Thanks, Pinterest

Here are a few super cool things I've done/made with the help of Pinterest recently:

Muffin tin Mondays- another way to try and get Wade to eat his lunch.

 Calm down jar. Wade hasn't used it yet, but I really like to stare at it. Hoping he will too, it's kind of like a time-out timer. But mesmerizing.

See? Pretty... 

I call these 'squishy pads.' The green one has a bunch of googly eyes inside that you can push around and make faces with. The blue one is just for letter-writing practice. I'm also going to make a clear one with colored buttons on the inside to match up to some colored buttons glued onto the outside. A matching-type game. These are really fun to play with, but I have to watch Wade with them since his natural instinct is to destroy them.

Sunday funday

Today we wanted to go to the semi new quarry splash park here in Cedar Park since Mark hadn't been there before. It's pretty cool, it's supposed to look natural, with both fake and real rocks and landscaping for the kids to play on, etc. However, we arrived only to find guy sitting in a lawnchair ready to greet us. Apparently something blew and it won't be fixed until next week. I wasn't really listening, I was already trying to formulate a plan B, while Wade kept asking what was going on. Over and over and over.

Next stop, Brushy Creek splash pad. Not as cool and way more crowded, but just as fun for Wade and Daddy :)

Practicing his shot

Direct hit! Nooooooo...

Recently, we've taken away some of Wade's TV time. The kid watches 4 half hour shows a day, so I wanted to cut a little out anyway, especially since he's started liking playing on the computer and games on my phone. Anyway, I got tired of taking TV away when he wasn't "making good choices," so I just agreed to it when he wakes up in the morning and right after naptime. The other times (before nap and before bedtime), he has to earn. For every kind/nice/helpful thing or good decision or being a good listener, or whatever applies, he gets a sticker. 1 sticker equals 1 show (15 minutes), 2 equal 2 shows (30 mins), 3 is a movie, and 4 is an extra special treat of his choice. We break it up into mornings and afternoons of each day of the week, so it's pretty feasable that he'll at least get 1 sticker. Usually. I know, I know. This is such a teacher thing, but I have to say, I think it's working! He's really proud of himself when he earns a sticker and has been a lot better recently. And by recently, I mean today. I guess I'd be happier too, if I were getting things instead of always getting them taken away :)

In other news, the pacifier is going well. Now, I can even lay her down in her crib when she's sleepy and she'll fall asleep. By herself. What?! I told Mark, I keep thinking that I don't know what to do when she does that. I feel like I'm forgetting something or not doing something that I should because Wade would scream bloody murder if you put him down and he was not fully, dead to the world, asleep. It was WORK putting him to bed. And still is! She will wake up and cry if she drops her paci and is not quite asleep, but I have a feeling she'll figure out how to hang on to it soon. Here's a few cute pictures of Lilybug :)

Today was a big day- I found my tongue...

...and sat in my Bumbo seat for the first time. I am very proud of myself :)

Sleepy girl. I still think the paci might be magic.

3 months!

Updates:

She loves to talk! To anything that looks interesting... I had to cover the light on her monitor because she'd wake up and talk to it during the middle of the night FOREVER.

Bottle feeding is going ok. She's not a fan of the bottle unless Mark or I give it to her. Still working on this one...

Gave her her first pacifier today. We never gave one to Wade, so this is all new territory. She was up really early this morning for a long time and I finally just gave her one to see what would happen. It was almost like she was relieved and instantly fell asleep. She's always sucking on her hands, so she may end up giving it up when she finds her thumb. I just don't have the time to sit down nurse her when ever she's tired or fussy (not hungry) like I did with Wade. I feel a little guilty about it, but not much I can do. Oh well...

She's been doing great sleeping in her own room. She actually seems to like it. She talks to all the decorations on the wall and it calms down when you take her in there. I think both kids have nicer rooms than we do, hmmm...

Tries to sit up when you lay her back, working on those ab muscles.

Still loves to lay on her tummy. She gets her little legs going, she might actually be able to scoot herself around on her belly quite soon. Slow down little girl!

Chubby girl wears 3-6 month and 6 month size clothes :) She actually has a few 9 month and 12 month outfits that she fits into too!

Likes to stare at her hands and feet. She seems to want to will her fingers into her mouth she stares so hard! Sometimes she'll catch a blanket in her hands and it goes straight into her mouth. She's figuring out her hands can be pretty helpful.

No doctor's appointment until next month, so that's all I've got!

Not in the mood for this today, Mom...

Today is Friday...

I couldn't think of an exciting title, so here you have it- it's Friday.We've survived a full week of Mark being back to work. It hasn't been too bad actually, he's been able to come home a little early since his email and computer stuff isn't all back up and running yet. This is what we've been up to...

Still playing dress up. Today he's a firefighter, just like Uncle Brandon :)

Some good, clean fun. An afternoon bath with colored shaving cream!

And then he painted his butt...

This is how she ends up most mornings. Sometimes, she continues her rotation during the night until she's facing the opposite direction from when I initially layed her down.

Still working on bottle feeding. Wade helped this time :)

She's been doing some talking lately!

Wade's world

The aftermath of Wade's "nap" one afternoon

I especially like the redecorating he decided to do...

What, no paintbrushes?!

Guess I'll just have to sit on the table then

Pirates almost always need a treasure map

And they DEFINITELY need a sword. Arrrgggghhh!

Bedtime

Here's how the first night of Wade sleeping in his bed (instead of on the floor) and Lily in her crib in her room went:
8:00 pm- Put Wade to bed. He had not had a nap, so he fell sleep rather quickly. In his bed, yay!
8:00-10:00 pm- Put Lily into her crib and she woke up multiple times, as is her trend. It takes about 3 times before she'll finally settle in for the night. She's done well with napping in her crib during the day, so I'm hopeful this change won't disrupt her sleeping schedule too much.
10:30 pm- I went to bed.
1:00 am- I woke up to hear Lily making cute cooing noises in her sleep. It was amplified over the moniter, so I just listened. Usually she puts herself back to sleep.
1:30 am- Wade woke up crying and scared because the hallway was darker now that Mark had replaced the lightbulb with a dimmer one than what was in it before. He needed the bathroom light on, so Mark turned it on for him and went back to sleep.
1:30-2:00ish am- I tossed and turned and heard Lily start to make laughing and "wide awake" noises. I listened, figuring she was looking at the owls on her mobile and crib bumpers (which she loves) and was hoping she'd put herself back to sleep but didn't think it was very likely. She seemed very amused by something.
2:45am- Saw Wade's shadow as he came into our room and left. I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he still couldn't sleep. I took him back to his room, and told him to be quiet, Lily was sleeping. He told me that she wasn't and proceded to take me into her room (her door was wide open) and climb up onto her crib to show me that her eyes were open. No wonder she was laughing, he'd been in visiting her. Which was sweet, kind of... I tucked him in, told him that he couldn't visit Lily at nighttime and turned his music on. While this was going on Lily really woke up.
3:00-3:45am- Changed and nursed Lily and put her back to sleep.
4:00ish am- I feel asleep.
Exactly 7:30 am- "Mom! My bunny's awake! Can I watch teebee now?"

Maybe I'll just let Lily sleep in our room until she's 3. It might just be worth it...

Bottle training

Day 1: No bueno...

Spiderman REALLY wanted to help

Nooooo!

Day 2: Success!

Keeping things interesting...

Lately Wade has boycotted eating at regular meal times. He'll take one bite of everything (our rule), and announce he's done. So I've started putting plastic wrap on his trays and putting them in the fridge for when he's hungry again in an hour (or less). I thought I'd make it a little more interesting, so I took last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast leftovers and put them, along with a few added fruits into an ice cube tray. He loved his "special lunch" and, although he didn't eat it all, it served as a more interesting way to eat up those leftovers :)

Quite a few proteins in here! Menu: Pancakes made with pee pee balls (what Wade calls M & M's- that's a whole other story), blueberries, chicken, broccoli, cheese, mandarin oranges, cherries, hot dogs, tortilla strips, breakfast sausages. Next time, I think I will add a few more veggies and not quite so many meats :)

Today we visited to a new place called Safari Camp with Shelly, the girls and Thomas. It's a huge indoor playscape, complete with slides, bridges, hanging punching bags (I don't know what else to call them), a small basketball area and a zipline. It was a lot of fun, although crowded. Apparently discount Wednesdays ($3 per kid) + rainy day = CRAZINESS!

Zipline!

NICU visit

I was so excited to see my new nephews today! However, the day was a bit more challenging than expected. It all started out like this...

About to walk out the door, baby recently fed and changed, when Wade announced, "I have to go potty." I told him, "Ok, go quick!" "No mom, I have to pooooop." Well, that changes things...

20 minutes late, we hit the road. Then a rock hits my windshield, chipping it. Strike two.

We get to the hospital and I drop the kids off with Nene and Papa K. in the NICU family waiting room and go visit with the boys for about 45 minutes. So cute! They are getting some chubby little cheeks :) William had his eyes open nearly the whole time and had some great smiles. Nathan was asleep for most of the time, except when Dad had to change him. Boy was he mad!

William

Nathan

Left the NICU and followed the sound of crying baby back to the waiting room to find a 3 year old watching Buzz Lightyear on Mom's new tablet, and a 2 year old mad at the baby who was screaming her head off.

Headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to have lunch. 45 minutes after we arrived, we finally got our food. Then got our bills mixed up. Then the manager took about 10 minutes to come speak to us. She gave us some gift certificates, which was nice. But did nothing about the fact that my baby was starving and my boy was bored out of his mind and about to climb the walls. All in all, the kids did pretty well considering. So I got my lunch to go, quickly fed Lily in the car and had to bribe Wade with Bugs Bunny cartoons on my phone. 

We finally made it home and Wade proceeded to hit Mark. Got a warning. Hit Mark again. Lost his TV. Then lost his mind and had an official meltdown.

The only silver lining to this morning were those two adorable little boys I finally got to meet :) And the fact that Lily is still napping. Correction, WAS napping.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

After a few random rolls, which I was pretty sure were accidental, Lily has mastered the art of rolling from her belly to her back. After she gets there though, she's stuck like a turtle and waves her little arms and legs in the air and howls until somebody flips her back over. My little over-achiever :)

 Looking a little skeptical

Here I go...

What was I thinking?! This was a terrible idea!

Happy Fourth of July!

Spiderman waiting for the parade to begin

Somehow got talked into being IN the parade...

Worn out after all the festivities

Happy Fourth of July!

A day in the life...

For awhile, I've thought about doing a play-by-play recap of one of our days. It's really long, so if you don't care what I do all day, every day, skip this one :)

June 3, 2012

6:00 am Lily woke up. I changed her, fed her and layed her back down and she fell back asleep. By then it was about 6:45, so I got up and got ready for the day so I could have a little time to myself before the craziness of the day ensues!

I made coffee, picked up around the kitchen, and read until about 7:15, when Mark got up. Wade had already been up for a few minutes, but when he heard Mark, he was officially awake. He's really good at hanging out in his room (if he's awake, which he's usually not) until his bunny clock wakes up at 7:30, but I told him today he could get up a little early since we hardly have any time alone together. (If I haven't mentioned this clock before, it is the greatest invention ever- http://www.kid-sleep.com/enfant/wake-up/indicateur/does-your-child-wake-early.html ). Mark left to do some work at Deb's house (a friend of the family) and I got Wade settled to watch a few episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates with a blueberry muffin breakfast picnic on the living room floor. While he was watching TV I got dressed, folded laundry, emptied the dishwaser, bribed him to finish his muffin, updated my blog and ate breakfast. When his cartoons were over, I got him dressed and ready and we read a few books. The same 2 Mercer Mayer books, over and over and over...  But they were good for talking about letters and opposites and counting. Plus I like the Little Critter books :) Then I let out the dogs, dumped some compost and got the diaper bag packed.

9:15 I had to wake up Lily :/ to get ready for my chiropractor appointment. Fed her, changed her, got her dressed and we headed out to see Dr. Vaughn. Wade was good at the chiropractor and earned a sucker (sugar free and organic, no less!), and Lily was awake in her carseat and perfectly content the entire time. Success :)

Good morning!

Playing while I get Sister ready to go

Around 10:20 we headed to the McDonald's playscape and enjoyed a smoothie. Their new pomagrante/blueberry is actually really good, the only one I like there. Wade played and Lily woke up, so I changed and fed her. He played until around 11:45 when we had to go back to Dr. Vaughn's office to pick up Wade's Buzz and Woody toys that he left there :/ It was so nice of them to actually call me and let me know before we had a complete meltdown when we couldn't find them at home!

Catching a quick nap while Brother plays

Trying to convice his new friend to play on the playscape with him

It was about 12:00 when we got home and I quick threw in a load of diapers while Wade took a pretend nap in our room (his idea, and what a wonderful one!) and Lily was awake and perfectly happy in her carseat for the moment. I then moved her to the living room floor for tummy time (which she loves) while I made lunch for Wade. Mark got home and we all sat down to eat lunch together. Except Wade, who ate one bite of everything (this is our rule and he did it on his own today, with no coercing) and announced he was done.

When you take a nap,

you have to become the daddy by wearing these glasses.

So happy on my belly!

Wade helped Mark do some work on the vent in our room while I fed Lily. She fell asleep around 1:15 and I layed her down for her long afternoon nap, while Mark started a Superwhy cartoon for Wade. I love this show! It's on PBS and is all about letters, reading and spelling. I find him around the house singing his ABC's and having little adventures with letters like they do on the show :)

Mark did some work in the garage and I did a quick sweep of the living room floor while Wade watched his TV show and finished his lunch (we let him eat the rest of his meals if he gets hungry, instead of a snack), then I read him a story and put him to bed for his "nap." Usually he doesn't sleep, but miracle of miracles, today he did! Yes, he still sleeps on the floor, but we don't have the baby gate up anymore. It was suddenly "broken" one day and daddy needed to fix it. Wade hasn't asked about it in about a month (crossing my fingers).

 Sleeping, yay!

 I had just gotten him settled and started to make notes about today (so I wouldn't forget by the time I typed this!) when Lily woke up. Usually she'll sleep for a few hours, so I was really surprised that she had already woken up after only about an hour... She was wet and hungry (surprise, surprise) so I changed and fed her. Then she pooped, and decided that made her hungry. So I changed her and fed her again. She was fussy by now, so I tried to rock her, which she wanted nothing to do with, so I ended up putting her in her bouncer where she instantly fell asleep. I made the mistake of moving her from the bouncer to her cradle, hoping that she'd sleep longer... After about 10 minutes she woke up again, but I was able to get her to go back to sleep :) Ahhh, silence.

Asleep, for the moment...

I woke Wade up at 4, seeing as how he won't sleep at night if he naps any later. He watched another Superwhy cartoon while he had his snack, and then seeing as how Lily was still sleeping and I was feeling motivated, I loaded him into the stroller and we walked to the park while Mark made dinner. We played for about 45 minutes, then headed back and ate some yummy crab bisque. At least Mark & I did. Wade hates all seafood, so he had hotdogs and broccoli. 

Lily let us eat all of our dinner, before she woke up around 6:30 hungry and wet, so I changed and fed her. While Wade had a little ice cream for dessert (since he ate all of his dinner :) ), I took a quick shower. Then he played a bit before we gave both kids baths at 7:30. Wade watched a few episodes of Jake and went to bed around 8:30. But... there was an ant near his room, he missed daddy (who went to borrow Uncle Greg's truck for some work he needed it for tomorrow), and he heard the neighbors lighting off fireworks until after 10:00, so that kept him up... Lily finally crashed out around 10:30 after a little bout of me nursing her, pacing around with her on my shoulder, and rocking her. I was up for about 10 minutes after she went to sleep before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and went to bed too.

So that's it. We usually try to do one active/outside activity to burn some energy (McDonalds playscape, sprinkler park, bounce house, riding bikes, park, pool, playdate etc.) and one quiet, learning activity (reading, computer time, playdough, painting/art, library, puzzles, board games, etc.) per day. This was a pretty typical day except for the fact that there were no episodes of sending Wade to his room, fighting over meals or negotiating nap time. So I guess that makes it especially atypical :)