Me and My House

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dropping our Morning Nap

We've been working on dropping the morning nap this week @ 19 mos. of age. I had been struggling on whether or not to do this for the past 3-4 weeks. Something wasn't right - naptimes were constantly changing, fussiness had increased, crying more than usual before bedtime, waking up in the middle of the night, etc... However, I couldn't tell whether or not it was the fact that we were all sick, or if it was really time for some naptime changes to take place. Well, once Carter (and the rest of us) felt better these things were still a struggle, so I consulted my trusty BabyWise II book and this Blog both of which confirmed the fact that I should try to drop the morning nap.

I was really nervous about how it would go down, but it's been good so far! I made sure that we had lot of play dates/activities scheduled this week, so that C-man would be thoroughly entertained and not "miss" the nap opportunity. It's been an exhausting week for this preggo mama, but sleep things have already started to get better. I've been keeping him going until 1pm everyday when he ABSOLUTELY CRASHES! One day he crashed for 4 hours, the next day was 3. We shall see what today holds! He's also been all but begging to go to sleep at night and sleeping through the night again without waking up at all - yay!!!

We've gotten to have morning play dates, toddler storytime at the library, lunch with friends, playtime at the playground, etc. during the mornings. This has all been really fun as we used to be (basically) confined to the house because of morning naps unless it was a church or Bible Study day! I think Carter has enjoyed all the out and about activity. He does get noticeably sleepy around 9-10am, so I've been trying to give him a snack around this time to give him an energy boost.

I was the most worried about being at home during the old morning nap time. I knew he'd be fine if we were out on a play errand, but I wasn't sure what would happen at home. We have been home some this week during this time, and it's seemed to work out ok. Here's what I do. When he starts showing signs of being sleepy (grumpiness/clinginess/whining), I give him his snack and he gets to watch 15 minutes of Mickey Mouse or Chuggington (his favorite train show) with his blanket (I like to call this his rest time or downtime). After a little down time, I let him play by himself in his playroom for 45 min-1hour. This sounds like child abuse, but he really enjoys it. I have found that during this time if we are home and he is with me he whines and complains constantly, but if I just leave him alone with his blanket, sippy cup, and toys, he plays and talks and plays... (he also takes all the tissues out of the box, completely destroys the playroom, and finds old goldfish in strange places and eats them.....to that I say, "OH WELL!") This is when mommy goes and takes my shower, does the "chores" of laundry, dishes, and any cleaning/menu planning/etc. that I've got planned for that day. Basically, it's what I used to do during his morning nap. This leaves the afternoon nap for mommy's fun/other activities of Bible Study (I do it at this time bc I'm awake and the house is quiet), smocking, napping, ironing, watching my girly TV shows, sewing, reading, etc...

After lunch, from 12:00 - 1pm has been a hard hour, but again if we are out and about he's distracted. If we are home, this is when I let him go play in the backyard with Fischer. I've actually let him play out there while I've been in the house some too (a HUGE step for all you control freaks out there)! First, I scan the yard to make sure it's locked up, poop-free, choking hazard free and then I check on him every 30 seconds for the most part, but I'm trying to give him some space to play and explore without me being all up in his face. He LOVES IT! He and Fischer just wander around the yard together doing their thing - whatever that may be - digging in a dirt bucket I gave him, playing in a mud hole, playing with sticks, writing with sidewalk chalk, pushing the cozy coupe around, sliding, feeding Fischer tree bark, etc... they have fun, and Carter could care LESS about sleep when I mention going "outside." The rainy days will be harder I have a feeling - luckily, it's been pretty this week!

Then, at 1pm Carter and I both COLLAPSE. Ha! This is when I get to do my fun stuff, but sometimes, I just sit and stare because I'm so tired :-) Maybe our energy levels for the morning will eventually adjust...here's hoping. Sorry for the lack of pictures (again). I just wanted to capture this adventure for my future reference!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What Have We Been Up To?

I don't have any pictures that we've taken lately - I should get my camera out soon!!! I've taken some video, but we've been too busy to load it to the computer, so for now, I'll just post an update on what we've been up to lately...

1. Kevin's grandfather - Daddybob - went to be with Jesus in late January. We did a lot of traveling during those last weeks and spent a lot of time with family grieving his loss, but celebrating his special life.

2. I've been smocking a lot lately. I've got Carter's Easter outfit and a few other projects up my sleeves. I'm neck deep in it right now, so I've been doing that in ALL my spare time...and trying really hard not to neglect everything else in life - I get so addicted :-) Kevin surprised me with a serger for Christmas, and I can't wait to actually use it! Once I get all my smocking done, I'll be ready to sew. I can't wait - I'm trying some new patterns, and I think it'll be fun!

3. We celebrated Valentine's yesterday with the rest of you. I baked a Red Velvet Cake from scratch for Kevin. It's my annual labor of love - a 3 year "tradition" and holding at this point :-) Carter and I made cards for Daddy. We also made a card for Gran (this weekend) and sent it to her knowing how much she would be missing Daddybob on Valentine's Day. Sorry to the other grandparents who did not receive a card...it's almost impossible to get Carter to sit down and make 1 card, much less 2...he was D.O.N.E. at this point. Last night our great friends the Lossers offered to babysit for us to go on a date (they had already done their V-day date last weekend). We took them up on it because this does not happen often for us. We had a nice baby-free dinner, and Carter had a blast singing Justin Beiber songs with Mrs. Bethanie and Mr. Kevin :-) This Friday, for a special treat, we are going to see Bill Cosby live in Birmingham! Kevin and I love to laugh, and we can't wait!!! He's supposed to be absolutely hilarious.

4. We've had 3 doctors appointments in the past 2 days. The first was my glucose screening - which I passed - yay! Now I can help eat the red velvet cake and chocolates that Carter and Daddy got me for V-day :-) Carter and Kevin also went to their doctors to get meds for a sinus infection that we've ALL had since late January (ugh!) ...hopefully it will knock it out of them. Carter has not been himself lately - waking up at night, not napping well, more upset than usual, running a low grade fever off and on, etc... I want my happy buddy back! Luckily his eyes, ears, throat all looked good - just a bad, bad cold!

5. I'm doing the Beth Moore James Bible Study on Thursday mornings at church, and we are also doing a couples Bible Study on Hebrews. I love in depth studies of books of the Bible! I have been feeling like I'm really growing and learning a lot through both studies. It's a lot of homework on my part, but that keeps me in the Word which is so important, and I need that accountability!

6. I've been working to transform the nursery into the new baby's room and another bedroom into Carter's big boy room! The new nursery theme is "transportation" (trucks, trains, cars, boats, etc..). Carter's big boy room is coming together too. We are keeping his room a sports theme.

7. Kevin built some step stools out of the leftovers from the toy storage project! I was getting tired of trying to pick Carter up and hold him to wash his hands. Now he loves to get on the stool and wash his hands, brush his teeth, etc... He's such a big boy!

8. In the midst of all of this, I'm 27 weeks pregnant, trying hard to coupon/meal plan/grocery shop on a weekly basis (which has been going great!), cook, keep the house reasonably clean, attend my MOPS group every other Friday, meet people for some play dates (mostly at indoor playgrounds bc it's been cold), be a loving wife and the playmate of my 18 month old lil' man!!!

This life is a crazy life, but we love it! We are thankful for everyday that Lord gives us to love each other and serve him.

Friday, January 20, 2012

A Year & a Half!

I can't believe it, but it's here - Carter is 18 months old! That's a year and a half (which sounds really old if you happen to be me)! For future reference for my mommy brain, this post is simply an update on what all our little man is doing at this age!

CARTER'S 18 MONTH MILESTONES:

- He weighs 31 lbs. 7 oz. (95th) and is 34.25" tall (+97th) - that's only 3/4" away from being 3 feet tall! Where did my baby go?

- He has all of his teeth up to the 1st year molars - his daddy looked in his mouth the other day and said, "Dude, when did you get all those teeth?" (Where was he during teething?!?!?)

- He loves to "Doe" which means "Go." I will say, "Carter, it's time to go." and he squeals and runs to the door. Now, if only he would be that pleasant the whole time we are out and about :-) The other day, I put my fleece on in the house because I was cold; he ran to the door and said "Doe?, Doe?, Doe?"

- He is starting to say "MEEL" (milk).

- He tries to say a lot of random words that we say. After we say a sentence, he will usually pick out one word and try it....sometimes he gets pretty close....sometimes not so much :-)

- He loves to climb/stand/sit on his Daddy's stomach and back - though he doesn't hold on yet, so "horsey rides" aren't possible quite yet. Jumping off is pretty fun though!

- He is napping for about 1-2 hours in the morning, 2-4 hours in the afternoon, and sleeping 11-12 hours a night!

- When he gets really tired at night, (sometimes) he will start cleaning up his toys and go stand at the stairs. His main incentive for doing this is most likely that he loves bubble baths before bed! If you try to give him a bath without bubbles, he will point to them and ask for "bubbls." He has tried to eat the bubbles - they were not good.

- He loves "sorting" things (passing things out & gathering them back). Packaged peppermints, pens/pencils, small bean bags, etc...

- He knows what these animals say: cow (moo), horse (naaaaay), monkey (oh oh ah ah), snake (shhhhh), sheep (ba ba), and elephant (blows his lips together).

- He loves to look in a Picture Dictionary book that we have. He especially loves the farm themed page. I was teaching him a few of the things on those pages. His favorite is the "taater" (tractor), and he also likes to wave (hello) and say "Haaaay" to the picture of the hay - gotta love a good ole' southern boy!!! :-)

- His favorite songs are "Ba, Ba, Black Sheep" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

- He can play a complete game of Patty Cake now (all the motions - clapping, rolling, and throwing)

- He "blows" kisses. But sometimes his hand doesn't leave his face...

- He loves to skype with his aunts & uncles! I think it's mostly because he can see himself in the small screen, but he talks/laughs/and acts like a complete "ham" the whole time.

- He can follow fairly complicated directions.

- When we tell him "No" he sometimes points at us and says "No, No!" (and then he gets punished for this).

- He has started testing boundaries a lot more to see what he can get away with. Mommy has gotten out her book "Dare to Discipline" by Dr. Dobson and is reading up because the time has come :-)

- He likes to make direct eye contact. If you are working on something, he will sometimes come stick his face directly in your face. He also will look at you and smack your cheek when you are reading him a book to get you to look at him instead of the book.

- He says and does the sign for "PEES" (please).

- He can do the big kid slide in our neighborhood all by himself now. All I do is walk beside him on the ground to "spot" him on the stairs.

- He LOVES to be outside (we are ready for warm weather already).

- His vocabulary is ever growing and changing. I've included some of the new things he's saying in the points above.

I can't believe it's been a year and a half already! I'm now realizing why so many people have told me that 18 months was one of their favorite ages though! He's a blast, and it is so fun to watch all the things he's learning.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Catching Up!

I'm determined to be better at blogging regularly :-) Here's a few of the fun things we've been up to on these cold winter days!

Making faces, and documenting it.

Changing light bulbs & climbing ladders. Carter liked to jump/fall off when he got to the top. Such a little boy.

Taking lots of warm bubble baths! They are a favorite around our house :-)

Toys, Toys Everywhere!

All of you with children out there know the headache that toys and more toys and more toys can bring on. I came up with an idea for a storage system for our playroom to try to get the toymania under control! I was tired of toy lined walls... My wonderful husband did a BEAUTIFUL job creating what has now become my very favorite piece of furniture in the whole house :-)

I got the baskets at Target and sewed felt to the bottom to keep scratching to a minimum. The bottom bins are larger "vegetable bin" style. The labels on the front are small chalkboards.

The right side is a large chalkboard.

The left side is magnetic!

Thanks, to my hubby for making all my "do you think you could do this..." comments become reality :-)

Baby #2 Update

I have done a terrible job with documenting this pregnancy.

This picture was taken at either 21 or 22 weeks. I honestly cannot remember...maybe Kevin will remember :-) Ha! The reason I never take pictures of myself? Well, that's simple - I never wear "real" clothes anymore except for (MAYBE) 2-3 days a week. We hang around the house in sweats & PJ's for the most part around here, and we're totally cool with that!

The pregnancy is going great, and we are gearing up for another precious little boy. My mother was here for a few days last week, and we did a lot of organizing and cleaning out of closets/under beds. By the time she left, we organized every single closet in the house, cleaned out under every bed, broken down our twin bed guest room, and moved our queen bed guest room into the twin bedroom. Carter's big boy room will be the old queen bedroom, so it is now (basically) empty and waiting for the big boy room to start coming together - that's the fun part (to me!). His room will remain sports themed.

The new baby's nursery's theme is yet to be decided, but I'm inspired by this artwork I found on Etsy (I think I may try to make something like this for above his crib!).