Soaker Tub

Elliott got his first sinus infection recently. This meant his first ever round of antibiotics. Poor baby got a horrible case of diaper rash in reaction to the meds. So we were soaking his booty twice a day to help. I didn't want him to get cold, so I draped this kitchen towel over him. He thought that was funny and gave me the best smile.

Evicted

There has been lots of changes to the sleeping arrangements at our house lately.

Xavier and Wesley are now sharing what was X's room. Things are going ok. We ditched the idea of moving Wes into a twin bed and just put his crib in X's room. He just isn't ready and sleeps so well in the crib. And frankly, we have enough sleep issues on our hands that I'd be stupid to add one more. Unfortunately if you put them in there together to go to sleep though, they just think it's a party, talk talk talk, and take forever to fall asleep. So, we put them in separately. If one person is already asleep the other has no motivation to stay awake and be loud :)

Almost the day he turned 4 (just recently) X moved away from naps. He'll sometimes still take one, but won't go to bed until 10pm then. NOT HAPPENIN! So, we've been skipping the nap most days and he goes to sleep very quickly at 7pm. MUCH BETTER! This is good too because then Wes naps alone in their room and sleeps longer that way.

We broke down and bought a second crib for Elliott. I didn't want to do this, but now I'm happy we did. I got it from a friend for a good deal and as a bonus, it actually matches the dresser in the nursery perfectly. We NEED Elliott out of the pack n play and out of our room. I love him, but I'm with him sooo much and I just need a little distance at night :) Plus I'm hoping that maybe he'll sleep better if he's away from everyone else. I set it up today in the nursery (Wes' former room) and E has been sleeping in it for 1.5 hours. We'll see how long he goes tonight!

When I set up the crib I immediately moved all his clothes into the nursery and took down the pack n play in our room. I'm loving the empty corner! The clutter was really getting to me :)
 
A little update on E's sleeping:
He went weeks (like over 2 months!) doing only 2 hour stretches of sleep at night. It was KILLING me. And it's really not good for his development. People NEED good long restorative sleep. You would think by the 3rd kid I would have this figured out, but NO. I've been reading more sleep books (I like to read a bunch and then take bits and pieces of what I like) and came up with a new plan. I'm not a "need to schedule my baby every 3 seconds" kind of parent. But I was realizing that E needed more of a predictable routine. This is hard when you have 2 other children that have their own need for a different routine. But sleep begets sleep, and he just wasn't doin it! So for about a week now I've been focused.

The idea is sleep is a 24 hour cycle, not just a night time thing. Good daytime naps are key to helping the nights go better. I'm happy to say it's going well. It's not a miracle by any means. He still doesn't sleep all night, or even half the night, but he's doing 3 1/2  or 4 hour stretches which feels like such a HUGE difference than 2 hours at a time. He's also taking longer naps so on the whole he is sleeping more. And I'm working on getting him to self soothe better. Its a lot of work and I won't lie, I'm sooo jealous of friends who's babies this age sleep all night with ease (which feels like everyone but my kid lately). But we are making progress!


Ok, I'm off to bed in my room that DOESN'T have a baby in it for the first time in almost 6 months. Hopefully I'll get to stay in there a couple hours :)

PS -- I have much more to blog about, Christmas, X's 4 year update, etc... but it's probably gonna be awhile before I get my act together and my pics downloaded in an orderly fashion. This is just my life right now.....

Happy Birthday Xavier {4 Years Old}

Today is X's 4th Birthday. I'm working on a "what's he up to" post, but it's not done yet.

X started the day bright and early at 6am (ugghh!) and wanted a pudding cup for his birthday breakfast. Only today would I agree to that :)

At lunch we put candles in his PBJ sandwich. He loved it. Disregard that fact that he has no shirt on and is wearing a tiny baby bib - ha!

I am by no means a good cook or baker. But for some reason I like to make my kiddos' birthday cakes. X has been into Blues Clues lately, so I decided to make him a "Blue" cake. I found a template and tutorial online. I think it turned out pretty good and X thought it was really neat, which is what matters most!! For those that like the details, here's how I made it.....

Here are my lovely assistants. I let them play with the leftover icing and cake scraps. Please note how Wes is putting an entire knife full of frosting in his mouth.

We were soooo excited  to celebrate with our brand new 4 year old. Xavier we love you!!

Snowmen and Santa

** I realized I posted the wrong video of Wes singing Jesus Loves Me in this post. So I've fixed it. **

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We started off our Christmas Season with by making some table decorations at the Home Depot kids clinic. This was Wes' first build. I was bummed that they were out of the little aprons this month. We'll have to snag him one next time.

The boys made Frosty the Snowman Napkin Holders. It was fun. They have a thing about screwdrivers and glue so this was perfect. Some kids were painting theirs, but I didn't have the energy to supervise the painting and keep it off of them. So we opted for the stickers instead. I think they turned out great and are a perfect addition to our table.

The next day we went to see Santa in our neighborhood. The boys did FANTASTIC and were very excited to see the big guy in red. I must admit though, a good Santa picture just isn't quite as fun as the screaming ones!

After we saw Santa the boys spotted these huge cupcakes. Frosting got everywhere. It stained Wes' face green!

 

And we just won't talk about how it came out the other end EXACTLY the same color :)

In Bed

Wesley is picking up Xavier's love of having things in the bed. Wes now sleeps with 4 stuffed animals (Bunny, Covy, Boots, and Deb-Debs), a big pillow, a little pillow, 2 blankets, and a Clifford book. Somehow there is still room for him! And every nap and night time I have to line up the stuffed animals on the big pillow, cover them with a blanket, and say good night to each one.

The things I do for my children.....

I always find it funny that kids like books in their beds....because it's dark (even for naps because we have blackout curtains) so it's not like they can see it very well. But it makes them happy.

After nap the other day I found Wes reading a little Clifford. He laughs at the same parts every time!

Speaking of beds..... We set up Wes' twin bed in X's room. We tried once to get him to sleep in it. That didn't go well. He pretty much thought it was a game and didn't stay in it. Plus he kept bothering Xavier. He has no interest in the "big boy bed" and tells me he needs to sleep in the crib if I mention the big boy bed. I normally wouldn't rush this, but I kinda need the crib soon :)  But we're gonna wait awhile longer and then try it again. I don't want this to be a bad transition for him. He sleeps soooo well in the crib that if we didn't have Elliott, I'd leave him in it forever.

Talking, Jumping, and Jesus {Videos}

I forgot to post this with Elliott's 4 month stuff. He has a lot to say these days.

Elliott is getting a kick out the exersaucer lately. He's figured out he can jump a little.

I got Wes to sing a little "Jesus Loves Me" too. It's not very clear but you'll get the point.

Wordless Wednesday - I Need to Measure the Sink

Gutter Monkey

(This was a few weeks ago, but I'm behind on posting...go figure!)

The boys enjoy watching the episode of Curious George called where he goes bowling. So, I thought it would be fun to take the boys bowling so they could be just like George.


We found out on Sunday mornings you can bowl for just $5 an hour plus shoe rental. That's a steal!! All those Sunday church go-ers out there free up the lanes for us Saturday night go-ers to bowl without a crowd too :)


Elliott was pissed when we told him he was too little to bowl so he decided to sleep the entire time -- thanks E !! Xavier and Wes had lots of fun. Walter and I got to bowl a few frames as well. I have no clue what any of our scores were because that's totally not the point when you are 1 and 3 years old. And no one really bowled their own frames. We just kept randomly taking turns because they were so excited.

Wes kept saying "I knock-a dose ovow" and point to the pins.
Xavier now thinks that Sundays are bowling days - ha! Maybe we should start making it a routine.