT like him. I think he realized (quickly) that Liam is a little baby and he isn't anymore.



Conversations with Audrey, #2

I have posted some of these on Facebook but I really need a way to remember them...to the blog they go!

Introducing me to her preschool friend on a field trip:
"This is my best friend named Mama. She's so pretty because she's my mama."

At the dinner table during her first week of preschool:
"I'm the prettiest girl at preschool."

Woke up crying one night, so I ran in and asked if she had a bad dream? Did she need to use the bathroom?
"No. I just need cuddles."

Sliding down the stairs on her bottom:
"This is not safe. This is not safe."

Hearing the ice cream truck come down the street:
"Mama!! Do you have any money for me?"

This is an old one, but definitely worth remembering. As I started picking up the living room one afternoon:
"We have somebody comin over?"

 

She cracks me up every day so I am trying to make a better effort to write down everything she says and share it with you all!

Third Birthday

Look at me. Behind again on the blog! Audrey's birthday was last month and it sure was a lot of fun, so here are some of the details!

Her mima (grandma Maria) came in to help us celebrate, so of course the highlight there for Audrey was that she got to go to the TRAIN station. Her favorite. We celebrated Sunday afternoon with lots of friends and family, food, drinks, cake, and fun. Audrey said she wanted a pink and purple birthday party, so that's what we went with. Of course, I failed to get any pictures of the cake or decorations or anything else so you'll just have to trust me. We repainted the lemonade stand from Audrey's first birthday party and turned it into a tattoo stand so the kids has something fun to do during the party.

This was Josh's third year building something for Audrey. The first year was the lemonade stand, last year was the kitchen, and this year was a little outdoor bench. It was pretty easy (I think?) and it turned out really cute. We have been enjoying sitting outside and reading books and eating snacks on it.

Audrey's actual birthday was the day after the party, so she went to school as usual. We took cupcakes to her class for a small celebration. She was sooooo proud and excited to have us there. The first thing she said was "That's my Dada!". Then she told everyone who we were (JJ was her "baby").

After school we grabbed lunch and headed over to the playground since it was such a perfect day outside. Audrey loved running and swinging with mima and her daddy!

Later on that day we went out for ice cream to finish off the celebrations. Audrey had her first banana split! She was thrilled and devoured it and also helped us with our milkshakes. JJ even got to sneak a taste here and there, so it was fun for everyone.

 

  Look how far we have come in three years. She looks the same, but so different. I always wondered what she would be like at three years old. She's a challenge, for sure, but so loving, kind, gentle, and sweet that I often forget the frustrating moments. She says JJ, daddy, and I are her best friends. How lucky we are!

  Her birthday present from us was a scooter. Two of her friends got scooters for their birthdays recently, so she's been talking about wanting one for a while. She was so happy and has been having a blast with it!!

Preparing for Preschool

Well, our little girl is starting preschool in a few days. Eeek! I am so excited, for different reasons. The biggest reason is that I'm excited to see her in this new role...I'm excited to see her surrounded by kids her age. I know how much she loves playing with other kids and how she lights up when we have friends over or go to people's houses. I'm excited to see her learning and see how her vocabulary expands. I'm excited to see how she reacts to being away from me. I think she will love it and won't even notice I'm gone!

I'm also excited for myself and for JJ. I think Audrey is quite bored at home lately. We play a lot together, go outside, playdates, playground, etc, but I think she's just tired of being with us. I'm excited to have her out of the house for a few hours so that JJ and I can have some one on one time together. Our days often consist of "The Audrey Show" and that's it, so JJ gets the backseat a lot. I also cannot wait to go grocery shopping with only one child! I can hardly remember how nice that was...

I'm curious to see how the learning part goes at preschool. I was reading over the "skills" that they work on in the 3's class, and Audrey already knows many of them. She knows her colors, shapes, letters, can count to 30 and recognize the numbers, she can recognize her name, understands one to one correspondence, knows her nursery rhymes.. I predict the biggest obstacle for her will be engaging with the teachers. She is shy when she first meets people, and when she's uncomfortable she won't talk, so her speaking skills might be an issue there. She's also very stubborn and when she doesn't want to do something, she just won't do it. There's no getting around that. I know it might be different with other adults whom she deems more respectable than me, so hopefully that's the case.

Of course I will post pictures and updates to let you all know how the big day goes! I won't cry....I'll try not to, anyways.

Minivan Mom

That's me. A minivan mom....soccer mom....dorky mom. How did this happen?

We outgrew my SUV the day JJ was born. The car is great and I loved driving it, but it is narrow and couldn't fit three carseats across (if that day ever comes). It can't even fit two car seats and a third person in the back, so really it only seats 4 people...this is a problem. We knew we wanted something that could fit more people but we also wanted more storage in the back. My SUV could hardly even fit my stroller and when I had the stroller I couldn't have anything else. On top of having lots of seating and lots of storage, we wanted to be able to take Josie with us. These three requirements left us with either a minivan or a Suburban. A large SUV with a third row meant no trunk/storage and no space for the dog. The choice between a minivan and a suburban was kind of tough. Obviously a Suburban is the "cool" choice, but not practical at all. The gas alone would kill us. Plus, they are so high that I'd have trouble getting myself into the car...and what about the kids?!! haha I can't imagine myself driving one of those.

So the minivan it was. We researched them online and found features we wanted and things we liked and didn't like. Then we went out and looked at some in our price range. I liked the Nissan Quest but ultimately we found the Chrystler Town & Country that had everything we wanted and more. I drove it home that day! We planned on trading in the SUV but they weren't giving us as much as we had hoped, so we are keeping it for now. We still may sell it but we're not sure right now. Its been nice for Josh to drive it.

As dorky as a minivan is, I have to admit that I LOVE IT. I am so happy with the purchase. I love being able to hit a button while we are walking to the car and the door opens and Audrey can jump right it. No more struggling to get her wrangled into the car while I get JJ and groceries and everything else in there at the same time. We went to New York with Josh's family and we were all able to fit comfortably, with our luggage, for the 6 hour trip. And we got to watch movies while we drove! I love having the stow and go space under the floor boards in the back. The seats can fold down in there, but I use it to store an emergency blanket and diapers and car toys. It keeps everything looking neater and cleaner than having it strewn about the floor. I'm still getting used to driving a bigger and longer car than I'm used to, but its been almost two months and I LOVE it!