Wow. I have really neglected this blog. There are days when I am just happy to get the kids fed, changed and cleaned. It is so hard to keep up with two little ones these days. It doesn't help that Ava LOVES, LOVES to have "parties" where she pulls everything out and makes a party. It usually involves all her stuffed animals and lots of blankets.
Anyway, I digressed.
We have a great, great Thanksgiving! My dad and Patty came to Phoenix to celebrate with us. They arrived on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the festivities began. We had everyone over to our house that night for dinner. It was easiest since I am at home with the kiddos. Noah had just woken up when they arrived and he was not a happy camper. He is definitely really shy. My dad even tried to cheer him up with jelly beans. He wasn't having it. We ended up going outside and after getting some food in him, he was in a much better mood.
Wednesday, we all headed over to my sisters house so that she could start prepping for Thanksgiving dinner.
Thursday, after naps, we headed over for Thanksgiving dinner at Jacy's house. It was amazing. My sister in law made me some Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free Sweet Potato casserole and it was delish. I had that along with some salad, turkey and some good wine and good company of course!
The next morning was Black Friday and it is my favorite day of the year. I love it because I get up so early (which is not unusual for me) and go shopping. I was up and out the door at 4am. Nobody is out at that time. It is the perfect time to shop. Everyone goes Thursday night or later on Friday. I shopped until 8:30 am with no lines and very few other shoppers. I went everywhere. I started at Toys R Us. I was disappointed that they didn't get all the ad signs up. I went in for some specific things and if I hadn't decided to price check them, I wouldn't have gotten them because I didn't think they were still on sale. I also wanted to browse to see what else was on sale, but because not everything that was on sale was marked, I probably passed up on some things. Oh well, then I headed to Sports Authority, Target, The mall, Lowes, TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack. Phew. It was a fun morning. That evening we went to Brian and Melissa's house for dinner.
On Saturday, we headed over to my little sister's house. We had some yummy Carne Asada.
Sunday, we ended the fun with a Honey Baked Ham Company Ham at Brian and Melissa's.
By now, everyone was tired. Mike started feeling unwell on Thanksgiving. It was mostly from doing yard work on Tuesday. He always gets stuffy sinuses from doing yard work. By Sunday night, Noah, Ava and this mama were not feeling well.
Ava ended up sleeping in our bed Sunday night and Mike was on the floor. Noah was the worst, but only woke up once and after I resettled him, he was out. We were a house of sickies for a couple of days. I can't remember being that tired in a long time. I just had a sore throat and felt like I had lead in my limbs. Needless to say there was a lot of TV time and cuddling time. It was actually kinda nice..
We are on the mend. Noah and Mike are still stuck with stuffy and running noses. Hopefully they will be better soon.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Haircuts
Gosh, I feel like the kids need haircuts all the time. Maybe because having a boy does require regular haircuts.
Tuesday we decided it was time to get Noah's haircut, so we headed over after dinner. Once we got there Ava wanted her haircut too, so we did it. I tried cutting her hair a couple of weeks ago, but it just looks better when the professionals do it.
Here is the new and improved Ava and Noah:
Tuesday we decided it was time to get Noah's haircut, so we headed over after dinner. Once we got there Ava wanted her haircut too, so we did it. I tried cutting her hair a couple of weeks ago, but it just looks better when the professionals do it.
Here is the new and improved Ava and Noah:
Happenings Here
I realize it has been a while since I posted some of our daily life stuff, so here it is. (This is mostly so I can remember how life is at this stage).
I really think it is the 1/2 years that are hard. 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2 etc....Lucky for me, I get the half years at the same time!! With Noah 1 1/2 and Ava 3 1/2, it does make life challenging at times.
Currently Noah is still having his sleeping issues, although they have gotten a bit better. They are still not what they used to be. I have been trying a couple of things as I think that there is a slight possibility that his reflux has or had flared back up. I had read that during teething times it can. I think he has been working on those 2 year molars for a while and that spurred the sleep issues which are just hard to break at this point. I have been giving him Maalox twice a day, right before naps and bed. I don't know if it is helping, but he doesn't wake as often at night. He still fights naps. I have to leave his door open and a lot of times he makes me put my hand on the door, but I leave my body where he can't see me. Then I close the door to the door jam after I know he is asleep. He has been sleeping 1 hour exactly everyday. I know he is still tired, but he just can't get past that right now. At bedtime, he cries for a minute and then passes out. If he wakes at night, it is usually a short cry and then goes back to sleep. He is sleeping about 10.5-11 hours at night.
He is talking so much more now. That is probably the biggest frustration we both have. He wants to communicate but sometimes he gets too frustrated too fast to work it out. He is using 2-3 word sentences.
He loves to read books too. At nap time and bed time, we all read 2-3 books in Ava's room. So he is able to sit through Ava's longer books.
He is very attached to his daddy. He likes his daddy to get him up in the morning, otherwise he is grump-tastic!
Ava's sleep is good. She gets herself up to go to the bathroom on her own at night, which is such a relief for us. No more night wake ups for us!
She is still changing her clothes a million times a day. She does it after I turn off the lights for nap time and is getting in big trouble for that. She loooooves her pj's. She wants to change into them all the time and also put different ones on. (A good Christmas gift idea!!) I have to do laundry so much because she goes through her pj's so fast and wears them outside in the sandbox.
She loves to tell stories after she listens to a story that Mike and I just told, but it is always about Bobo.
Her and Noah love to play outside. I told her that she can't go out until the clock hand points to the ceiling (7am) because it is just to cold and still dark. As soon as it is 7, her and Noah go outside and ride their bikes and sing as loud as they can. Sorry neighbors. There is some arguing too, which leads to screaming, which then leads to me bringing them inside for a minutes time out. Ahh, the life.
Ava still has school on Tuesday and Thursday. She loves to go. She loves Chapel and Spanish and all the art projects that she gets to work on. (Another great Christmas gift idea: Art stuff) Her teachers continue to comment that she likes to play by herself and that they encourage her to play with the other kids. They have even paired her up with another girl at playtime so that she can engage with them. That's my Ava.
They both usually nap between 12:30 and 1 every day.
We usually do arts and crafts after nap time.
We have been enjoying the nice evening weather and taking walks after dinner.
We end the day with baths and playtime and then it is lights out at 7pm here. Sometimes a little early if they are cranky!!
That's our day and what the kids are like at their 1/2 years!!
I really think it is the 1/2 years that are hard. 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2 etc....
Currently Noah is still having his sleeping issues, although they have gotten a bit better. They are still not what they used to be. I have been trying a couple of things as I think that there is a slight possibility that his reflux has or had flared back up. I had read that during teething times it can. I think he has been working on those 2 year molars for a while and that spurred the sleep issues which are just hard to break at this point. I have been giving him Maalox twice a day, right before naps and bed. I don't know if it is helping, but he doesn't wake as often at night. He still fights naps. I have to leave his door open and a lot of times he makes me put my hand on the door, but I leave my body where he can't see me. Then I close the door to the door jam after I know he is asleep. He has been sleeping 1 hour exactly everyday. I know he is still tired, but he just can't get past that right now. At bedtime, he cries for a minute and then passes out. If he wakes at night, it is usually a short cry and then goes back to sleep. He is sleeping about 10.5-11 hours at night.
He is talking so much more now. That is probably the biggest frustration we both have. He wants to communicate but sometimes he gets too frustrated too fast to work it out. He is using 2-3 word sentences.
He loves to read books too. At nap time and bed time, we all read 2-3 books in Ava's room. So he is able to sit through Ava's longer books.
He is very attached to his daddy. He likes his daddy to get him up in the morning, otherwise he is grump-tastic!
Ava's sleep is good. She gets herself up to go to the bathroom on her own at night, which is such a relief for us. No more night wake ups for us!
She is still changing her clothes a million times a day. She does it after I turn off the lights for nap time and is getting in big trouble for that. She loooooves her pj's. She wants to change into them all the time and also put different ones on. (A good Christmas gift idea!!) I have to do laundry so much because she goes through her pj's so fast and wears them outside in the sandbox.
She loves to tell stories after she listens to a story that Mike and I just told, but it is always about Bobo.
Her and Noah love to play outside. I told her that she can't go out until the clock hand points to the ceiling (7am) because it is just to cold and still dark. As soon as it is 7, her and Noah go outside and ride their bikes and sing as loud as they can. Sorry neighbors. There is some arguing too, which leads to screaming, which then leads to me bringing them inside for a minutes time out. Ahh, the life.
Ava still has school on Tuesday and Thursday. She loves to go. She loves Chapel and Spanish and all the art projects that she gets to work on. (Another great Christmas gift idea: Art stuff) Her teachers continue to comment that she likes to play by herself and that they encourage her to play with the other kids. They have even paired her up with another girl at playtime so that she can engage with them. That's my Ava.
They both usually nap between 12:30 and 1 every day.
We usually do arts and crafts after nap time.
We have been enjoying the nice evening weather and taking walks after dinner.
We end the day with baths and playtime and then it is lights out at 7pm here. Sometimes a little early if they are cranky!!
That's our day and what the kids are like at their 1/2 years!!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Halloween 2012
We had a great Halloween this year! Ava really started to understand and enjoy it. Noah, not so much.
Ava was Minnie Mouse and Noah was supposed to be a Fireman.
I started out the morning with a small treasure hunt for the kids. I took 4 pictures of where I put each clue and a little note that I read and they had to find each clue. At the end was a little treat. Ava loved it so much that the next morning she asked if we could do a treasure hunt again. Noah just followed along and smiled for the pictures.
We headed over to Brian and Melissa house this year for Halloween and what a great neighborhood they have for trick or treating. Some of the houses actually make haunted houses. Many people go all out. There were tons of kids roaming the streets. We headed out around 6. Ava had no problem going up to the houses for candy and every time she came back, she would say "look mommy, candy!" We put Noah in a wagon and he wanted to walk up to the houses too. He had his hands in his bucket by the 3rd house wanting to eat candy. Ava lasted a good hour, but Noah was tired about 1/2 way through. (That would mostly be because he isn't getting great sleep STILL).
Here are the kiddos:
When we came home that evening, we noticed that our street was dead! Not a porch light to be seen. I guess we won't be trick or treating in our neighborhood.
Ava was Minnie Mouse and Noah was supposed to be a Fireman.
I started out the morning with a small treasure hunt for the kids. I took 4 pictures of where I put each clue and a little note that I read and they had to find each clue. At the end was a little treat. Ava loved it so much that the next morning she asked if we could do a treasure hunt again. Noah just followed along and smiled for the pictures.
 |
| Clue #1. |
 |
| Clue #2 was in the pumpking |
 |
| Clue #3 |
 |
| Treats!!! |
We headed over to Brian and Melissa house this year for Halloween and what a great neighborhood they have for trick or treating. Some of the houses actually make haunted houses. Many people go all out. There were tons of kids roaming the streets. We headed out around 6. Ava had no problem going up to the houses for candy and every time she came back, she would say "look mommy, candy!" We put Noah in a wagon and he wanted to walk up to the houses too. He had his hands in his bucket by the 3rd house wanting to eat candy. Ava lasted a good hour, but Noah was tired about 1/2 way through. (That would mostly be because he isn't getting great sleep STILL).
Here are the kiddos:
 |
| Ava as Minnie Mouse |
 |
| Noah wouldn't put on his costume. |
 |
| Ava, Noah, Alex and Sophie |
 |
| Trick or Treating |
 |
| Ava's Trick or Treating Buddy, Aunt Jacy |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)