And this time, Roger re-schooled me on how to use his camera to take better pictures.
The National Aviary is a really great place for kids and adults alike. They recently opened the new "Penguin Point" exhibit, which I showed in the last post about the Aviary. So now the NA has a pretty good balance of education and play. (Prior to Penguin Point opening, there was not much in the way of "play" available. Ian really, really loves the Aviary.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
But Mama, I'm not tired!
Ok, ok, so going for a drive to get out of the house just doesn't cut it now? Dear Ian informed me yesterday that although it was 3:00pm and he woke up for the day at 7:45am, he was not tired. Even though he'd played in his sandbox outside in the 90 degree weather for more than an hour. Even though we'd left the house, and he had played all morning with his cars, crayons, and brother. Even though he takes a nap every day. Yesterday, he did not.
So what's a mom to do?
Take him to the Aviary the next day and run his little legs off! And withhold his lunch until the drive home so that he was eating in the car instead of falling asleep. Yep. It worked. He was sawing logs just a few minutes after coming home, having his milk, and reading a story.
It's unfortunate that Aaron doesn't seem to have the same appreciation for morning entertainment as Ian does... but I'm sure he'll grow into it.
So what's a mom to do?
Take him to the Aviary the next day and run his little legs off! And withhold his lunch until the drive home so that he was eating in the car instead of falling asleep. Yep. It worked. He was sawing logs just a few minutes after coming home, having his milk, and reading a story.
It's unfortunate that Aaron doesn't seem to have the same appreciation for morning entertainment as Ian does... but I'm sure he'll grow into it.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Feeling Crumb-y?
Ian seems to only pose for pictures and put on cute smiles when his face is dirty. Such is the life of a 2 year old boy, I guess! (& hop on over to the4thvandervort to see some nice new pictures of Aaron, too.)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Feeling neglected?
Ian's blog readers, that is. You see, in the life of a 2 year old, there comes a point where there isn't a whole lot of "new" on a daily basis. So, I've been trying to come up with things to post, but it is hard. I don't think you really want to see a new post every day with the words Ian has added to his vocabulary. I could write a post every day with those words. He's increasing his vocabulary 10-fold every week. And the kid can sing twinkle, twinkle little star.
It just isn't all that exciting.
I could tell you that he's been enjoying making new friends at the local playgrounds. We go every time it is nice enough and Ian always makes new friends. But, that also isn't all that exciting.
We haven't been on any major outings recently. We have been laying low, while trying to get our house on the market. Reading stories before bed, watching Tom & Jerry episodes and eating lollipops and hot dogs.
It's been fun. It's also been ... a tad boring.
So
It just isn't all that exciting.
I could tell you that he's been enjoying making new friends at the local playgrounds. We go every time it is nice enough and Ian always makes new friends. But, that also isn't all that exciting.
We haven't been on any major outings recently. We have been laying low, while trying to get our house on the market. Reading stories before bed, watching Tom & Jerry episodes and eating lollipops and hot dogs.
It's been fun. It's also been ... a tad boring.
So
I don't recognize her.
So, I guess this is just a going to be a big old WHINE post... We had another rough night last night. Aaron wakes at his "normal" wake-up time around 3:30 and won't settle without Motrin.
Anyway, I don't even recognize this mother that I've become. I'll admit, I held Ian when he was an infant. A lot. I held him constantly and it probably caused a lot of his attachment issues now, but seriously, I was a SAHM and what ELSE was I going to do but hold my darling infant and watch him sleep.
I didn't ever really WANT to breastfeed. I felt a lot of outside pressure from my mom, sisters, etc. and so I decided there wasn't really any way out of it. So I breastfed. And it was hard. And my original goal was 6 months. And then, breastfeeding was really easy and I didn't know how to stop, plus I loved being the one person my baby really NEEDED, so I kept going after we hit 6 months. After 15 months of breastfeeding, my toddler gave it up. I didn't wean him, he weaned himself, and made room at the table for his little brother who was coming to dinner just 3 months later. So now, the girl who never really wanted to breastfeed in the first place is breastfeeding her 2nd child and has been for almost 10 months. Even though I'm totally burnt out on it and my sweet nursling is shredding my nipples up with his new [s]razorblades [/s]teeth, I keep going. I don't know how to quit. And my little attached baby doesn't like bottles. And, I don't want to quit. I like it. I'll miss it when we're done.
Oh, and then there's the sleeping...
Before Ian was born, I had this grand picture of how things would go in the realm of sleep. I'd having this delightful baby who would only ever smile and coo, never cry. I'd feed him, change him, and put him to bed in his crib, where he'd happily fall asleep and sleep all night. Ha ha. The first night home from the hospital, dear Ian was up every hour on the hour, screaming bloody murder. He was cold even though he was swaddled. At 4:00am, completely exhausted and desperate, we put him in our bed between us. And he slept. It was glorious.
SO we let him sleep there. Until he was 10 weeks old and that was IT. We put him in his crib, cold turkey, and that's where he stayed. Until the wee hours of the morning, when I was so tired I was delirious, so I brought him back to our bed. And then he got his first cold, and he slept with us.
Finally, his brother was born and Ian had to learn to sleep in his own space. But, the baby now sleeps with us.
If you would've asked me before Ian was born if I would ever cosleep with my children, I'd have told you, "hell no!" And yet, here I am, 2 years later, with a baby in my bed.
I'm frustrated. A victim of my own changing views on mothering. I hold my babies. I wear them. I nurse them. I don't like Cry-it-out. My baby doesn't take a bottle. And he doesn't like being held by anyone other than me for any length of time, even his daddy. I am tired.
Anyway, I don't even recognize this mother that I've become. I'll admit, I held Ian when he was an infant. A lot. I held him constantly and it probably caused a lot of his attachment issues now, but seriously, I was a SAHM and what ELSE was I going to do but hold my darling infant and watch him sleep.
I didn't ever really WANT to breastfeed. I felt a lot of outside pressure from my mom, sisters, etc. and so I decided there wasn't really any way out of it. So I breastfed. And it was hard. And my original goal was 6 months. And then, breastfeeding was really easy and I didn't know how to stop, plus I loved being the one person my baby really NEEDED, so I kept going after we hit 6 months. After 15 months of breastfeeding, my toddler gave it up. I didn't wean him, he weaned himself, and made room at the table for his little brother who was coming to dinner just 3 months later. So now, the girl who never really wanted to breastfeed in the first place is breastfeeding her 2nd child and has been for almost 10 months. Even though I'm totally burnt out on it and my sweet nursling is shredding my nipples up with his new [s]razorblades [/s]teeth, I keep going. I don't know how to quit. And my little attached baby doesn't like bottles. And, I don't want to quit. I like it. I'll miss it when we're done.
Oh, and then there's the sleeping...
Before Ian was born, I had this grand picture of how things would go in the realm of sleep. I'd having this delightful baby who would only ever smile and coo, never cry. I'd feed him, change him, and put him to bed in his crib, where he'd happily fall asleep and sleep all night. Ha ha. The first night home from the hospital, dear Ian was up every hour on the hour, screaming bloody murder. He was cold even though he was swaddled. At 4:00am, completely exhausted and desperate, we put him in our bed between us. And he slept. It was glorious.
SO we let him sleep there. Until he was 10 weeks old and that was IT. We put him in his crib, cold turkey, and that's where he stayed. Until the wee hours of the morning, when I was so tired I was delirious, so I brought him back to our bed. And then he got his first cold, and he slept with us.
Finally, his brother was born and Ian had to learn to sleep in his own space. But, the baby now sleeps with us.
If you would've asked me before Ian was born if I would ever cosleep with my children, I'd have told you, "hell no!" And yet, here I am, 2 years later, with a baby in my bed.
I'm frustrated. A victim of my own changing views on mothering. I hold my babies. I wear them. I nurse them. I don't like Cry-it-out. My baby doesn't take a bottle. And he doesn't like being held by anyone other than me for any length of time, even his daddy. I am tired.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Update on Sleeping
Ian has been out of his crib for almost 2 weeks. He hasn't really skipped a beat. He even slept really well while we were gone over the weekend. We stayed in Dianne's pop-up camper on Friday & Saturday nights. Ian didn't nap well in there, but he did sleep all night both nights. It is a relief to have a relatively good experience after such a disastrous camping trip 2 weeks ago.
Here's to continued sleeping success... we know how quickly things can go awry, so we're feeling blessed these days to have some "easy" nights. (with Ian, anyway.......)
Here's to continued sleeping success... we know how quickly things can go awry, so we're feeling blessed these days to have some "easy" nights. (with Ian, anyway.......)
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Gone are the baby days
On Friday, Ian decided he was not going to be caged any longer. He climbed over his crib rail twice and was on his way to a third time when Roger walked in the door. We could not (in good conscience) leave him in there any more. So at bedtime on Friday night, we removed the crib rail & put him to bed in his converted crib. He was a little resistant to sleeping with this new-found freedom, but After a few minutes of him going bananas in his room, I went in and laid him down and laid my head down on his pillow. He was a sleep in a minute or so.
Saturday morning, we finished the conversion to a big boy room by taking the crib out entirely and putting his toddler bed (that we've had in the room since November) into the crib's place. We also removed the changing table since he liked to climb it and put his stereo up onto the dresser.
There are no more remnants of the nursery. The only thing that is "original" to the time we created the nursery is the dresser & lamp. Everything else is different.
*sigh*
It's a little sad to know that THE nursery is gone. Aaron has his crib in the other room still so I guess there is still "technically" a nursery, but it just isn't the same. We didn't have the "luxury" of carefully choosing the wall colors, theme, bedding, etc. for Aaron's room. We just didn't have time or the opportunity. Someday we WILL make a room specifically for Aaron, but a nursery it will not be.
Anyway, Ian likes his new room. He really hasn't had much additional difficulty going to sleep in there. He is still a very "stubborn" sleeper and still has to cry about going to sleep, but for nap and bedtime yesterday, he has ultimately gotten in his bed and gone to sleep.
And now, instead of worrying he'll climb over the rail while fighting about sleep, I listen for the thud of him rolling out of bed.
Transitions. (They never seem to go easily in these parts.)
Saturday morning, we finished the conversion to a big boy room by taking the crib out entirely and putting his toddler bed (that we've had in the room since November) into the crib's place. We also removed the changing table since he liked to climb it and put his stereo up onto the dresser.
There are no more remnants of the nursery. The only thing that is "original" to the time we created the nursery is the dresser & lamp. Everything else is different.
*sigh*
It's a little sad to know that THE nursery is gone. Aaron has his crib in the other room still so I guess there is still "technically" a nursery, but it just isn't the same. We didn't have the "luxury" of carefully choosing the wall colors, theme, bedding, etc. for Aaron's room. We just didn't have time or the opportunity. Someday we WILL make a room specifically for Aaron, but a nursery it will not be.
Anyway, Ian likes his new room. He really hasn't had much additional difficulty going to sleep in there. He is still a very "stubborn" sleeper and still has to cry about going to sleep, but for nap and bedtime yesterday, he has ultimately gotten in his bed and gone to sleep.
And now, instead of worrying he'll climb over the rail while fighting about sleep, I listen for the thud of him rolling out of bed.
Transitions. (They never seem to go easily in these parts.)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A Camping Trip
We went camping this weekend, but Ian's refusal to go to sleep in our tent caused it to be a disaster. We ended up leaving our tent, fly, & chairs and coming home at 1:00am. We returned Saturday morning, broke camp, and spent the day there hiking, swimming in the lake, and cooking our dinner on the campfire.
A lesson learned. Ian is not ready to spend the night in a tent. We'll try again another time.
A lesson learned. Ian is not ready to spend the night in a tent. We'll try again another time.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Zoo Trip
Ian, Aaron & I met some friends at the zoo the other day. It was really crowded and REALLY hot. Ian enjoyed meeting the tiger shark & the soak zone the best--
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