Sleep Wars

Maddie is definitely a challenge when it comes to naptime and bedtime, and we've tried it all. The latest "theory" was to put her back to bed over and over without saying anything to her. Apparently it should work after about a week or so, and it should take progressively less time each night. Well I got to where I was spending at least an hour before naptime AND before bedtime. I was losing my mind!! Yesterday I called Mom crying on the phone because it had been an hour and 15 minutes, and I was still putting my little angel back to bed. I was sooooo angry that she wouldn't just stay put. Then in the midst of that Jay went poopy in the potty, which was great, but he decided to try and wipe himself for the first time. He was pretty proud of himself, and it was very cute, but then he said "Mommy, there's poopy on the floor." I had already tracked it across the carpet. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Maddie is now in a "crib" so to speak. She has a twin mattress on the floor with a large gate all the way around it. She did much better last night...slept all the way through....thank God!

Also on a brighter note....Jay saw some posters of horses at Hobby Lobby yesterday afternoon and said "Mommy, let's say a prayer. Close your eyes." He then proceeded to thank God for horses and various other things I couldn't understand. It was awesome!

Uneventful Day

There's nothing too much to report on today. It's been gloomy here in St. Louis for about a week. The kids are just getting over illnesses...both with pink eye, Maddie with a sinus infection, and Jay with a double ear infection. I guess that's what happens when Jay has a t-ball game at 8:30 in the morning with a freezing cold breeze blowing. But that happened to be his very first game, and he couldn't miss it!! It was awesome. I've never loved being out on a baseball field as much as this including when I was infatuated with James and sat out in the bleachers rain, snow, or shine. :)

Grammie and Jerry ("Pop") are in town now which has been a lot of fun. The kids have been eating up the attention. I think I must have the best husband in the world because it feels like he's been taking care of one or both kids by himself a lot lately in order to let me do "girl stuff" with Jessica (who came into town to visit me last week) and then with Grammie, Mom, and Kelli (to checkout a winery for a potential wedding location and to try on wedding dresses at David's Bridal). He then took them again at his suggestion for me to go with them to a movie. I feel so rejuvinated getting to do these things as it's been a while. He is a true partner, and I thank God for him every single day. I am reminded today what a blessing it is to have two healthy, happy children along with a healthy, happy marriage.

We're headed over to Mom's tonight to have dinner and dessert with the whole crew over there. Grammie and Pop leave on Thursday.

Bragging from a Proud Mommy

So much has happened in the past year. Jay and Maddie are best friends. We've moved from our house in the city to an apartment in Fenton near Mom and Bill. It's so nice not to have a project to work on 24/7, and we're loving our new life here. We were able to pay off one of our loans (YIPEE!). The kids are now sharing a room, and I think it's going to be hard to ever separate them in the future. We actually put them in the bottom bunk together for the last couple of nights hoping it would help Maddie stay in bed and sleep better through the night, and so far it seems to be working. We actually had a full night's sleep last night!

Jay is completely potty trained. He's amazing. Mom and I took him to visit his soon-to-be preschool about a week after his 3rd b-day, and he joined right in the circle of kids singing songs...not the least bit of hesitation. Then he didn't want to leave. I then told him that preschoolers don't wear diapers "and if you're going to be a preschooler you're going to have to go peepee in the potty." That and a little container of peanut butter m&m's in the bathroom (per Nana's suggestion) is all it took. I think he's maybe had 3 accidents during the night since then...incredible.

Jay is very into being a cowboy (and a baseball player) now, so both of the kids take turns climbing on the ottoman to "ride it" yelling "yeehaw!" Maddie has picked right up on this and thinks that anything she puts on her head = cowboy hat. She says yeehaw too, and it's just too cute. Yesterday Jay told Maddie (sounding kind of resigned), "Okay, Maddie, I'll be a horsie" and proceeded to run around the house on all fours with Maddie running after him trying to grab the back of his pants. These two have me and James hysterical half the time.

Maddie got her ears pierced a few weeks ago (at 15 mos.), and this child didn't even flinch! Mimi took big brother to another part of the mall so Jay didn't have to watch (but mostly because Mimi didn't want to watch), and Aunt Bubba stayed with me and Maddie. She was so hardcore, and they look absolutely beautiful. She loves them, and she loves bracelets and brushing on "makeup" while Mommy puts hers on. She also loves wearing dresses. You can just see her hip movements change when she's told she looks pretty. We're in for trouble.

Jay has just started t-ball. He's had a couple of practices so far, but his first game was rained out last Saturday. We're hoping for better luck this weekend. He does soooo well, and he LOVES it. Daddy just has to work with him a little more on running the bases. He tends to want to run right to 2nd and keep going....soooo cute.

Maddie is starting to say "I love you." We tell her "I love ya!" and she tries to say it back. She also loves to hand you things and so "go," which means "here ya go." She says "Jay," "Mommy," "Dada." She's also trying to say Mimi, Gaga, and Bubba. I think she can say "Heddie." This child can climb like none other. Maddie is fearless, which makes for a great time at the park but might also make for some ER visits later in life (sending up prayers about that one). I can't wait for it to get a little bit warmer so we can start going to the pool. I think the kids are going to have a great time together.

Both of the kids are actually napping right now, so I'm going to try to get something accomplished.

It's Potty Time!

Jay asked to go sit on the potty after dinner tonight. I turned on the sink and gave him a magazine to read (at his request), and he did a few drips in the potty!! YAY!! So he got one of those candy, sugar covered fruit slices as a treat. I've gotta go out and get some M&M's and maybe some cheap toy cars or something because it's time to get down to business! :)

Jay's day full of firsts!

Sorry no pictures right now, but I promise I'll get some up soon. I just didn't want to miss out on these little details. Jay started out the morning by counting to 9! I was working, and he was sitting on his little Cars couch watching Imagination Movers when all of a sudden I heard him counting! By the end of the day he was counting all the way to 10.


Secondly, Jay committed his first crime today. He stole a 3 Musketeers from Schnuck's, and I didn't notice until I had already put everything away in the trunk. There's Jay sitting in the little car attached to the cart swinging around his candy bar. Needless to say, we rolled right back into Schnuck's where Jay proceeded to tell the security guard that he was sorry for stealing. The guard was rather confused about the whole thing I think (come on..work with a mother!!) But he did manage to push out "Try not to do that again." Now, I know he's only 2, and I'm not sure how much of that he really understood, but I felt like I had to do something!! I really want to do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't turn into a felon by age 3. :)


Lastly, Jay asked to go on the potty today while I was changing his diaper. He said he wanted to go "peepee in the potty." He did sit on the potty without any pants on and managed to push out three fluffies (yes..that's what we call them). This may not sound like much, but it's progress!!


I don't want to leave Maddie out...She's getting so big! Almost 6 months old now. We're still waiting for teeth. She's been drooling like crazy, so there's gotta be something going on in there. She's gotten extra spitty lately I guess because of all the extra drooling. Jay has recently decided that she's very comfortable and that he likes to watch TV on her. Three times now I've caught him sitting on her stomach only after I hear a sound that can only be all of the air rushing out of her little lungs in one big whoosh. Luckily she smiles through the whole thing with a look on her face that says "Yay! Brother's paying attention to me!" Poor girl. She's tough though - thank goodness. I have a feeling one of these days she's going to give Jay a run for his money.

Comments

Ok everyone...I think I finally fixed the whole problem with the comments. You should be able to leave them now.

Jay loves Maddie

On Sunday afternoon my back went out on me (again), and my dear sister Kelli was kind enough to take pitty on me and go with me and the kids to Sam's and Schnuck's so she could get Maddie in and out of the car for me. As we were checking out at Sam's Jay was proudly introducing his sister (sounds something like "Addie"). He had the hugest smile on his face. He was in the top of the cart, and Maddie was in her carrier in the actual cart part. Jay reached down and rubbed her head as he told the checkout lady his baby sister's name. He then proceeded to say "I'm Jay" and then pointed to me and said "Mamma" and to Kelli and said "Bubba." He made my heart melt.



A couple of nights ago at dinner Jay had been reprimanded for something, so he decided to change the subject (as usual) and just start laughing. He had me and James hysterical. Even Maddie was smiling. I had tears coming out of my eyes. Whenever the laughter would start to die down, he would flash me this really serious look and then bust out laughing again. There is truly never a day without laughter when you have kids. I'm so blessed!



Now I have to document one thing having to do with Maddie before I forget it. A couple of weeks ago she woke up in the middle of the night with terrible allergies, so we brought her into our bed to sleep because she was so congested. She laid next to me on my pillow. We were facing each other with our noses almost touching. I was kissing her little face, and she fell asleep running her fingers through my hair. It was so incredibly sweet. And even now she never pulls hair, she just likes to run her fingers through it.

These were just some memories that I didn't want to forget!