Hmmm where to start...Lots of little things to update!
LEO
Leo is with us and going strong! He likes to just walk around the back yard and loves to bury himself along side the house under the barkdust! That is where he can be found most nights! I was just about laying in the grass as he was coming towards me...and he is quite the little mover! I'll have to borrow my in-laws digi camera to take a movie shot of him =)
But could he be any cuter? =)
Here we fed him some lettuce (he didn't care for the carrot or the raspberry we put on his "plate")
Okay just one more of Leo that I like. (I do feel bad for poor Ethan... We are constantly telling him to PUT LEO DOWN...CAREFULLY! He loves to go find him and then carry him around. He just wants to play with him! Tonight when I said I was sorry he wasn't a better pet that you could PLAY with. He smiled real big and said, yeah but a dog would play! I chuckled ..ok I laughed and said NO WAY! Ethan's reply was "how about a cat?". I just had to say, We'll have to talk about it, but not now! =) I think we have dodged that one for now!
Okay onto real people LOL
Ethan
A week of being back at daycare after vacation and NO NAPS has given us plenty of rough nights but boy oh boy are bedtimes a piece of cake these days! He is soo tired that it literally takes him minutes to fall asleep. That and we are really struggling with his manners aka burping at the table or letting off smoke bombs as he likes to call it (which we really aren't offended by JUST NOT AT THE TABLE). Of course the good ol stand by NOT LISTENING. I keep reminding him that he will be starting preschool in a month or so and that he can't behave like that or they won't let him stay in preschool... =) Is it working...not sure yet!
Actually I'm the one that is quite excited to go buy school supplies (what can preschoolers really even need... I need to find the list that they sent us). That was always my favorite part of getting ready for school. I always put the paper right into my notebook, had all my dividers labeled and ready to write in...Too bad I wasn't a better student and actually used my notebook past oh say the 1st month of school! =)
Miss Bella
Wow...can't believe she will be at the end of August! She seems to be talking more and more every day! She practically waves and say HI to just about everyone she sees. NO is her absolute favorite word. She loves handing you something and saying, "Here you go!" or what is even cuter is when she gets out of time out (Yes she knows time outs very well these days) and says, "SORRY MOMMA" and leans in for a kiss and hug! She knows what she is doing! Lately her biggest reason for time out is just major tantrums...most often thrown after coming inside the house. We don't wear shoes in our house and she LOVES her shoes! She screams and cries to keep her shoes! (I think she will be getting lots of dress up shoes for her birthday!)
She loves jumping up and down and can actually get her little feet off the ground. I tried to snap a few of her on her toddler bed. You know one of those w/ her arms out saying I'm a big girl now type photo! These are what I got:
She had a blast jumping...Check it out, she was even getting some "air"! =)
We are still having her sleep in her big girl bed (ok so when she isn't sleeping on the couch--as she is right now). For the longest time we let her fall asleep laying on the couch and then I would just carry her to our bed. (I know horrible habits, but it allowed minimal commotion from her and allowed Ethan to try to get some sleep!
Well we have been doing it for just over a week and she has only slept in our bed twice. I was even a really mean mom and when she came in our room last night around 5am I told her she had to go back to her room (I didn't get out of bed) and I received the standard NO response... so I said well if you don't want to do that you can get on the couch (we have a little love seat in our room) or you can sleep on the floor (there were a couple pillows laying there and I spread out her little pink blanky)...well there were some tears (they flow very easily for her) and some screaming (thank goodness brother sleeps heavy) and finally she fell asleep on the floor. Not sure if I should even allow that, but I coming to the conclusion that as long as it isn't in my bed =) I don't know... anyone else have to go thru this???? Any great words of wisdom?
Like I said most nights she is up anywhere from 3 to 5 times!!! She throws a fit and lays on the couch, wants milk...I give into those wants and then she finally falls back to sleep and we play roving beds and I move her back to her room and pray that she sleeps until atleast 6:30am or later! So I guess I am making some progress, but boy does she know that this isn't what she is used to! She lets out some major screams and hollers and usually once I can get those calmed down she is out pretty quick. Thankfully after the first few nights (45min, 1hr, 1hr) it has only taken about 15-25minutes for her to go to sleep andshe is even getting better about me NOT having to sit directly outside her door!
I really think she is at the point where she really doesn't need me to sleep, but I still feel bad when I hear those screams! Do I keep up with what I am doing. I mean I am trying to change a year and a half worth of sleep habits. I do go to her and reassure her that I am here and she calms down. So I guess now I am re-assuring myself =) We are making PROGRESS so I think that is the important part!
Lots of Other Stuff
OMG there is still soo much more I could talk about. We still need to stain the deck, put up some permanent seating, steps off the deck. Todd wants to put a crawl space above the garage! I want to redo the kids bathroom. Not sure of the theme yet, but leaning towards FROGS (so if you have any great ideas for a shower curtain and towels ect. let me know. Need to go through both kids rooms and sell, sell, sell tons of their stuff I've tried telling Ethan he can have the money from the toys he chooses to sell, hoping that motivates him to pick out some stuff to sell. They both just have way too many toys! So be looking for a photo album of some goodies to buy! =)
My friend Sara is moving yet again so it has been lonely NOT chatting with her and/or seeing all the emails from her... So girlfriend hurry up and get settled! (I think she is back to having internet access tomorrow (Tuesday). I can't wait to hear some of the stories I know she will have after the BIG move and having her two boys under foot!
Melissa continues to kick butt on her CT's... I swear I don't know how she does it. Continually puts out amazing layouts and so quick. I think it takes me DAYS to get just one done. It hardley ever just falls into place for me =( I tend to keep going back and forth on the papers and elements! Check out some of the stuff on Dani's girl talk blog! There are lots of fun layouts and PROJECTS to work on!
I think tomorrow the high chair is officially making its exit to the garage (then out of here). Ethan has had his black Cooshie seat for quite some time so I told him that will buy him a new one and let sister use the black one... But check out these colors:
So I just bought him the blue one and will get Bella the pink one soon. So once Bella has the pink one then we will give the black one to Grammy! Between E and Bella and then cousins London and soon his baby brother it will get used. (next maybe a couple for my moms house) If you have never seen these seats...well worth the money! (oh and Sara w/ the move I hadn't forgotten about your seat... If you didn't sell it in the rummage/garage sale then let me know... I will get that one too.. plenty of uses for it at a grandparents house.
Ok I should soo be in bed (who knows when Iz will wake up again!) but I ran across this site: Scrap with Nikki's Etsy site! How cute is this little lime green/hot pink dress:
I think I will have to email her tomorrow ... would love to see if she could make it a 2t on the large size... I think it is adorable and would love adorable on Bella's olive skin!
Okay I think I'm done this time LOL Sorry it is soo long and thanks for reading if you got this far! =)
Oh wow! I was so excited to see your cute little turtle! Emira has had quite a few box turtles this summer but we always let them go after she plays with them for a few days. Then I seen my cute little Ainsley, how cool! I am so glad you like her outfit! I CAN make a 2t! And on my blog (scroll down) you can see a pic of one I made for a little girl in 2T - she is so cute! Well here is the link to the photo: http://scrapwithnikki.com/uploaded_images/ifb_fullxfull_5054573-707086.jpg
Thanks for your sweet comments!
Posted by: Nikki | August 05, 2007 at 11:47 PM