Productive weekend?

I'm getting more of the house organized. I made a donation run with a car full of stuff that is now GONE from the house. It always feels good to do that. Yard work was done outside all day Saturday. There is prep work being done for the last big wall in the yard. I'm sure Russ is looking forward to having his garage back as well as the driveway.

Both kids still have a runny nose and cough from the cold. I hope Gwen can go to ECFE this Wednesday. Maybe she just needs another day or two. Trevor, I don't ever seem to have to worry.

Sunday, we took both kids in to church because I haven't signed Gwen up for the nursery yet and Trevor's Sunday School starts next Sunday with an open house after mass that day. We sat in the back so as not to disturb anyone, and in case we needed to make a quick exit. Both kids did really well. Although I hope I don't have to do that again. I think Gwen will like the nursery, and hopefully she won't even notice that mom and dad aren't there.

Trevor took an interest in the Eucharist this time. So I had to explain it and I'm sure since he hasn't heard it at his Lutheran preschool, it's going to be a topic of conversation for a while. He was asking about why and if he could or at least why he couldn't right now. I told him that when he is 8 years old he will. That always seems to satisfy him. Just give him a date as to when he will be able to do something, and then he can plan for it. Must be like me that way. So this morning, he was asking about it again, and then asked how old Gwen will be when he is 8.

My mom bought a Toy Story computer game that was installed on Trevor's computer, and he doesn't want to stop playing it. He was afraid of the newness of it all, but since he's learned how to play it, he has beaten it and gotten high scores on his favorite games. Of course it is hard to play if Gwen is in the area. She can't leave him alone with it.

Speaking of her, she has been gearing up to turn the big ONE. One of the big touchpoints is one year old. I'm guessing it is usually doubly bad because most kids are learning to master walking as well as going through growth spurt stuff. For some reason, the walking milestone wasn't too hard for Gwen. She's been walking pretty good for a few weeks now. She can even do it with shoes on, although she'd prefer not to.

No, she's turning one, and having to relearn how to put herself to sleep. Both for naps and nighttime. We have recently had a few visitors to help with the kids where they have had to put her to bed. And I know it is hard to listen to her cry, so if it is someone else, I let them do whatever they need to feel comfortable. Of course now she thinks if she cries enough, she will be picked up. She is also good about delaying naps. She can act wide awake if she is brought downstairs. However, after a few minutes, she is tired and cranky. According to my book, the next touchpoint is another 3 months, so this won't be too long.

In the mean time, I've been really enjoying having her - I believe it is called "receptive language" - really blossom! I can let her know what we have to do next, or what we can do next and she will walk over to where she needs to be. I'm kind of amazed by this because I wonder if she enjoys the understanding piece of it, rather than what is about to happen. I have battled with her a few times on changing her diaper. But if I tell her we need to change her diaper, and let her walk into the room, she is much more calm and understanding.

She LOVES LOVES LOVES to play "dollies" in the doll house. I think it has caused Trevor to back off of it because he now thinks it is a baby or a girl toy. Bummer. But I am happy it will probably get a lot of use.

So on to the party planning.....cake bought, presents bought, now I need to get everything for the party ready and cleaned for Friday. Only 5 more days of a 0 year old baby in my house!

It is mostly premere week!

I used to have more on my list, but I still have a few shows that I love to watch. Some I still want to watch, but I'm going to have to get caught up with them via Netflix.

Still, this week was HEROES!!!! I was a bit weirded out by it. It has seemed to change direction drastically, and I'm not sure I like it all that much. However, I don't really think it's going to be weird for long. They just need to fit the two storylines together and then they'll get more into the story side of things. Then it'll get good again.

Tonight is Grey's Anatomy! I've also heard good things about this one. 2 hours tonight! These shows (among a few others) really make me feel like someone other than a mom.

Anyway....have to start dinner now! And as a side note....GO TWINS!!!!

Can you believe it?

It was one year ago today that I was officially due with Gwen. I remember it SO vividly probably because I was SO ready to be done, among other emotions.

These past few weeks I've been trying to get ready for both kids' birthdays although I know I have almost two months between them. It actually feels a lot easier this way. Only problem is, I remember that there are some great sales that come out in October for toys for Christmas. So while I'd prefer to be done with all the crazy toy shopping for everything, I'm holding off after getting a few things for Gwen's birthday.

I also have to figure out what to do for Halloween. I don't remember if it's ok to have swords at preschool. If I remember, I think they just prefer no "scary" costumes. Although I might have to convince Trevor to keep his lightsword at home during preschool. I know last year I thought I was going to make costumes this year, but I've instead been trying to clean and organize most of the house. I've been making big strides and I feel a lot better about getting into the down and dirty areas and getting rid of a lot of stuff.

For example, I'm shreading papers from before we were married. Bank statements mostly. Do you know how far down on the priority list that stuff has been? And it doesn't mean that my priority list has been shortened, just that I feel like if I do little things like that for 10 minutes a day, I don't feel like all those projects are overwhelmingly never going to get done.

Also with the upcoming birthdays and Christmas, I again have to go through and put away toys to make way for new ones. I've been trying to make a nice play place in the basement for times I need to clean downstairs. It can help keep some of the toys "newer" as they don't get played with very often if they go downstairs.

On another note.....it has been a little tough on Gwen to be sick this time. She has been having some trouble sleeping, or feeling good sleeping. So she's had a crabby attitude lately. But she has been having a BLAST playing with the dolls in the dollhouse. It has been fun to say something to her, like "Let's go play with the dolls" and she will go right over to the house and wait at the chair. Or if she wants to go to sleep, she will go to the bottom of the stairs and cry out. She is really understanding a lot of what is going on. And while I feel as though her temperment is different than Trevors is, I'm trying to distract her whenever I feel like she is going to throw a temper tantrum. So far, it's been working for the most part. Maybe I can convince her that it isn't a good idea? Who knows.

Her bedtime/naptime routine is interesting. Unlike Trevor, she never sleeps in the pack n play. Which doesn't make it very easy for when we go places. So I always make sure to take her blanket pal with us. I make sure she snuggles with it when I lay her down. But lately, she has really taken to a plain pink blanket that I have been using to cover the light on one side of her crib. It is very soft and much bigger than the other blanket. It will be interesting to see what (if anything) she ends up liking.

I'm just happy she finally can put herself down for naps and takes one regular one for at least an hour and a half every day. Trevor and I can have some time together to play games or whatever. And he has some time to play on his toys without Gwen. I forget that he doesn't have a lot of time to do that. He's usually the one that is away somewhere.

Well, Gwen is finally sleeping in this morning. I'm sure she needs it. Now I have a few minutes to get some other things done!

Congratulations Christine and family!

Just wanted to post a big CONGRATULATIONS to Christine, George, Anya, and Baz as they welcome their newest addition Lorelei Dawn! I have a feeling she's going to have a lot in common with my little Libra!

Quick weekend

We had a ver quick weekend. At least the weather was nice. Unfortunately, both kids are sick wth a cold. Trevor woke up this morning and sounds horrible. I can't send him to preschool. He seemed ok yesterday. He had his usual energy, and just had a runny nose. But today, he can hardly talk and is coughing and sneezing all over the place. Hopefully he'll just need another two days to get better. Poor Gwen, now I have to watch her for an ear infection, and if she gets one, she'll have to postpone her shots.

Thankfully, we now have decent nights again. Right before Trevor gets sick, he wakes up screaming for a few nights. Friday night was bad.

On Sunday, Trevor was able to go to another Children's Theater performance with my mom. It was longer than I expected, but he made it through and then didn't want to leave. He also tried to sit in the regular seats for a bit and then went into the crying room for the rest of the show. Sounds like he was very interested in the show which happened to be "Madeline and the Gypsies". Or it might have been something about a circus as well. We hadn't read that book, but have a Madeline book that he has read. So he understood a little bit about the story.

So somehow I'm going to have to run errands with both kids and try to keep Trevor and Gwen from rubbing their noses all over everything. 'Tis the season!

Some Toys

As we get ready for Gwen's birthday followed by Trevor's and then Christmas, I figure I should let you know about some of the things the kids are playing with. They might go by the wayside with new stuff coming in. Or at least I hope to weed out or recycle and hide some of the old toys to make way for the new stuff.

Trevor still plays with Cars cars. We have been slowly introducing him to board games and I have a few in mind to get him for his birthday or Christmas. He knows how to play Uno, Chutes and Ladders, Memory, Hi Ho Cherry O, and Sequence for Kids. I have been involved in a free game site that just started offering Monopoly. Trevor noticed that we had games like that, but wasn't interested in playing by the rules (I think the actual age is like 10 and up) but liked the fact that he could make similar sound effects like dice rolling and going to jail on a game board that he liked. The one he wanted to play on was our Mario/Nintendo game board.

Over this summer, I found a fisher price dollhouse at a garage sale for $1. It was in very good shape but did not come with any furniture or dolls. A few weeks later, my mom found some furniture at a store in Chicago. A few weeks ago, Trevor had still been playing with the house using it as Lightning McQueen's house. But on Wednesday, the family of dolls was found. We now have grandparents, parents, a brother and sister, and boy and girl twin babies. So now Trevor can play with Bubba, Papa, Mommy, Daddy, Trevor, Elizabeth, Gwen, and Sam. (Yes, I tried to convince him Sam was not a baby, but he wanted the baby boy to be Sam). And he loves it. Unfortunately, Gwen does too. And even more unfortunate, she isn't at the age where she can play with the big house yet. If we put it on the floor for her, it would easily be broken within a week. So instead, we let her sit on someone's lap and play or she even likes to carry around a select doll and then drop it off to be lost for a few hours. (That's what happened with the mommy doll today).

As far as toys Gwen likes...it's pretty much any of Trevor's toys that he plays with. Add to that, the Word Whammer refrigerator toy that has like 30 letters scattered on the fridge which come off and get picked up 30 times a day....and then she also has a few books that she likes to read. She now gets around by walking everywhere. And jabbering. She's trying to copy things she hears, but she has a good time walking around talking to herself. Or to you if you want to listen to her. I'll have to get a video of her, if I can remember!

I feel very behind...

Sorry about my lack of posts. There has been a lot going on, but not a lot that takes up a good sized post. So I will try to piece everything together and give you a few things to read.

Thursday we all went to the Twins' game. It was a day game and Gwen napped in the car on the way there, and then both kids were tuckered out by the end of the game. We actually left after the 8th inning as it looked like it might go into extra innings (and did - to have the twins loose). Both kids slept in the car on the way home. Trevor stayed in his seat a lot more than he did last time and we got to see a few foul balls fly by us.

Friday night we went to Amy's 16th birthday party. Gwen was able to do her tricks of walking everywhere and jabbering as if she was included in the conversation. Trevor was able to get outside to jump on the trampoline for a little while and enjoyed that.

Sunday Trevor got to try on a tux for the wedding he is going to be in in May. I did not get any pictures of him in it and it looked a little silly because the pants were WAYYYYY too long and not small enough around the waist. Plus he didn't have a tie. But we (and he) got a good idea of what it would be like. They won't measure him until closer to the date because he is probably going to grow another 2 inches by that time. (And I already have a tall beanpole on my hands) But the funny thing was, that once he had on the tux (which he called a dress) and knew that it was for a wedding, he wanted to dance the day away. And go show everyone out in the mall. We practically had to restrain him from leaving the store.

The ONLY downside I can see for him about this wedding is that he will probably be so excited and have such a good time with everything is that he won't make it much into the dance part of it. Which he would love. That's what happened a few weekends ago. And if there was a way that I could get him to sleep good the night before, and sleep late into the morning, that would probably help. But he seems to have my sleeping habits. He is a very light sleeper and if he is excited about something coming up the next day he doesn't sleep well and wants to be up EXTRA early. Whenever we sleep somewhere other than home, he is up at the latest 6:30 or so.

Anyway....it's all speculation at this point. We have a lot of time to figure things out.

But these past few nights have been interesting. Trevor is going through some sort of development and I don't know if it is because he is becoming more afraid of the thought of going to sleep and having a bad dream or what. But he is always trying to sneak into our bed at night (before he goes to sleep) and sleep in our bed. So I hear nothing and then go upstairs to find him sleeping in our bed. It's not that big of a deal. More annoying than anything. But then last night, he woke up at 2am and said he had to go to the bathroom. Then he was up for a good hour. And so was I. I know I startled awake when I heard him open his bedroom door at 2 but then I went back to sleep and then startled again when I heard the toilet flush. So I situated him back into his bed and then couldn't get to sleep myself. I heard Gwen making some happy noises at this point too. And I never really could get into a deep sleep again.

Anyway, sleep would do everyone a lot of good right now. Thank goodness for the nice weather. We can spend some of our time outside!

We have a sleepwalker

And it wasn't the first time he did it. It was a while ago when he first started mastering the child proof doorknob. He walked into our bedroom and wanted to crawl into bed with us. It was about 1 o'clock and while I was disoriented, I led him back to his bedroom and tucked him in. He wasn't awake, I could tell by the lack of talking and how I practically had to drag him into his bed.

Last night, I went upstairs to bed at 10. Trevor was in bed before 9, and I didn't hear a peep from him. I checked on Gwen and then went to our room. I turned on the light, and in our bed, his clothes for the next day on the nightstand, was Trevor. He didn't even stir when the light flipped on. So I carried him back into bed and put his clothes back on the bookcase where they usually are.

He has had plenty of nights where he fully wakes up and cries out. He remembers those nights. But the ones where he walks around and doesn't talk, he is sleepwalking. I've done it a few times. Not regularly...and it might have something to do with lack of sleep. I don't think I've done it since I was at least in the apartment, and maybe living back with my parents. Not sure.

Anyway, I hope he gets back to napping for a few days...he needs the sleep. And I don't like worrying what he could be getting into in his sleep for goodness sake! I already have to keep my eye on him when he's awake!

First days of school

Sorry about my lack of discussion on this topic. I do have a picture of Trevor at home right before his first day of school. But I know he would like this better because his friend is in it. He has been really enjoying going back to preschool. His class is the same except for 3 new faces. He now goes 3 days a week instead of two. On Wednesdays they do a weekly reader activity and get to play on the computer. However, it has to be your "turn" for the day if you are going to play on it.

With his change back to his routine for the fall, comes a lot of arguments. For the past year and a half or so, when we did time outs for Trevor, they would be up in his room. I knew they worked because he was not happy when he got up there. He was away from the action. However, now he goes up there and enjoys his time away from everyone. So we are going to have to try a naughty mat or naughty step, whichever works. I'm not sure how Gwen is going to be in leaving Trevor alone, so it might have to be on the stairs.

Gwen is choosing walking as her main form of transportation, and I think that adds to Trevor's frustration. She is very quick. And gets into all his things. So a lot of Trevor's acting out is due to wanting more attention. I send Trevor to preschool crossing my fingers that he isn't as difficult as he is at home, and so far so good. I think there is enough newness and yet familiarity where he knows he has some Gwen free time.

In the mean time, Gwen has class on Wednesday afternoons. I am amazed at how much of an "expert" I have become. Ann Marie wasn't there on Wednesday and I immediately became the one the instructor knew would know what was going on. Almost everyone else was there with their first baby. Most were frustrated because they were dealing with their baby waking up in the middle of the night when they didn't use to. OH how I remember those days and how frustrating they were. And everyone seemed to be dealing with letting their babies find out how to put themselves to sleep. Feeling guilty with letting them cry and the such.

The book "Touchpoints" came up and I seconded it. A lot of the mom's wrote the book down and I hope most will be able to get it, if not for this baby for future kids. I also remember feeling that there had to be an answer out there for an issue I was having trouble with. And hearing a lot of the mom's questions, you get the answer, "There is no answer". It's just a phase, and you have to wait it out.

Anyway, I do know that Gwen likes her change in environment and plays like crazy when she is there. It is also easy to see that I am a second time mom by how much I let her play. Most parents are hovering right by their baby because they are worried about what they will touch or do. I keep my eye on her, but for the most part, I let her explore and only take her away if she is bothering another baby.

So school is in session. I'm sure it will bring on lots of fun stuff this year!

An introduction to weddings

Trevor has been learning about weddings through photographs and some limited exposure. He was at a wedding a few months before he turned 3 where he had a great time. But that was the last one he attended. We've been invited to a few more, but none that we knew well enough to bring kids to.

Ever since I can remember, Trevor has always said that the wedding picture at the top of the stairs is not a wedding picture, but me in my dancing dress. And that he wants to go dancing with me. We have also had opportunity to talk to him about getting married through going to weddings (explaining what we were going to do) and now that we have siblings that are going to get married, we tell him about when we got married, and all the activities that go along with it.

But this weekend was the first time he was able to put it all together and see what it was all about. There were some things he was a little confused about, namely why I wasn't the one getting married, and why Tracy was standing up for Lizzy but yet not getting married herself. So after the ceremony part was done, he knew that we were going to the reception afterwards. I figured he would like that part as even when he was not yet 3, he was still lighting it up on the dance floor. Instead of wanting to leave right away, Trevor took me by the hand and said he wanted to marry me so we could go dancing. So I humored him and walked with him up a hill and danced a little bit. He was very happy about that.

In the mean time, Gwen was having a good time playing with the bubbles. She stayed quiet through the ceremony, but of course wanted to walk and crawl around. So we only tried that the last few minutes to keep her quiet. She's also doing much better in the car, although wanted to nap on the way back to the reception from the ceremony. We let her sleep for a little while when Russ and Trevor went to grab some things at Target.

So we got to the reception, and as soon as the DJ turned on her lights and music was on, Trevor was on the dance floor. Not exactly dancing, more like running but regardless, having a lot of fun. Now he was running on no nap and riding in a car most of the day. He did as well as you can expect a 4 year old to do. By the time they put on the couple's first dance and the father-daughter dance, Trevor wanted to "take a rest". Which for him means he needs to go to bed.

All in all, he got a good taste of what is to come. Another 8 months before the next family wedding (that we know about ;-))

YAHOO!!

I'm so excited to announce that I can add a new ticker to this page. AND NO WE ARE NOT EXPECTING AGAIN!!!!

What a nice weekend....

Really, I cannot complain at all about the weekend. Especially the weather. It did not rain once while we were there. And it was at or above 80 all three days we were there. Trevor got to swim every day. We were even at Barb's beach one of the days. Of course, we much would have appreciated it more if the bridge were built, and the lake was up to its normal level. Then my parent's boat would have been in the water for the entire time. But they did get to have it in for a great day on Saturday. I know next year Trevor will really enjoy it. I think he is on the brink of getting over his fear of loud noises. Plus he can almost jump into the water without having someone catch him. Swimming lessons start again in another week and a half, and if he gets a good teacher, I know he'll be jumping in soon.

To start off, I figured I would be able to drive down by myself during Gwen's naptime schedule. She has been only taking one nap a day for most of the days. I know I need to distract her for that morning time when she might want to take a nap at say 10:30 or so. So we got into the car after I gave her a bottle at 11:30. We drove through McD's for Trevor's lunch and were on the road, just before getting on the highway when Gwen woke up. Now, she does this but because we were in the car, I figured she would be able to go back to sleep no problem. For whatever reason, that didn't happen. But she did a really good job of not getting too upset until I got to Eau Claire which is more than halfway to the cabin. We stopped at a McD's playland so Trevor could run off some steam and Gwen could stretch her legs.

Getting back into the car was a bit of a struggle for Gwen, but both kids were asleep by the time we got to the cabin around 3:20 or so. But they both woke up as the car stopped. And no more naps for either of them.

On Friday night, we were able to spend the dinner time celebrating Ellie's 3rd birthday! The folks at the Stone's Throw sang to her and Trevor was able to remember a little about his own birthday coming up. I think he's going to love it in a few months.

So that night, we played some dominoes. I drank a whole bottle of wine. I have NEVER done that before. I figured it was the only drink that tastes relatively good to me, so it is easier to drink more of it. I will drink beer, but it does not taste nearly as sweet or good as wine does. The next day was a slow start for me, but it was all good ;-)

Gwen has been going in fast motion when it comes to vocalizing for the time being. She has been able to say at one time or another: Mama, Dada, Bubba, Baa (as in the sound a sheep makes) Eyes, Moo, Kaka (for cracker), and the crowd favorite: HIIIIII. She's also waving at that point too. If you ask her to. She's very cute and I've started to calm Trevor down to understand that I will make sure he gets time to play with his toys by himself if he lets her take a turn as well.

Now all I can hope for is as much healthy time as possible. I know the cold and sick season is coming soon and it will really not be fun for the time when the kids are sick.

But for now....the weather and the "end" of summer was great.

Oh, and for the first time EVER, I tried to let Gwen put herself down for a nap. Not intentionally, but she wouldn't stay asleep when I put her in her crib, so I figured I'd see what happened if I just let her spend some time in her crib. It was past 1pm so I knew she was tired. She slept until 3:45. She did wake up once and I checked on her. But she didn't even cry to get to sleep. She played for a few minutes and then I heard nothing....

WHEW! I never knew if that was going to happen! Now...I can only hope that she won't be upset if I put her to sleep wide awake for her nap. I guess that's the next step.