Big Boy Bed

It was bound to happen eventually.  Going away on vacation helped make the decision. For apparently no reason,  Lincoln (who will be 3 in December) has been happy in a crib. He never climbed out and sat quietly in it in the morning until Tom and I got him out. It's been amazing. The only problem came when we traveled and I had to put his mammoth self into a tiny pack-n-play to sleep in.  He would sleep in it and not climb out but he could never stretch out in it and it made me feel so bad for him.  We made the decision that on this vacation we would bring a bed rail and put Lincoln in a bed and hope for the best.  Well, he exceeded our expectations and did great so when we got home the time came to make the switch.

Doesn't he look like a giant in his crib! He was very excited to get his big boy bed. 

His first time in his bed. The one rule is no jumping...let's see how well that rule is held up.

We have a bed rail that we could put up but I thought he could handle it.  Well, we are on night 4 and he has only fallen out once.  I had put some extra blankets down but it was a loud thump in the night but Linc didn't seem phased!

I think Lincoln's biggest challenge will be to staying under the covers.  As shown above he is a mover while he sleeps. This was how I found him after the first night.

At least at nap time he managed to stay with his head at the top of the bed. Good thing it's not winter and he needed his blankets to stay warm. 

I'll keep you posted if he falls out again...

Maine Vacation 2013

Katie R.

Because Katie D is on top of things and I'm a slacker she posted some pictures of our vacation last week.  Basically it is a week for the kids to play all day, we all eat too much and for most of the grown-ups drink too much. 

Most of the stories are the same; however, my kids made some of their own memories.  For example, Wes was able to open the all of the doors.  This shouldn't be a problem, but my not yet 2 year old didn't want to stay in bed.  The first night we thought he was sleeping and there he is out of his room, had made a trip to the bathroom to grab Andrew's toothbrush and then walked down the stairs to greet us.  The rest of the week he was horrible to get to sleep and we tried everything and I finally learned that holding him and singing Ohio State songs worked the best.  I can't wait until he starts singing "I don't give a damn about the whole state of Michigan".

Andrew, whose blankie is literally shredding, somehow got the strings in a ball and got them stuck in his nose.  Luckily after initially freaking out I was able to get him to blow it out.  Really??

Finally the bribe.  Before we got there I knew Wes was going to be a challenge to get to sleep and was hoping Andrew would be able to help out as they had to share a room.  I bribed Andrew with any batman toy he wanted if he would go to sleep and help get Wes to sleep.  Andrew was so tired that every night he passed out immediately and Wes ended up going to sleep in our room because he was so terrible. Worst bribe ever.

 

 

 

Here are some more photos of everyday in the middle of nowhere Maine:

 



Hiking 

This was with Katie D's family and just Joe and Andrew.  There was no chance I was taking Wes on this trip as there were way too many cliffs for him to fall over which I am 100% sure he would do.

 

Lincoln helping Andrew

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Swimming

One good thing is my kids love the water. Andrew was in the water from the time he woke up until he went to bed

 

Ice Pops

Wes decided on this trip he needed to eat ice pops 24/7.  Because it was vacation and I tried not to care about things one morning he had 4 ice pops by 10 am.  He ate them all day long and you can see what happened when he was told he couldn't have anymore.

 

 

 

Adult Time

I don't have many photos of adult time which is probably a very good thing.  Needless to say it pretty much started out like this every evening when the kids went to bed and sometimes it was an early bedtime and other times a not so early bedtime.

 

 

It was another great week with great friends and great memories. 

Game, Set, Match belongs to...

Katie R.

Last night we were talking about plans for Saturday.  It's supposed to be beautiful and Joe and I each have our own idea of what a great summer Saturday should be.  So what do amazing parents such as ourselves do when trying to decide?  Of course we use our kids to gain leverage and each new "idea" Andrew liked more and more.

Joe:  Andrew tell mommy you want to pick berries this weekend  (there is nothing I dislike more then picking berries)

Katie:  I think that it would be great if Daddy takes you and your brother to pick berries.

Joe:  Andrew tell mommy that it would be great if we went as a family.

Katie:  Andrew instead we can go to the ocean and play in the waves (Joe doesn't really like going to the ocean)

Joe:  Tell mommy we can compromise and go to NF Lake (not my favorite lake)

Katie:  Tell Daddy we can go to SN Lake AND get ice cream

And the winner is Katie

Changes In A Year

I've already posted about vacation but in doing so made me go back through the photos from last year.  We visited the same location with the same families (actually adding another family this year) so it was interesting to see how the boys have grown between the two years.

Smores night last year

And...

smores this year

Same sweet boy but growing up before my very eyes!

And I can't believe that last year Lincoln still used a pacifier at night! He has grown too.

small falls hike last year

And...

small falls hike this year

Granted the fishermen's hat made him look adorably goofy last year but he has lost the baby look to him in the last year. Crazy!

We're Back

I've returned from vacation a little tan, a little tired and filled with lots of great memories.  Camp is kinda like Vegas, I can't really tell you any of the really funny stories or I'll have to kill you (all 10 of you that read this blog). Suffice to say we lived it up and the boys had a fantastic time. I'll write more soon but enjoy a few family favorite photos of the week!

smores night

snack break while hiking small falls

The boy that makes Colby smile! Your tribute is coming Wes!

Rocking out at the big lake, watching the planes take off.

I loved vacation but all good things must come to an end. Until next year......

The Sunbathing Bird

 This is what I get for cleaning my sliding glass doors....

BANG!

Look closely and you will see the "sunbathing" beauty. Well, that's what I told the boys. It was so hot that it kept it's wings out.

The bird was still alive but not doing well but I let him rest, hoping he had just stunned himself and would fly away.  I checked an hour later and he was gone. The boys and I rejoiced. As we sat down to dinner the neighborhood cat shows up to say hello and he stops to pounce under the steps. He comes out all proud of himself with the bird in the mouth.

And then the bird really did leave this time just not under his own accord. While the cat left I distracted the boys and never looked back. 

Avoided the dead animal conversation for now....sweet!

24 hours of Wes

Katie R.

We leave for vacation in 4 days so of course Andrew gets sick.  Which means this is Andrew all day:

 

 

Except when we were driving to the doctor when he was like this:

 

 

 

Luckily Wes healthy; however, that means he's been stuck inside all day which is never good.  In fact these are just a small sampling of his accomplishments over the past 24 hours (and please note 14 of those hours he has been asleep):

• Climbed in a drawer on Andrew's dresser and threw everything on the floor
• Climbed onto his dresser and reached up on a shelf and grabbed his piggy bank
• Grab my lip gloss out of my purse, opened it and spread it over his entire left leg
• Threw an entire glass of water on the floor
• Pushed my wooden vase (with a glass vase inside) over the ledge causing glass to shatter (glass everywhere)
• And of course the usual crazy antics which caused him to sit in so many time-outs I lost count

In fact when Joe said he needed to go to Home Depot tonight I replied no problem but you have to take Wes.  Joe looked at me, the former bedtime nazi, and said but it's only 15 minutes until his bedtime.  I then picked up Wes, gave him a kiss and said "be a good boy for daddy". 

 

Good thing he's cute (and yes he stole the buckeyes out of my room today when I left the door open).



I don't want to talk about it...

So, its been a week since I last posted.  I love that the fact that my life is pretty calm; I live the hustle of little things to do, errands around town, Colby going to summer camp and visiting the local pool. Last week was not one of those weeks.  I don't want to talk about the 100 year storm that hit my town. I don't want to talk about the river that ran through my back yard.  I don't want to talk about my basement taking on water for 4 days (or losing power/water/telephone). I don't want to talk about cancelling our holiday weekend plans to visit family we haven't seen in forever. I don't want to talk about around the clock wet vacuuming (setting my alarm for 2 and 4 am felt awesome).

These are the good times we had in the backyard before the water took it over. The ground is still so saturated that we won't be doing any water activities back there for some time.  I've always been an optimist and I continue to be one. It could have been worse and we are luckier than others in our town.

Regardless of what our holiday plans were, we made the best of the weekend! I hope you did too!

What is it about those stickers?

I know my family is not the only family that does it. I remember when I was younger my friends and I would put them on and leave them for hours just to be silly. I don't know what it is about it but no matter who does it they always have to put it on...

I mean really, who hasn't peeled a banana and stuck the sticker on their face! Without being prompted Lincoln took the sticker off the banana and put it on his nose.  Yup, that's my boy.