Trivia

NOTE: I ADDED SOME NEW PICTURES TO THE HOUSE ALBUM. THE SOD, FLOWERBED, AND TREE IS IN! LOOKS READY!!

Sorry I haven’t been keeping up lately on the blog! We are quickly approaching the closing on our new house!! Less than 2 wks away. Anybody who wants to come help us move, let us know!! We are closing on the 9th and are going to try to do most of the moving that weekend! Can’t wait!!

So, we finally decided to put an end to Colby’s night wakings. With his teething and ear infection, he got into a habit of waking up at night. It was getting to where he would cry (like he was DYING) off and on from about 12-3 while Stephen and I took turns going to see what we could do for him–when you’d walk in, he’d laugh–clearly NOT distressed! He did this 2 or 3 nights and we decided THAT.WAS.IT! But, we had company as well while this was occurring, so we didn’t feel right allowing him to cry while they were here. But, as soon as they left, he was on his own! He was not a fan for the first night…but, it wasn’t as bad the 2nd night. Then, it was smooth sailing after that! He has been sleeping his 12 hrs or so every night since then, and that’s been almost 2 wks ago now. YAY!

He nurses 4 times a day and eats solids 3 times a day. He also loves to drink water out of his sippy cup too! For some reason, I felt he would be a good straw drinker (Abriella was not), so I bought him some cups with the straws after we had already been trying the regular sippy cups. He took to that immediately! He is a pro! He just grabs it and starts sucking away. He’ll even drink breastmilk out of them, so that’s nice too.

He is Trouble otherwise though! We have ordered several things for the new house to install immediately because of everything he gets into that his sister never even thought about! We are getting gates for the stairs (that was necessary no matter what!) and toilet lid locks (since he now lifts them up himself!), one-piece door stops since we’ve had to fish the little plastic ends out of his mouth numerous times, a stove guard (which we’ve always thought about doing anyway), etc. We, of course, will be installing the typical cabinet and drawer locks. We don’t have any of those in this rent house and it’s so hard to keep him out of trouble! He just goes right for everything he shouldn’t be into!

We have started something new with Abriella. We have been having issues with her bedtime for sometime now and it’s just been an exercise in frustration for both Stephen and I. There was crying, bedtime delaying in all regards, etc. We were using spanking to deter this, but that just didn’t seem to be doing to job, and both of us were tired of doing that. So, I suggested to Stephen that we try a reward/incentive chart for her. I’ve had friends do this, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Anyway, we made a chart with 10 spots on it, and for each night she doesn’t cry at bedtime, or otherwise delay things somehow, she gets a dime in the morning to put on one of those spots. If she does throw a fit, cries, etc, she loses a dime right then. Once she fills all 10 spots with a dime, she gets to go to the dollar store and buy something. She already has decided she wants candy! We’ve done this 3 nights and so far, it’s worked! This has been carried over into her naptime as well for now, and she actually lost a dime yesterday during that time. But, we allowed her to earn it back at supper if she ate all of her corn without crying. I’ve never seen the child eat her vegetable so happily! HA! She was so proud of herself too! So, positive reinforcement is working so far!

A funny thing lately is that she’s been calling Stephen “babe.” For example, the other day, he gave her some cheese, and she said, “Thanks, babe!” HAHA! Wonder where she hears that one! She’s also been calling him “Dad” and me “Mom.” We figured out that she was at least getting the “dad” part off of her new Veggie Tales movie, “Pistachio.” Not sure where the mom part came from! We have told her that we are daddy and mommy and when she’s older, she can call us mom and dad, but not yet. Just doesn’t sound right, ya know!?

Also, we finally reached that sad day when Abriella figured out that she could leave her room in the morning rather than waiting for us to come get her! The first couple of days, she poked her head out and asked if she could come out. The next day, we heard doors opening and closing, and then she appeared in our bathroom. haha! So far, she has not be getting up earlier, so that’s good. I’m sure that will come and rules will have to be put into place, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Ok, I’ll end with lots of pictures. (click on each picture to go to the album)

Colby’s Fun in the Kitchen

Abriella “sleeping” in a tarp

Various pics in March 2010

Oh, and this past Saturday, we had planned on driving up to Carrollton for Maddy’s birthday party. Colby decided to take a REALLY long nap for some reason. We were trying to wait until he woke up since he wasn’t going to get an afternoon nap. Well, right before noon, we finally decided to wake him up! We got on the road for the trip which is supposed to take about 3 hrs, and we were already going to be an hour late for the party. When we started getting into stop-and-go traffic before we even made it to Waco, we started rethinking our plans! Visions of being stuck for hours on I-35 were going through our minds and we finally decided to abort the previously made plans. So, we ended up going to the zoo with the kids. We rented a stroller at the zoo since we only had one in the car and we were not about to carry one of these kids through the entire zoo! Abriella kept saying that we’d go to Maddy’s birthday party AND THEN the zoo. And, after the zoo, she said we’d go to Maddy’s party then. She was really pumped about the party! Sorry we missed it! Here are a few pics from that outing.

Trip to Zoo- March 2010

Here are some more pictures from our house. They have finished the painting outside which included some touching up, our front door, and the garage door and trim. They have also painted the inside. They have a little bit left to finish painting on the inside. The blinds are in. YAY! The yard is being done this week. We can hardly wait! We have our big walk-thru this Friday at 3pm. It’s supposed to take a couple of hours.

Some final house pictures- March 2010

Ok, I think that’s all for now! Hopefully, the pictures will appease some of these grandparents! Have a terrific Tuesday!