November 2014 Video Recap

I did a much better job this month taking videos of the kids and what they've been up to. Sometimes my favorite thing to do is just sit back and watch them, whether they are interacting with each other, or just playing side by side. I know I will love having these videos to look back on one day. I kept some sound in a few clips at the very end (I couldn't figure out how to make it not seem choppy with the song if they were randomly placed throughout the video).

18 Months - Drake

What is it about 18 months that makes a toddler sound so old? A year and a half. That's how old you are today little man. I feel like you are 18 months going on 3 and the "terrible threes" that you hear about. I want to be honest with these posts and what you are up to, which makes it a little hard to write when you aren't this picture-perfect kid. But, you are giving us a run for our money much more than your sister did at this age.

The tantrums are still happening. Luckily they have been contained to happening at home, but I still know it's only a matter of time before it happens out in public. If you get frustrated for some reason, you'll drop to the floor and cry and sometimes kick. You've also gone back to hitting your head on things, usually the floor, and unfortunately for you, you have chosen the hardwoods several times. Then you start crying for a whole new reason because your head hurts.

You also like to hit. You don't do it so much to daddy and I, but you like to take a swing at your sister. Usually it's for a reason, like she's taken a toy from you or something, but sometimes it's out of the blue. Then she'll tattle on you and cry and then you get scolded and you cry. Oh what fun...

Now that the negative stuff is out of the way, you've also been so fun lately! I can't get over how much you are talking these days. You know many words, but I love sitting with you rattling off words and hearing you attempt to say each one. And most of the time, you repeat them really well! Some new words this month are basketball, Christmas tree, oh no (is just more popular and comes out of your mouth about 583 times a day) and...no. Yes, you are already telling us no. I'm not sure if you realize what you are saying, but it seems a bit early for the attitude, no? (See what I did there...ha).
You've really enjoyed the extra space at the new house, playing both inside and outside on the play set the previous owners left behind. And it's been nice being able to pull out toys you've never even seen before because we didn't have room at the old house. I wanted to mention you now love to help me empty the dishwasher, taking items out one by one. You were a champ at transitioning to a new room and we never had trouble with you not sleeping through the night or giving us a hard time at nap time. Thank you for that!

You have become daddy's biggest fan this month and I know he's loving the extra attention from you. Last week you started calling out for him whenever you'd wake up. "Daddy, daddy, dada, daddy" until one of us comes to get you. What's funny is usually daddy isn't home when you wake up but you sure like to call for him. And if he gets out of your sight anytime during the day, you start calling for him.

I'd say for the most part you are still eating just as well as ever. There have been a few more times when you're not interested in certain things on your plate, where as before you'd eat anything and everything we'd put in front of you. And you are still nursing one to three times a day. Here we are, at the almighty 18 months where I said I'd wean you, and it's so bittersweet that the time is here. There was one night about a week ago where you refused to nurse before bed. It was the first time ever and I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt my heart a little. But this is what I wanted - I wanted you to self wean versus me being the one to do it. And ever since that night, you'll nurse on the right side for about three minutes or so and the left side longer. I have a feeling we have another couple of weeks left max, and then breastfeeding will be in the past. 

You are a little stinker and will give sissy and the dogs hugs and kisses all day long when we ask you to, but you will not give daddy and I kisses the same way! You lean your forehead in towards us and that's your version of a hug and kiss. It's cute, but I want the real thing! :)


I am so looking forward to the holidays this year now that both you and your sister are a year older. We are going to see Santa (a few times this year actually) and I'm calling it now that I think we'll end up with a crying picture. I just don't see you being happy with us setting you down in Santa's lap, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. I can't believe the holidays are already here, let alone you being 18 months old! It's been an awesome 18 months buddy; thank you for taking us all on the ride with you.

Entryway in the New House

I'm so ready to start getting to the fun part of being in a new house, decorating and changing things throughout to make it ours. There's the boring stuff like switching out lights, fixing toilets and the God-awful gold hinges and cabinet pulls throughout the entire house, but we'll get to those eventually. It took us years before we got any pictures of us hung on the walls in our old house and I wasn't going to let that happen this time.

I was excited to have the space for an entryway table. We had a small corner shelf in our last house but it was tiny and we didn't have space for pictures really. I set out to look for the perfect table, and at first I was looking for an older piece with detail so I could paint and distress it, but I wasn't finding anything. I was getting restless not wanting to sit and wait for the perfect piece to pop up on Craigslist, so when I came across a white table on a swap and shop forum on FB for $40, I went for it. I also didn't want to wait and make several trips to thrift stores looking for a good deal on picture frames so I went and bought all of them on sale at Hob.by Lob.by.


You might remember in our old house we painted the entry wall and hallway turquoise. I loved it, but didn't see us doing it in this house. We kept the turquoise wreath on the fireplace and wanted other pops of turquoise throughout.I loved what Sarah had done with her gallery wall and used hers as inspiration. I also took her tip of using Command strips to hang the pictures rather than putting a ton of holes in the freshly painted walls.

 Command strips - all $20 worth of them, but I think it was money well spent.

I started out by painting the table turquoise and all the picture frames white. 

Then I found several family pictures and had them printed in black and white. I wanted a little more turquoise so there are a few pieces in the frames that I painted. I love the way it turned out! And even better, I love how many times throughout the process Chloe would say "Good job, Mommy good job!" and now that it's done, both kids love walking by and pointing at the pictures and naming us off.

Before

After

  

I'll probably wait a little while to see what I want to put on the table. I'm thinking a small lamp, a basket to hold keys and phones, and maybe a more personal piece of art for our family. I don't want anything breakable though because I have a feeling this table isn't really in a safe zone as far as the kids are concerned. :)

Halloween 2014

I am so late in posting this, but wouldn't you know the one thing I misplaced in the move is the power cord to my laptop! I feel so disconnected lately! Anyway...

Before we moved, we attended a Trunk or Treat in our town. It was the Sunday before Halloween and the weather was beautiful! Hot in fact, so instead of Drake dressing up in his monkey costume, he went in a t-shirt and the monkey pants. There weren’t nearly as many cars this year so we were done pretty quickly, but we ran into a friend who lives near our new house so he was giving us tips on where to shop, how to get places, etc. I can’t believe this, but I got zero pictures this night!!

On Halloween my department dressed up as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We were a few dwarfs short though, so garden gnomes stepped into help. Unfortunately we didn’t win the costume contest this year, but we had a feeling we wouldn't since we hadn’t put in as much effort as previous years. 

Then that evening we got the kids dressed up in their respective Cinderella and monkey costumes and set out to trick or treat in our new neighborhood. We were excited because this was the perfect opportunity to meet our neighbors. Unfortunately the temperature had dropped about 30 degrees from the previous Sunday and it was pretty chilly.

 

We went up the long cul-de-sac as Chloe and JJ went up to each house and Drake and I stayed back in the street with the stroller. It was taking quite a while to go to each house and I kept thinking about our dark house and all the candy we were going to end up with. We decided to head back to the house to warm up and for me to start handing out candy. We met a few more neighbors and then JJ took Chloe out a bit longer while I put Drake to bed.

 

It was a pretty low key Halloween but the kids sure did look cute in their costumes and Chloe enjoyed getting her candy. She’s been good at sharing with Drake and asking for a sucker for him too whenever she gets one which sure makes his day.

Chloe Lately (39 months)

(I think I'm going to be done spelling out how many months old Chloe is - 39 months just sounds weird!) :)

You are now two full months into school and to say you are loving it would be an understatement! We had conferences with your teacher last week and she had nothing but good things to say about you. You love to play with your friends, you are first in line when it’s time for art projects, and the part that made us laugh is that during circle time you make sure you sit right next to the teacher. That doesn’t surprise me because each morning before school when we ask who you are excited to see and play with today, the first name out of your mouth is Miss Shelley! I was very impressed the other night we looked through one of those first word books that’s been packed for months and you knew almost every single picture! When did your vocabulary get so big??

One thing your teacher did mention is the fact that you talk in third person. Most of the time you do this but just in the last week or so I've started hearing you say me or mine. Your teacher asked if we talk that way at home and I hadn't thought about it before, but we do. We'll say mommy does this or daddy does that much more than I would say I do this or that. So we are going to start focusing on being better about using first person to see if you catch on.

Timing wise it worked out perfectly that going on the potty finally clicked with you the week before school started. I wrote a whole post on that, but you have continued to do so well! You did have three accidents the week you had the stomach bug and we were moving, but I think there was just a lot going on and you didn’t give yourself enough time to get to the bathroom. Other than that, you’ve had zero accidents out and about or any other time.

Shortly before we moved and still today (so we’re going on like 10+ days now) you have been sleeping on just your mattress on the floor. We need to put your bed together but you seem to like sleeping like that and often end up using your mattress more as a pillow with your body on the floor. You still have to go to sleep with your animals, although since we’ve moved you only sleep with Izzy, Sammy, and purple dog because your other animals are still put away. I wouldn’t mind keeping it like that, because the stuffed animal situation was a bit out of control. You also have to have a cup of water and then we sing songs before bed. You have done really well going down for the night and don’t get up once we leave your room. Naps are hit or miss, but I’d say more than half the time you still nap. And due to not having your curtains up and daylight savings, you’ve been starting your day around 7:30 or 8:00 lately. School days you have to get up by 7:30 so it just may be your body getting into a new routine.

You have been such a good girl lately. You are really following instructions well, not putting up too much of a fight with anything, and been quite the little helper. You like to help us cook, you’ll bring your plate over to the sink once you’re done eating, you (sometimes) will help clean up your room or the playroom. I’ll look back on the day and think, wow – we had a good day today! No yelling (or not much at least) everyone got along (for the most part)…I’d call that a win!

I’m also happy to report that you and your brother seem to have turned a corner and are getting along better than ever! Your attitude towards him is very sweet and loving. Now him on the other hand, he has started hitting a bit if he gets frustrated so we are working on that, but you handle the situation well if he swipes at you. You both are loving the extra space in the new house and running around playing together. Last night I was watching you play hide and seek together and I don’t think the smiles on your faces could have been any bigger. Where one of you is, the other one is never too far behind and I love that. Sometimes it’s helpful, sometimes it’s a bit annoying, but you like to tattle. You’ll say “Turtle P is going up the stairs.” That’s helpful. Or you’ll say “Turtle P pulled all the books out.” Not so helpful.

3 going on 13

 We love you sweet girl, and love nothing more than watching you change each and every day!

October 2014 Video Recap

I thought I was going to take a ton of random videos of my kids during the last month in our old house, but time got away from me and packing took priority. Needless to say the video for October is pretty dismal, but I at least wanted to put together what few videos I did take. So here it is, in all it's one minute long glory!