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!!

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.

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

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.

A Pumpkin Patch Look-a-Like Tradition

I debated over and over about going to a pumpkin patch this year. We have gone to Schnepf Farms for the past 3 years. It is sorta far away and a little on the expensive side for what the kids can do. So I saw that there are a couple around the valley. I found one not too far away. But, yesterday I decided that we should go to the zoo and then to Sprouts for a pumpkin. We have a membership to the zoo so it was free. The farm would have been $16. Sprouts had pumpkins for $3.99 each. Big ones too! The pumpkin patches charge by the pound.  I felt guilty for a second that we weren't going to do the typical Halloween tradition, but it passed in a hot minute when I remember that they are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 and they won't remember!!! So we took our favorite elements from the pumpkin patches and made up our own!

The zoo was a blast. We managed to keep them in the stroller for most of the trip. When we were in the kids area, a lady was walking a Donkey to his stall and stopped to say hi to us.

After naps, we headed over to Sprouts for a pumpkin. And after dinner, we carved it. The kids helped me clean it and Mike carved it. 

Ava didn't want her picture taken, so her head is down.

Ava really didn't want her picture taken here. She was kinda cranky this afternoon.

Noah ate some of the raw pumpkin. They both tried to pull the seeds out of the pumpkin, but would only do it with a gigantic spoon, so they weren't much help.

Now we just have to get to Halloween. Hopefully one of the kids will wear their costumes longer than just for pictures. Ava can get kinda weird when she "has" to wear something.

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On a side note: Noah's naps are getting a little bit better. He will now go down for his nap if I leave his door cracked open. So I leave it about 2 inches open. I hold it open, but am out of sight. ( I have to put something on the other side of the door to hold it open because if I let go, it goes all the way open). After he falls asleep, which is usually about 5 minutes, I pull it to the door jam. I don't dare close it all the way anymore because EVERY.SINGLE.TIME I do, he wakes up. He has been waking up after 30-40 minutes and I go in and rub his back and open the door again for 5-10 minutes and then close it to the door jam again. Today, we got a full hour and 10 minutes, which is his usual nap. Hopefully, we can get back to closing the door, but this is just as good.

Sleep

Here I am blogging yet another blog about sleep. It does not come easily around this house. I never heard of so many sleep problems until I had kids. No one tells you that you could get the boobie prize when it comes to your kids sleeping.

Anyway, I am here to tell you all about Noah's sleeping as of late, or lack there of. Last Tuesday, when I went to put him down for his nap, he started to cry. He always goes right down in his crib after we read 2 books (1 for Ava and 1 for Noah), but not this day. I let him cry to see if he would settle and just go down. Not such luck. So I finally went in and patted his back until he fell asleep and then he only slept 35 mins. He went down to bed fine that night, but was up at the crack of dawn the next morning. The next day nap time was same as before, but this time, I just let him cry and kept going back in to tell him to go to sleep. I don't want him dependent on me being there, but he wouldn't stop crying. So I finally gave up and got him up. No nap! He went down fine that night. Then came Thursday. Same as before for nap and ended up with no nap, but come bedtime, it was the same as nap time. Cry city. He finally passed out after 20 minutes, but woke up 2 times that night in which I had to sit by his bed until he fell asleep. It has been like this ever since. Going to bed is hit or miss depending on how tired he is. He always wakes up between 11:45 and 12:30 and is up at the crack of dawn. We had 4:30 am this morning. Luckily this morning, he talked for a bit and I think fell back asleep for 10-15 minutes and finally started calling for us again around 5:30 am.  He will cry for us to "pet" him (which is him wanting me to pat his back until he falls asleep) or to "sit" (which is for me to sit at the head of his crib. Yesterday, I moved over to the chair in his room). The thing is, as soon as I think he has fallen asleep, I go to close the door as quiet as humanly possible, he some how hears one of the smallest creeks and wakes up.

Not sure what this is all about, but I have decided that it is either separation anxiety, teeth (he has to be getting his 2 year molars because he chews on his fingers and drools all day) or growing pains.  I am trying to tell myself that this is just a phase and this too shall pass, but it is stressful. It is not fun to hear your kid cry and it is also not fun waking up again in the middle of the night. I feel like as soon as one kid gets their sleeping together the other one starts having issues. So it is always someone. I guess that is better than both at once, but geez! Can't this mama get a break. So until Noah can get his sleeping back to normal and then Ava will probably start up again, I must repeat: This too will pass, this too will pass, this too will pass!!!

Last Week/Weekend

What a week!

Ava was off of school and sick. Noah got sick on Wednesday and is still sick. I started to feel sick Saturday morning, but have hopefully bypassed it. Mike started feeling sick on Sunday and it is still up in the air if he will get it or not. I guess it just comes with the territory!!

We went up to Prescott this past weekend for my grandmas 85th birthday.  It was nice to get out of the heat, but I realized that I am not quite ready for the cold yet. I know, can you believe it?!? I am sick of the hot hot heat, but I can deal with the current weather. We have been able to go for walks in the mornings. It will be nice when we can go at night too. Anyway, the kids always have a great time in Prescott. They like to check out grammy's garden and pick all her flowers!!I didn't get any pictures, but this one.

Grammy reading to the kiddos

Ava held a "pill bug" in her hand. She was so excited.  

The Friday before we were leaving to go up there, I put in one last load of darks into the washer and it broke on me. It wouldn't drain or finish the spin. Soooo, I was off to buy a new one. We have had it since we moved in and it wasn't new then, so it is at least 7 years old.  The hardest part was pulling all the wet clothes out and ringing the water out. Of course, Mike had jeans in there. geez! Those were tough! So now we are the proud new owners of a washer.  

Ava is back at school today and it has been a nice break. The kids were getting on each others nerves last week and mine as well. Noah really enjoys some time to himself. We put on "Toddler Tunes" on TV and he dances like a goon and just plays by himself for a little while.  

A What What Wednesday

I had to think about what day it was. Ava is off from school this week!?! What!?! What!?! I mean she is only in preschool and they already have break. I guess it was good because she has been sick this week. It started on Saturday after her nap. She woke up cranky (not unusual), but the cranky continued all evening. We just shrugged it off as Ava being Ava and maybe she had a case of "hanger" (hunger anger), because she ate a great dinner and was good for all of 5 minutes after. Then it started, 9 pm that night, she woke up crying. We put her back down and then she woke up again at 1am. This time we put her in our bed and Mike slept in the guest bed. So all day Sunday we watched TV and listened to some whining and had another rough night. But she seemed to be better the next day.  And much better by Tuesday. 

BUT... now Noah has a runny nose. What!?! What!?! He kept putting his finger in his mouth yesterday toward the back of his mouth and saying "hurt". I just thought it was his teeth, but now I am guessing that his throat was hurting him. Boo:( Sick kiddos=No fun!

We went to Walmart yesterday. What !?! What!?!(Not sure why I still go there, because I have a bad experience every time). Oh well, I had to return a humidifier that I bought there. The kids saw all the Halloween stuff and wanted to walk through the aisles. While there Ava found a Minnie Mouse costume that she said she would wear for Halloween. She was so excited to put it on when we got home and as soon as we got it one, she went into full on meltdown mode. Like, take this off now. So I did. I realized later that the sleeve has glitter on it and is itchy. Sooo, if we put on a long sleeve shirt and long pants, it is all better, right? So what we now have is hotness at it's finest.

What!?! What!?! Yes there are 3 headbands in her hair.

She won't wear anything else. I guess I will get my money's worth, but not sure it will hold up til Halloween at this rate. She wants it on as soon as she gets up and then we change for nap and she wants it back on right after. It makes going out in public and humorous experience. Of course we shower he with how beautiful she looks. 

Noah loves puzzles! His favorite right now is a puzzle of the United States. We give him a state and he puts it where it is supposed to go. He is so smart. What!?! What!?! He will work on a puzzle for days until he masters it.

I am soooo into fitness gadgets. What!?! What!?! I have recently bought a Heart Rate Monitor (polar FT4) for my workouts, a Fitbit for steps and sleep (more in a minute) and a Foam Roller (aka the green mean machine).  I love my new fitbit. You can wear it at night and it will tell you how long it took you to fall asleep and how many times you woke up and total hours slept and then gives you a sleep efficiency percent. The first night I wore it, I woke up 21 times!! No wonder I am so tired some mornings. The next 2 nights were when Ava was sick, so I don't count those, but it has gotten better. Last night I only woke up 7 times. 

The green mean machine is a foam roller that I have been using for my IT bands and boy does that thing hurt. It is like rolling on metal, but is supposed to help. I try to do 10 minutes a day.

Sandbox 2.0/Redux

If you remember from a previous post, we found cat poop and termites in our sandbox. That meant, it was time to redo the sandbox. This time we built it bigger to fit 2 kids and an adult. Mike also built the seat a bit bigger too.

The kids have been enjoying it this week. Me, not so much. I now remember how much sand that things tracks in my house :(