We had big plans for this last weekend before Christmas – two family Christmas parties & a friends’ little ones’ 2nd birthday party. Everything started going not-as-planned on Friday afternoon.
I got a call at work from the boys’ daycare that all of the “friends” in their class were getting sick with high fevers and vomiting and that Colton was one of the ones that had woken up from nap throwing up. Cory left work early and picked both boys up. We had a poor, sick little Colton on our hands for that afternoon & evening but as soon as he went to bed, he slept for the entire night.
We decided that Cory & Colton would stay home from the Christmas parties on Saturday to rest & re-coop, so Wyatt (who was still acting as healthy as can be) & I headed out and enjoyed two Christmas parties on Saturday – one with my mom’s immediate family and one with some of Cory’s mom’s immediate family. It was a very odd feeling to take on the entire day with just one of my boys – a bit easier than usual – but we certainly missed Colton & Cory.
Sunday we ran some errands in the morning and then went to a friend of ours little girls’ 2nd birthday party. Everyone had been feeling good for the entire day on both Saturday & Sunday and the party wasn’t until later Sunday afternoon. The boys had fun playing with friends and we had fun getting out of the house & visiting with everyone.
Sunday night, whatever it was that Colton had finally hit Cory & I during the overnight hours. It was awful. I had to call my mom on Monday morning to come and take the boys to daycare while Cory & I stayed home from work. I also stayed home from work yesterday morning but then Wyatt was sent home from daycare with a high fever – and is continuing it today - (anything above 101 means they have to be sent home for 24 hours) so I ended up hanging out with both boys yesterday afternoon. It turns out Wyatt was the only one in his class that had not gotten the high fever or flu-like symptoms on Friday – my strong little guy!
I am finally feeling almost back to normal today and am finally back to work. Colton & Cory were sick last year on Christmas weekend, so hopefully this year we got all our sickness out during the week leading up to Christmas instead!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
“Get down!”
The boys are all about climbing these days. Climbing anything & everything – it makes them smile from ear-to-ear and it makes mommy’s heart stop. They are such little dare-devils, and the scary part is that they don’t have fear of any of it yet.
The new car seats for Cory’s truck we ordered from diapers.com (Christmas special score!) came via UPS the other night. No sooner had Cory brought the big Britax Roundabout 55 boxes inside the house than the boys were climbing all over them. If you haven’t seen a Britax car seat box, it is a big L-shaped (aka: built-in step for toddlers) cardboard box. It didn’t take Colton anytime at all to climb all the way up & sit on the top of the box. We decided that was a little too high for him to be and laid the boxes on their sides. They continued to climb all over them but at a much safer level.
At one point, I told Wyatt to “Please get down.” because he was standing up on the top and I didn’t want him to fall. He then tried to copy what I was saying and said “GET DOWN!!” (which he does a lot; Wyatt is very good at trying to say new words, whether they actually sound like the word or not). Cory & I just cracked up laughing when we heard him say this. He now consistentlyrepeats yells those two syllables when you say any part of the phrase: “get down”.
The new car seats for Cory’s truck we ordered from diapers.com (Christmas special score!) came via UPS the other night. No sooner had Cory brought the big Britax Roundabout 55 boxes inside the house than the boys were climbing all over them. If you haven’t seen a Britax car seat box, it is a big L-shaped (aka: built-in step for toddlers) cardboard box. It didn’t take Colton anytime at all to climb all the way up & sit on the top of the box. We decided that was a little too high for him to be and laid the boxes on their sides. They continued to climb all over them but at a much safer level.
At one point, I told Wyatt to “Please get down.” because he was standing up on the top and I didn’t want him to fall. He then tried to copy what I was saying and said “GET DOWN!!” (which he does a lot; Wyatt is very good at trying to say new words, whether they actually sound like the word or not). Cory & I just cracked up laughing when we heard him say this. He now consistently
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A night out
My parents, who are just amazing, came over to our house on Saturday afternoon/evening to watch/play with the boys so that Cory & I could head out and get a day of kid-free Christmas shopping in. (To be honest, we highly considered ditching the shopping trip and making it a movie-and-dinner night instead, but decided the Christmas shopping needed to be done.) We had a pretty productive night shopping – although there are still a few gifts that need to be purchased. We were also able to take a short break and enjoy dinner out at a Mongolian restaurant that Cory had not been to yet. Neither of us could remember the last time we were out to eat, just the two of us – so it was a nice break.
The boys and my parents had a fun night too – playing, reading and snuggling before bedtime. The boys always have a blast with Grandpa & Grandma and get so excited when they come over to visit. We are truly lucky to have family & friends so close to us.
The boys and my parents had a fun night too – playing, reading and snuggling before bedtime. The boys always have a blast with Grandpa & Grandma and get so excited when they come over to visit. We are truly lucky to have family & friends so close to us.
Friday, December 9, 2011
One nap a day
When the boys first started daycare, about a month ago, the boys’ teacher, Cory & I had discussed trying to get them to get down to one nap a day. They were currently taking two but the second nap was starting to become a struggle, so it appeared that they were ready to drop it. The first trial period was a huge FAIL – they were crabby from the time they came home until they went to bed so their teacher went back to giving them two naps a day. What she started to do instead was make their morning nap a little shorter to encourage them to stay up more in the morning and sleep more in the afternoon – which was our ultimate goal. This schedule made them much more bearable in the evenings.
Last week, she started to notice that they weren’t acting as tired in the morning so decided to try out the one nap a day again. This time went much better. They were still in decent moods in the evenings and were sleeping 2-2.5 hours during their afternoon nap. This past weekend, we were able to keep up that same schedule with our tree shopping on Saturday morning and baking/playing with cousins on Sunday morning. They have continued to do well this week with just one nap, and even slept 3 hours on Tuesday afternoon!! The other good thing is that this nap-switch has not seemed to affect their night-time sleep at all.
Even though I hate to give up their morning nap (this when I normally would get my shower in on the weekends, especially if Cory was gone and I was solo), they have definitely shown that they are ready for this change. What big boys! This will also give us a little more freedom to do things on the weekends (I am the type of mother that totally preserves their naptime and will schedule most of our outings around their normal nap schedule – when their sleep suffers, everyone’s sleep suffers!).
Last week, she started to notice that they weren’t acting as tired in the morning so decided to try out the one nap a day again. This time went much better. They were still in decent moods in the evenings and were sleeping 2-2.5 hours during their afternoon nap. This past weekend, we were able to keep up that same schedule with our tree shopping on Saturday morning and baking/playing with cousins on Sunday morning. They have continued to do well this week with just one nap, and even slept 3 hours on Tuesday afternoon!! The other good thing is that this nap-switch has not seemed to affect their night-time sleep at all.
Even though I hate to give up their morning nap (this when I normally would get my shower in on the weekends, especially if Cory was gone and I was solo), they have definitely shown that they are ready for this change. What big boys! This will also give us a little more freedom to do things on the weekends (I am the type of mother that totally preserves their naptime and will schedule most of our outings around their normal nap schedule – when their sleep suffers, everyone’s sleep suffers!).
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Christmas baking – 2011
On Sunday, the boys & I packed up after breakfast and headed over to my parents’ house for our annual ‘Christmas baking day’ with my mom & sisters. The boys actually joined me last year as well and even helped with some stirring, but slept most of the time. (On a side-note, our annual baking day last year was one day after a huge snowstorm dropped a ton of snow in the area – practically paralyzing all traffic & even making some of the country roads out near my parents un-passible.)
Both of my sisters and my two nephews were able to make it over this year! We baked Christmas goodies all day while the little boys helped a bit, played a bit & slept a bit. Grandpa was the key entertainer for short periods of time here-and-there, as to allow us girls some kid-free baking time.
The boys had a fun day and were in total amazement every time someone started up the mixer. They love being “big helpers” in the kitchen with mommy. I had a blast spending the day with family & doing something that I love (but don’t have much time for these days) – baking!
Both of my sisters and my two nephews were able to make it over this year! We baked Christmas goodies all day while the little boys helped a bit, played a bit & slept a bit. Grandpa was the key entertainer for short periods of time here-and-there, as to allow us girls some kid-free baking time.
The boys had a fun day and were in total amazement every time someone started up the mixer. They love being “big helpers” in the kitchen with mommy. I had a blast spending the day with family & doing something that I love (but don’t have much time for these days) – baking!
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| Colton attacking mommy's camera. |
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| Wyatt reading a story. |
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| Wyatt, having a little snack after his nap. |
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| Colton's snack after nap time. |
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| These two pictures melt my heart, brotherly sharing...so sweet!! |
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Christmas parade – 2011
Saturday night, we continued our Christmas-filled weekend by heading down to our town’s annual Christmas parade. I have been going to this Christmas parade (with the exception of last year when it was too cold out to take 2 little five month olds to it) for many years and was even in it for Girl Scouts many, many years ago.
We ate an early dinner so we could head down to the parade early to hopefully get a good spot. We got all bundled back up in our snow gear and headed downtown. The temperature on Saturday was perfect – not too cold. It snowed all afternoon (the forecast was for 2-4” of snow during the afternoon-evening hours) and continued to snow all during the parade, which made it a beautiful winter evening to enjoy outside. (The weather shield we have for the stroller came in really handy to keep the boys dry on our couple-block walk down from where we parked to the parade.) We enjoyed some hot apple cider (a number of downtown businesses offer free hot chocolate & apple cider before and during the parade), ran into a couple friends and were eventually able to find my parents & sister/nephews. The boys really enjoyed the parade and were in awe of all the beautiful lights & music. I would be lying if I said that seeing them watch the parade and getting so excited for each new float, didn’t bring tears to my eyes that night. Seeing the magic of Christmas in my children’s eyes – priceless. The parade was starting to run into bedtime, so we headed home a little over half-way through the parade. (We did this to avoid any meltdowns & it worked!) Santa Clause is always the last float, so we unfortunately missed seeing him in the parade this year but I’m sure we’ll catch him next year.
Also, a very Happy 17 Month Birthday to my two baby boys – Wyatt & Colton – today. You grow and amaze me daily and give me more love than I ever knew possible!
We ate an early dinner so we could head down to the parade early to hopefully get a good spot. We got all bundled back up in our snow gear and headed downtown. The temperature on Saturday was perfect – not too cold. It snowed all afternoon (the forecast was for 2-4” of snow during the afternoon-evening hours) and continued to snow all during the parade, which made it a beautiful winter evening to enjoy outside. (The weather shield we have for the stroller came in really handy to keep the boys dry on our couple-block walk down from where we parked to the parade.) We enjoyed some hot apple cider (a number of downtown businesses offer free hot chocolate & apple cider before and during the parade), ran into a couple friends and were eventually able to find my parents & sister/nephews. The boys really enjoyed the parade and were in awe of all the beautiful lights & music. I would be lying if I said that seeing them watch the parade and getting so excited for each new float, didn’t bring tears to my eyes that night. Seeing the magic of Christmas in my children’s eyes – priceless. The parade was starting to run into bedtime, so we headed home a little over half-way through the parade. (We did this to avoid any meltdowns & it worked!) Santa Clause is always the last float, so we unfortunately missed seeing him in the parade this year but I’m sure we’ll catch him next year.
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| All bundled up! |
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| Me & my boys...waiting for the parade to start. |
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| Our family - enjoying the Christmas parade! |
Also, a very Happy 17 Month Birthday to my two baby boys – Wyatt & Colton – today. You grow and amaze me daily and give me more love than I ever knew possible!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Getting our Christmas tree – 2011
We had a fun-filled weekend; it makes me sad having to head back to work on a Monday.
It started out on Saturday morning, right after breakfast, with us packing up everyone’s snow gear and heading out to a local cut-your-own-tree farm. Ever since Cory & I have been married, we’ve always cut down our own Christmas tree (except last year when we had two 4 months old at home with a sitter and made a quick choice of a pre-cut tree) – it’s a tradition I look forward to doing as a family every year. This was the boys’ first time helping pick out the tree. This was also the first time we had the boys all dressed up in their winter gear, from snow boots to hats…they weren’t too impressed. They didn’t mind being all bundled up but didn’t really think walking, or moving of any sort, was possible.
We made the search for our “perfect” tree short & sweet. The boys supervised Daddy while he cut it down and we all enjoyed some apple cider and animal crackers/cookies in the farm’s shed afterwards. It was a fun, family morning and we came home with a beautiful tree.
It started out on Saturday morning, right after breakfast, with us packing up everyone’s snow gear and heading out to a local cut-your-own-tree farm. Ever since Cory & I have been married, we’ve always cut down our own Christmas tree (except last year when we had two 4 months old at home with a sitter and made a quick choice of a pre-cut tree) – it’s a tradition I look forward to doing as a family every year. This was the boys’ first time helping pick out the tree. This was also the first time we had the boys all dressed up in their winter gear, from snow boots to hats…they weren’t too impressed. They didn’t mind being all bundled up but didn’t really think walking, or moving of any sort, was possible.
We made the search for our “perfect” tree short & sweet. The boys supervised Daddy while he cut it down and we all enjoyed some apple cider and animal crackers/cookies in the farm’s shed afterwards. It was a fun, family morning and we came home with a beautiful tree.
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| Colton - not so sure about all this snow gear |
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| Wyatt - all dressed up in his snow gear |
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| All ready to go pick out our "perfect" tree |
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| Found it! |
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| Colton & Wyatt supervising Daddy cutting down the tree |
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| A success!! Our Christmas tree - 2011 |
Shoveling…leaves?
After a beautiful snowfall this weekend, we’re no longer shoveling leaves but the real-thing – SNOW!! Here is a cute picture of the boys doing their favorite thing outside this fall – shoveling leaves.
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