Just a normal day at home

We take so many photos of our kids on our iphone that I’m losing the good quality photographs that I love.  I sometimes randomly pull out my Nikon and shoot pics of the kids so we have good photos to show them one day when they are older.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the phone pics, because they are snap shots and show our daily lives.

Throughout my years of taking pictures, I’ve learned the best way to capture a child is to get pictures of them in his/her element.  Like I said I randomly pull out my Nikon and capture the kids doing what they love to do around the house.  Yesterday was a perfect day to do that.  Hayden was in the office with Jonathan playing with trains, Ian was playing with his pirate ship and cars, and Harper, well…she was just following her brothers around ;).

Here are some of the photos I got:

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ian4 Ian1 DSC_0228

 

Ian

Ian

Ian loves playing with cars and his Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship. He also still loves his fire station we got him for Christmas.

Hayden3 Hayden2 Hayden1

Hayden loves his trains and asks us to help him put them together on a daily basis.  We have put together some pretty impressive tracks for him that he loves.  All day long we will hear a very loud choochoo noise..

 

Harper3Harper1

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Harper just loves to follow her brothers around and see what thy are doing.  She loves to play with their cars and has started putting them on the car ramp too!

I love just watching the kids play, its awesome to see their differences and their personalities come out when they play.

bath time fun

The other night I let the boys take an extra long bath since Ian was actually wanting to take a bath.  Recently he has decided he didn’t like taking baths and would cry through the whole thing…not sure why.  Well, he willingly got in the bath that night and was playing with Hayden, so I wasn’t about to stop that fun. Instead, I grabbed a camera and took some pictures.

4 Months Old

DSC_0270Once again I am VERY late in posting this! Little bit is 4 months old and actually doing pretty good.  Other than her reflux bothering her, she is doing great.  Remember last month when we added the rice cereal to her bottles to help with the reflux?  Well, she did great on the rice cereal.  She stopped the screaming fits, she was happy again and was sleeping better…for about 2 weeks, then it all started again.  So I called the pediatrician again and they added another drug to her Prevacid and rice cereal.  She gets it 4 times a day 30 minutes before meals.  Do you know how hard it is to hold a hungry baby off from eating for 30 minutes?! Its horrible! So in order to control her reflux/tummy troubles and keep her from being in pain, this is what all she is on – Elecare formula (roughly $400 a month), Prevacid ($75 a month), Bethanachol ($35 a month) and then rice cereal in each bottle (very cheap!) and she also sleeps on 2 wedges under her mattress.  She’s an expensive diva, but worth every penny!

DSC_0212She loves looking at herself in the mirror now and loves her bath. When she is starting to get fussy or if we are trying to hold her off to eat because we just gave her the medicine, we give her a bath….then she’s as happy as a clam.

She is sleeping in her crib now and out of the Rock N Play sleeper.  She was starting to outgrow it, so it was time to make the switch.  She is also out of the miracle blanket when she sleeps and in this a blanket called the “wombie” its like a little cocoon that keeps her arms from flailing about when she sleeps, because let me tell you, this girl is crazy. She gets those arms going 90 to nothing.  She loves this thing and typically goes to sleep pretty soon after we zip it up. There have been a few times when I zip it up, put her paci in her mouth and she’s out!

Harper loves to sit up and be able see what everyone is doing.  This girl is going to be non stop! She has started rolling from side to side but hasn’t rolled over yet.  I’m sure it won’t be long though! IMG_3292

She is sleeping good at night and getting a little better for her naps during the day.  She will typically go to sleep around 630-700 and sleep until anywhere between 330-500, then go back to sleep until 730 or 800. She is sleeping better during the day but still only 30 mins or so at a time.  Every now and then she’ll take an hour nap.

She is eating 4- 5 ounces every 4 hours during the day – which is 4 to 5 bottles a day depending on when she eats in the morning.

We are getting her doc band within the next month and she’ll probably wear it 6-8 weeks and then have a beautifully rounded head.

Hayden and Ian continue to love on their sister and are always checking on her to make sure she is ok.  She is actually starting to respond to them and will smile when they talk to her.  harper4moAll these years, my mom has kept the dress that I as dedicated in and gave it to me a while back.  Before Harper outgrew it, I had to put it on her and get a picture just for sentimental reasons.  She is getting dedicated next month, hopefully, but I don’t think it will fit her then.  It would have been awesome to have her dedicated in the same dress.

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3 Years Old

3 years old

My boys are 3 years old! They have grown up so much since last year, its amazing the difference between a “new” 2-year-old and an “old” 2-year-old. They are now talking like big boys.  Granted, we still can’t understand about 20% of what they say, but they try so hard to get it out.

The boys have definitely turned into little boys and there is no more baby in them! It kind of makes me sad, but at the same time, I’m loving watching them become their own little person.  They are ALL boy and love to run, jump and climb, like any other 3 yr old boy! I would call them highly active, not hyper. They love playing outside in the backyard or at the park climbing on the jungle gym.

IMG_2174For their birthday we got them a big play set for the back yard that they call their “castle”.

IMG_2698The boys are all into cars and trains these days.  They have also just started pretend playing.  They tell me all the time, “we pretend” when they are “cooking” on their grill.  I walked in their room the other day and they were “pretending to wash their hands” with the hand sanitizer.  Not sure how they got it but they did and it was everywhere.

Hayden playing with his new train set

Ian playing with his new car ramp

This fall they started a parents day out program at our parents church (which we recently started attending) 2 days a week, and love it! It’s great for mom and dad too because that gives us each a day where we have about 4 hours that we can get stuff done or run errands with only 1 baby in tow – its amazing how much you can get done with 1 baby vs 2 or even 3!  When I went back to work after my maternity leave with Harper I went part-time, so I’m working 3 days a week now and am able to be at home a little more with the kids.  Luckily, one of those days that I’m off is a day the boys go to PDO.

The boys just had their 3 year check up today and passed with flying colors :).  Hayden weighed 34 pounds and was 38.25 inches tall (85%) and Ian weighed 30 pounds and 37.25 inches tall – as always, an inch shorter than Hayden. They are doing well with their sleep, eating (even though Hayden is very picky and Ian won’t drink milk anymore – like at all) and reflux/tummy issues.  We have both boys on a daily probiotic and I think it has helped quite a bit with digestive issues they had a few months ago. They both have seasonal allergies, Hayden not as much as Ian, and take Zyrtec as needed.

We have been slowly potty training the  boys and they do pretty well when we put them on the toilet to go, but they don’t do as well keeping underwear dry.  We haven’t really just put them in underwear much, simply because we haven’t had a free few days in a row to really work on it.  We plan on doing that around Christmas when Jonathan and I are both home for a week.

When Harper came along, it through the boys for a loop for a while.  They were off their schedule and mommy and daddy weren’t as accessible to them as often as they were since we had to take care of a pretty needy baby.  They were starting to act out some and were both having problems sleeping, but after things got semi back to normal and we had a routine again, our boys were back. Of course, they are your typical 3 year olds and visit time out on a daily basis for some reason or another.

These boys love their sister – they are always checking on her and trying to give her a hug or kiss.  They like to kiss her goodnight before going to bed every night and they love to climb up on her crib side rail to look at her.

Always checking on their sister - disregard the paci in Ian's mouth...we're working on that.  They only get it for nap and bedtime but he must have sneaked it when I wasn't looking

The boys generally play well together and its great that they always have a friend to play with. They do fight over toys like any toddler/preschooler would and they have been known to push one another, which leads to an automatic time out in our house and afterwards they have to hug and apologize to their brother. They really do love each other and get along great most of the time.  Ian tends to be the one that we’ll find playing by himself with his cars or reading a book, and Hayden does do well playing trains by himself, but prefers to play with someone else most of the time.

Chasing each other outside

having a brotherly chat

Hayden is our thinker, always has been….he has the mind of an engineer and it seems like it’s always on.  He’s tries to figure out how things work and loves to take things apart – not always put them back together though.

IMG_2728He is a sweet boy and loves giving hugs and kisses now. He likes to sit in your lap or by you on the couch when watching curious george or daniel tiger.  When he is tired, he is a cuddle bug.

He is still pretty picky – mainly due to textures that he can’t tolerate (he gets that from me), but loves his chicken nuggets (from Costco only), peanut butter sandwiches, and any carbs – bread, chips, etc.  He will only eat apples and bananas, no other fruit and no veggies.  But, he loves an organic spinach/cheese pizza – go figure!

He is a sweet boy and loves giving hugs and kisses now. He likes to sit in your lap or by you on the couch when watching curious george or daniel tiger.  When he is tired, he is a cuddle bug.

He loooves his trains! He has 2 different tracks that he plays with and he still loves his train table that he got last year for his birthday.  He is a happy camper when we let him sit and watch steam engine videos on our ipad.

This boy loooves his sleep, and is definitely a morning person (not sure where he gets that from because neither me nor his dad are).  He is ready to go to bed at night and sometimes will ask to take his nap.  But when morning comes (anywhere between 600-700) he is up and at em! Ian usually keeps Hayden up at night but Hayden wakes Ian up in the morning (which is not good sense Ian is NOT a morning person).  He still takes about an hour nap every day and goes to sleep usually around 745-800 and sleeps all night.

IMG_2715Hayden loves to “cook”.  We bought them a little grill and some play food and they are always cooking us lunch.  He got a little chef outfit for his birthday and loves to wear it.  He was helping daddy fix their dinner in this picture.

Hayden is a ham! he loves to joke around and goof off.  His laugh is contagious and you can’t help but laugh when you hear him.  When he smiles his eyes light up and his smile will definitely bring a smile to your face.

Hayden is a great helper and loves to have a task at hand.  He is someone who needs to feel needed and when he is asked to help you he gets excited.  I call him my OCD baby because he likes things to be in order and if they are out-of-place he will let me know.  He will be the one to put his cup or plate in the sink after he eats, or throw away a wrapper after he’s opened something.

This kid will go places and will more than likely be the leader doing it!

IMG_2727Ian is our Mr. Independent and the one to say “me do myself” many times throughout the day.  He loves to do things by himself like a big boy but not too big to ask for help.

Ian doesn’t care as much as Hayden as to how things work, just as long as they work! He is not as detail oriented as Hayden but is just as particular.  He loves to have things a certain way and has to have the same things every night when he sleeps – his animals, blanket, taggie, paci and flashlight!

Ian has a special name for Hayden.  He calls him “Zeus”, yes Zeus…like the greek god.  Of course he didn’t choose this name from greek mythology, but we have no clue where he came up with this or how it started.  One day he just started calling him that.  He even has us calling him that sometimes.

Ian is definitely our night owl and not a morning person.  He will keep Hayden up at night talking or trying to play.  We sometimes have to separate them at night because they end up playing instead of sleeping and when we do that Hayden goes straight to sleep where as Ian will lay there talking or singing to himself.  But Hayden usually wakes Ian up in the mornings and he is a mr. grumpy pants when that happens.  Ian is best when he is left to sleep until about 800 and wakes up on his own.

Ian can be a cuddle bug too, when he wants to be. He loves to cuddle with you on the couch or in the recliner after his nap. He will be the one to get upset when mommy has to leave to go to work – not always, but sometimes.  We have found that Ian is our homebody, he prefers to stay home and play rather than go somewhere.  He gets overstimulated if he does too much in one day.

Ian may not be the leader of the group, but he is strong-willed enough not to be persuaded into doing something he doesn’t want to do.

This boy loves his stuffed animals.  His bed is mostly animals and blankets and you’ll find him under them all! We’ve gone in there a few times and he has a teddy bear over his head.  He also loves his cars.  He can never have too many cars and will play with them for hours if we let him.

He loves to watch curious george and never gets tired of that IMG_0632little monkey! He was going through a mickey mouse phase where all he wanted to watch was mickey – “me watch mickey mouse?” all. day. long. But he isn’t into it that much anymore. He is a happy camper when he gets to sit and watch cars or mickey on our ipad.

He is still our reader and loves books, I will find him sitting on the couch reading a book at times, but he would still prefer us to read them to him.

Ian has always been a good eater, he will eat most any fruit and some green beans.  He will try some new foods occasionally and we tell him its ok not to like them, but he does need to try them.

Ian’s laugh is infectious and I love to hear him bust out laughing at something.  I love to see him get excited about something because his eyes show how excited he is.

I can’t wait to see what this kid will do!

Both of my boys have great manners.  We have always taught them to say please and thank you and now we find them saying it without us asking or telling them to say it.  I love to hear them say “tank you” in their little voices.

I have two of the best kids around and I couldn’t have asked for better boys.  I love them so much and now that they are talking, I love hearing what all they have to say!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Here is our annual picture with the boys in front of the house.  And for fun, a look back as previous years:

3 years old

 birthday collage

 

Rory Myers Children’s Adventure Garden

We have a family member ship to the Dallas Arboretum and have always loved going and taking the boys to run around and I especially love it because its a great place to get pictures! This year the new children’s adventure garden opened and it is awesome!  We have only gone once and were only there a short time so we only saw a very small part of the garden.  There is so much more to see and plan to go back soon.

The garden is divided up into 2 areas. To the right is for older kids and what I’ve heard is pretty hands on and a great learning experience, while the left side is more for toddler/preschool aged kids.  Here are some of the pictures from our short time there:

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DSC_0543enjoying the view during our picnic lunch

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Playing in the hay maze

While we were there we attempted to get some photos of the kids and the kids with us. I say attempted because the boys weren’t into taking pictures and would rather look at all the pumpkins. We got a few good ones but not a whole lot.  We are going to have to go back to get their annual birthday pictures with the pumpkins.

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Me and my crazies
Daddy and the kids

There are so many things for the kids to do that is interactive and they did an amazing job on this garden.  I think we will be getting an annual family membership for a few years to come simply because of this garden.

Harper’s Birthday in pictures

I finally got around to getting all the photos off Jonathan’s camera and putting them on my computer.  Here is Harper’s big day in photos.

This time I don’t think Jonathan was as nervous as he was the day the boys were born.  I know I wasn’t, I was just anxious to finally meet our little girl.

Being monitored and waiting for the c-section

I have to add this funny part.  As I am laying there in the bed with the contraction and fetal heart rate monitor on me, the nurse looks at me and asks, “so how long have you been having these contractions?” They were about every 3 or 4 minutes apart according to the monitor.  I just looked at her and laughed a little…I said “oh, since about 20 weeks.”  She just looked at me, “oh!” I did proceed to tell her that the intensity and frequency had picked up the last day or two, but it was funny to watch her face.

Getting started…I love all the warm blankets they put on you, its FREEZING in the OR.

At this point, I was just trying to breathe.  The epidural took a little too well and actually numbed me higher than I think it was supposed to.  I was having some trouble breathing throughout the entire c-section and couldn’t even talk much because I couldn’t feel like I could get enough air to speak.

She’s here! 1:55 PM

Since you can’t see anything, you have no clue whats going on when. The only way I knew she was out was to hear that glorious cry! It doesn’t look like she enjoyed that exit too much, huh?!

6 pounds, 15 ounces & 19.5 inches of cuteness

Harper is a full 2 pounds heavier than both the boys were but she is still soo tiny.  The boys just looked like (cute) little old men – ha.  She isn’t just tiny, she’s so petite, her little nose and mouth are petite and its all so proportionate.

so tiny

so tiny

 

daddy putting her first diaper on in the OR

daddy putting her first diaper on in the OR

Just like with the boys, Jonathan got to put her first diaper on while we were still in the OR.

 

mommy time in the OR

mommy time in the OR

At this point Harper was having some problems breathing and keeping her oxygen saturation where they wanted it so they were giving her some supplemental oxygen and her saturation level would go up.  They would take it away and it would go down….then she finally kept it where they wanted for a short period of time so they let Jonathan bring her over to me to see her and have some “mommy time”….which later the nurse told me she did on purpose because she knew that would help with her oxygen/breathing issues.  Sure enough it did and she was stable enough to then come with me to the recovery room.

on our way to recovery

on our way to recovery

But not before a quick photo shoot with mommy and daddy and Dr. Monti.

with mommy and daddy

with mommy and daddy

daddy, mommy and Dr. Monti

daddy, mommy and Dr. Monti

 

Harper and Dr. Monti

Harper and Dr. Monti

Once we got to the recovery room our parents and family started to come back a few at a time to see the newest addition to the family.

Grammy and Grandma admiring their new granddaughter

Grammy and Grandma admiring their new granddaughter

Papa and Grandaddy meeting Harper

Papa and Grandaddy meeting Harper

feeding Harper for the first time - she ate all 2 ounces at once!!

feeding Harper for the first time – she ate all 2 ounces at once!!

one proud daddy

one proud daddy

After a few hours in the recovery room we were taken to my room up on the post-partum floor.  Once we got there the pediatrician check Harper out and said everything looked good except she was a little jaundiced and she was still having a little trouble with her breathing.  Because of her breathing she gave us the option to either do more skin to skin or “kangaroo care” with Harper or send her to the nursery so she can stay under the heat lamps.  We chose to keep her with us and do skin to skin care.  I got to do it for an hour or two and then Jonathan got his turn at it for about an hour.

doing skin to skin care

doing skin to skin care

Later that evening her breathing got a lot better and her grunting started to disappear, and by the next day her breathing problems had resolved completely.  She was still jaundiced but it got better over time and now has gone away too.

Harper had a lot of visitors come see her in the hospital and I tried to get a photo with all of them, but I wasn’t able to get a photo of the birthday girls together, Stephanie and Harper.  Brian and Stephanie were there the day she was born but because of her breathing issues, no one was able to hold her except me and Jonathan until the next day.

harpers visitorsThis hospital stay was a lot less stressful than the previous one with the boys. We didn’t have to divide our time with one baby in our room and another one in the NICU and then worry about spending time with visitors as well.  We got to spend a lot of quality time with just the two of us and Harper, getting to know her and bond with her.  It was great!

all ready to go home

all ready to go home

After 3 days in the hospital we were ready to go home and start our lives as a family of 5.

Our new family of 5

Our new family of 5

 

Fall Arobretum pics

Last year we took the boys to the Dallas Arboretum for some fall pictures with the pumpkins. I love how the Arboretum decorates for the Fall season, its so festive.  Last week me and the boys went with some friends to get some more pictures for this season.  We got some pretty decent pictures last year, even though poor Ian felt horrible because of allergies, his eyes were watering the whole time, poor kid.  This year I gave him some Zyrtec before we left the house so we didn’t have any problems with allergies. We did get some decent pictures, but the boys were not into picture taking AT ALL this year.  They were much more into picking up all the pumpkins.  Just imagine Hayden chunking pumpkins like it were shot put, that’s what it was like!  We did have fun and got a few good shots of the boys individually, but a picture together was out of the question. I got 1, not a good one, but I got one and that’s all that matters.  Maybe we’ll have better luck next year when they are hopefully a little more cooperative ;).  Here are some of the photos we got that day, If you click on a the first photo it will bring up a slideshow to scroll through.

 

Toddler Beds

their new big boy beds

About a month and a half ago we switched the boys over to toddler beds from their cribs.  Trust me, if we could have kept them in their cribs we would have.  Hayden started climbing out of his crib first and for a few days we were fine with it, he is so very cautious and careful we weren’t worried about him falling and hurting himself.  So he would just climb out of the crib when he woke up.  Well a few days later, Mr. Ian learned how to climb out and that’s when the story changed.  Lets just say Ian isn’t as cautious as Hayden.  He hikes that leg up and then just throws himself over the edge.  We were definitely worried he would fall and hurt himself.

So, we took the huge step and put them in their “big boy” beds.  The first couple of nights they were still in their cribs, just with the side rail removed, until we could get their toddler beds.  Hayden fell out of bed a few nights in a row, so we had to get him a side rail to keep him in.  We decided to get Ian one too because he liked the security and confinement of the crib and I think the shock of having no “walls” around him scared him a little.

Someone rolled out of bed and is on the floor

Before we put them to bed, we cleared out their room and the only that they have access to are their beds and dresser. All the toys are in the closet, which has a lock on it. So they aren’t up playing all night.

The first night of their freedom was a little rough.  I think it took close to 2 hours for them to go to sleep.  We ended up sitting outside their door holding the door closed so they couldn’t open it and taking turns putting them back in bed. The second night went a little smoother.  It didn’t take 2 hours, but probably about an hour.  Each night got a little better but the difference was that we got a door handle that locked! We switched the lock to the outside so we can basically lock them in, then when they are asleep we will unlock it. I wasn’t about to play the game of every few minutes going back in to put them back in bed.  Once they try to open it and realize they can’t, they typically just go get back in bed.  Hayden will fall asleep in front of the door some nights and we’ll have to put him back in bed, but that has really just started happening in the last week or so.

There have been a few nights at the beginning where the boys would wake up in the middle of the night and want to play, but that didn’t last but 1 or 2 nights and they realized that is not what we do in the middle of the night. They will still cry some or wake up in the middle of the night but most of the time they will go back to sleep without us going in there.  They have these little seahorses that light up and play music, kind of like the old gloworms we had as kids, that Jonathan’s mom got them their first Christmas and Its funny because Hayden will use it as a flash light at night.  He will start crying and then we’ll hear the glow play music and then he’s quiet.  He uses it to find his pacifier in the dark, he’ll also hold onto it when he gets out of bed at night so he can see where he’s going.  Smart boy!

About 2 weeks ago they realized they an pull the dresser drawers open and pull all their clothes out! They had fun with this, we would go in and all the clothes are thrown over the bed and floor.  After going in several times a night to put them back in the clothes back in the drawers and them back in bed, we decided to put the cabinet locks on the drawers. I was also afraid they would pull on the drawers enough that it would pull the dresser over on top of them.

1 drawer emptied

On average it takes about 30 minutes for the boys to go to sleep at night.  Sometimes 10-15 and sometimes an hour, it just depends on the day.  They will talk, sing, laugh, you name it until they just poop out.  Because of this, we have started putting them to bed earlier so by the time they actually fall asleep it is closer to the time they normally would be going to sleep in their cribs.  It took us a few weeks to realize this, they were going to sleep an hour or so later than normal. It also helps now that its starting to get darker earlier.  They were going to sleep when it was bright as day outside.

This is what they do when they SHOULD be going to sleep!

And, because of their new found freedom, when they woke up in the morning, they were up! Normally they would wake up around 645-700 when we were leaving, but since they were in their crib, they would just go back to sleep and sleep until about 830 sometimes 900.  When they started sleeping in their new beds, they were up at about 630-700, and a few mornings, Hayden was up at 545 or 600.  This is NOT acceptable! They were only getting 9 hours of sleep instead of their usual 12 -13 hours a night.  The last week or so Hayden has been sleeping until 700 and Ian until 800 or 815 some days, so they are finally getting the hang of it.

up waaay too early, watching Curious George while mom and dad get ready for work.

Nap time is a whole different ballgame! It was miserable for about a week or two.  They weren’t sleeping enough at night and then wouldn’t really sleep much during their nap.  They were just in their room playing in the curtains, with each other, singing, talking, laughing, anything but sleeping! So after a week or 2 of them being complete Mr. Fussy Pants’ and driving us crazy, I decided to separate them during nap time.  Since our new house (well not really new anymore) is a 4 bedroom house, we have an extra room across the hall from their room that we set up the pack n play in.  Since Ian is less likely and not as able to climb out as Hayden, he got the short straw and gets to sleep in the guest room.  I don’t think he minds it though.  At first, they didn’t like being separated, especially Hayden, but now they give each other a hug, wave bye and go to their separate rooms.  AND, they sleep! They will sleep an hour (mainly Hayden) and as much as 2.5 hours (usually Ian).  Another reason we decided to separate them was that Hayden doesn’t sleep as long as Ian and ended up waking Ian up, so he wasn’t getting the sleep he requires (which is more than Hayden).

We have them on a pretty good nap/bedtime schedule now and we are all getting the hang of their new freedom and this new stage of life.  Other than having to put them back in bed some nights after they have fallen asleep, they sleep great.  It took a little while and we had some rough nights, but we are through the worst and it will only get better from here (right?).

Hayden

Ian – sleeping with his head at the foot of the bed, as usual

 

Terrible twos X 2

The boys are trying our patience these days!  I have always said the terrible twos should be renamed to the curious twos. They are only “terrible” because they are curious and are trying to find out how things work, what they can get away with, etc…not because they want to intentionally disrespect us.  BUT, in the process of being curious and finding out how the world works – they can act TERRIBLE! Most people get to experience this stage 1 kiddo at a time, we get 2 at a time, which is a lot more than just double the work.  I really don’t think I can hear another person say oh, “I know exactly what you are going through, I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old.”  No, you don’t know what we are going through because that said 3 year old is a year older and can comprehend and verbalize a whole lot more than that 2 year old.  They can listen better, follow instructions better and tell you how they are feeling, what they ant, etc.  Two 2 year olds is an even playing field, they are at the exact same comprehension level, exact same stage in life and you are dealing with 2 kids that don’t quite understand what you are talking about when you tell them they are going in time out because of this or that.  That 3 year old knows they did something bad and this is a consequence.  They can verbalize how they are feeling a whole lot more than the 2 year old can.  ok, enough ranting.

While the boys generally do behave pretty good, they definitely have their moments of being (almost) 2. hey are testing the boundaries and finding out what exactly they can get away with and what they can’t.  Discipline is pretty hard right now.  They don’t quite grasp the concept of time outs, although they are slowly learning, and spankings don’t do anything – so why do it.  So that leaves us with 1 thing that has shown to work well with (at least) Hayden – taking away things that matter to him.  The two things that have helped are really only good at night when they are playing instead of going to sleep – taking away the pacifier and separating the boys.  Hayden does not like having Ian in the other room! Those 2 consequences work great at night time and nap time, but during the day is when we struggle with disciplining.

It also seems like we are always saying “No”, “get down”, “stop that’, “give that back to your brother”, “leave your brother alone”, “don’t touch the TV screen”, “don’t stand on that”, “sit down”, “leave the food in your mouth”, you know, the usual stuff you could hear at anyone’s house that has a toddler living in it.  I just feel like I’m nagging my kids ALL day long and I hate that.  But at the same time, they HAVE to learn because I don’t want them growing up not knowing how to act in public or at other peoples houses 🙂

The boys manage to get into a lot of stuff, things that we don’t think they are capable of doing, they surprise us! Lets talk about last weekend, shall we.  Keep in mind all this took place within a 3 hour time period.  Time of the crime – 5:00PM, crime scene – our kitchen, criminal – Ian.  (Ian really didn’t do anything bad, its just funny) So I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and the boys were playing on the porch with their sand.  I left the door open and blinds up so I could keep a good eye on them – and keep in mind our kitchen is like 10-15 feet from the door.  I hear Ian walk inside, around the kitchen table, walks into our room and out, then down the hall and into the kitchen where I am.  I hear him give his little giggle that he does when he has done something that he is proud of, so I look down to see him holding a cup full of sand.  You may be thinking, oh ok, a cup of sand.  This cup had holes in the bottom and sand was leaking out, and ALLLLL over the path that he had taken to get to me.  Do you know how hard it is to sweep up sand without missing any of it?!  It’s hard, trust me.  Like I said, he didn’t do anything bad, its just a funny story of some of the shenanigans the boys get into.  The next crime took place at 8:00PM, crime scene – boys’ room, criminal – Hayden & Ian.  The boys were in their room, supposed to be going to sleep.

They had been quiet for about 15-20 mins and every once in a while we’d hear a little giggle and then nothing.  Well, I decided to go in and check on them…good thing I did.  When I walked in they had the completely full diaper rash ointment (very oily and greasy ointment) and vasoline ALL OVER THE PLACE.  They had climbed up on top of their bed rails and reached to the top of their dresser to get these, which were in the middle of the dresser.  They had this stuff all over them, in their hair, on their pajamas, ALL over their sheets, on the beds, walls, everywhere!The once full can of ointment was completely empty by the time they were done with it.  I had no clue where to begin! I just stripped their beds and them, then wiped down everything to get as much of the oil out that I could.  I soaked the sheets and their clothes in the tub with dawn dish detergent.  I figured, if it can get oil out of bird feathers it can get grease out of fabric.

the after effects – sheets and clothes soaking in dawn dish soap

I’m sure this won’t be the last time they do something like that so I just have to remind myself this stage will pass and they will grow up, one day!  Even though I don’t necessarily love the stage they are in right now as far as behavior goes, I do love this stage they are in for other reasons and I don’t want them to grow up too fast.  Can we just bypass the bad behavior and keep the other aspects of this age?!  I’m sure that would be the dream of every parent of toddlers! I don’t want to skip over the whole stage because if we did we would miss things like this:

Ian

Or this:

Hayden coloring

or goofy times like this:

and sweet moments like this:

So I don’t want to miss all those moments, I could just live without things like this:

 

Furniture redo

A while back we bought a little table and chair set from Ikea for the boys.  They are getting to the point where they like to color and play on a table.  So we figured its time to get them one of their own, and maybe selfishly thinking “maybe they’ll stop climbing to get to the kitchen table.”

I put the table together and the boys love it, they have even eaten at it a few times…until they keep getting up from the table after a bite of food.  Then its back to the high chair.

Anyway, once the table was all put together, in the living room and next to all the other furniture, something just didn’t look right and it was bugging me. All our furniture is dark, couches are dark, entertainment center is dark, even our carpet is darker…the table is pine and white! stark contrast, and it bugged me! So I take matters into my own hands, of course.  I pull out some stain that I already had stained that puppy dark.  Put a few coats of polyurethane on it and it looks gorgeous (well I think it does)! I love it next to all our dark furniture, now it looks like it belongs.  😉

Here’s the before:  And the after:Don’t you love my model, its funny that he got in the picture both times! Well I’ll leave you with some pictures of the boys I took a few weeks ago, playing at their newly beautified table:

Hayden coloring
Ian coloring

As you can see they like to color the table top too…luckily this table was made for children and you can just wipe it up with wet wipes!

Ian being goofy
Hayden