Regression Strikes again!

The day Aaron was born:



The day Connor was born:



I remember when I first brought my children home, and there were the sleepless nights, and constant worry. Things change so quickly, and before you know it your babies are growing up - and then it happens - REGRESSION!

For example: As soon as you think you've figured your baby's sleep pattern out, and you think they are such a good sleeper, they start teething and wake up every two hours. This is pretty much a re-occuring theme throughout childhood, or at least for my kids.

Aaron is the culprit of regression at this point. He has been a great sleeper ever since he was born, pretty much because he had to be (The second child always doesn't get as much immediate attention). The first couple nights in his big boy bed he decided to wander downstairs. The funny thing about Aaron is that he is so quiet (not his normal self - so he DOES no how to be quiet!!!). He could be playing downstairs for a good 20 minutes and you will just happen upon him, or he will poke his head into the room. He's too cute though when he does it, and its pretty startling.

So we started closing his door after saying goodnight, and kept the baby monitor on in his room, and that worked out great! No complaints, not even really too much wandering in the room. He now sleeps in his bed wonderfully! In the morning we often find him reading books cuddled up with his blankets in bed!!! How sweet!!

Until yesterday. I did everything as usual - his same routine - Bath, Brush Teeth, Book, Singing... After all this I shut the door he screams and throws his body against the door with all his might. He decided that he wants me to stay next to him until he falls asleep. How can I ignore that? (PLUS - I don't know if this has to do with us watching the movie Elmo in Grouchland. Elmo's blanket got taken away from him, and this is probably Aaron's worst nightmare).

I've tried using the Nanny 911 techniques, but the only thing that really works for him is leaving him in his room alone. Otherwise, I could calmly and quietly walk him back to his bed for hours and nothing will change. Maybe days of consistency he would finally give in...I dunno.

Anyway, I will just have to rely on Daddy putting him to bed because I guess I'm too much of a pushover - and Aaron must know it. When I have the chance to baby my kids I do. I finally gave up today though and left his door open while I folded laundry outside his room. At least I got something done! Then he FINALLY fell asleep - at 9pm.

This too will pass (I keep telling myself), until the next issue resurfaces!

Sleepover!!!

The boys have been requesting sleepovers, so every so often I've been letting Connor sleep in Aaron's room. I have the best memories of my sisters and I sleeping in the same room, and I always imagined that my own children should have that same experience.

I love that I have the monitor still hooked up to Aaron's room so I can hear them talking and playing around. Little do they know - I put them to bed a half an hour early so it doesn't bother me that they're goofing off.

Literally it takes one time of me asking Connor to be the big brother and make sure Aaron goes to sleep. After that the only thing you can hear from them is Connor telling Aaron to lay down, they need to get some rest for the next day.

Connor has been VERY helpful with Aaron in general lately. I asked him to bring him to his room to put him down for his nap, and he literally escorted me out the door when I got there and said he could do it himself. And he sure did!

How time flies. My boys are growing up!!!

Dragon and Soccer

Since Connor has had his cough, he has ended up missing a game (it looks wrong when your kid is running down the field coughing on everyone). He still has his cough, although it's not as bad as it was a week ago so we have continued the games. He seems to be getting it a little more...he's trying to kick the ball more, and actually achieving that. He loves to play goalie, and defender - although it seems like he thinks that he doesn't have to do anything when he plays those positions.

If you look at the picture closely though, that is usually what Connor is doing...not really going after the ball looking the wrong way. I try not to get frustrated over it and focus on that he's 4 and having fun.

Before his last game though, his Grandma competed in Dragon Boat Races out at Lake Las Vegas, so we went to watch those first before the game.

Here are some pictures from the races:

Dear Aaron

(I decided to jump on the bandwagon writing to my little one to help mommy out!) I love your energy and how you are full of life. I also love how you enjoy being a big boy, and do things for yourself. I like how you are so orderly, take off your shoes and put them away in the right spot, keep doors closed, and clean up your messes.

But PLEASE can you stop driving Mom crazy with your adventurous ways! Never lose your sense of adventure, but please lets not be so risky. After the large bump on your head you got two days ago against the block wall by flying off the slide, and the flipping off the swing yesterday and getting a face full of sand, I don't know how much more I can take of this!

Love, Mommy

Spookie Stuff

Oh how I love the holidays...A little too much sometimes! I started doing some crafts with Connor for Halloween probably at the beginning of September. So every morning we wake up and it's always the same question,

"Can we do Spookie stuff today Mom? Please, please PLEASE????"

So of course I have to come up with some project and now my house is FULL of kids artwork...Very spookie artwork!

Growing up decorating for Halloween was always one of my favorite things to do. We always tried to make our front yard the scariest!!! I loved it. It's no wonder Connor does too!

I'm sure it will be any day now we will be singing Christmas carols, and getting ready to decorate with the winter stuff...but first we will be putting up TURKEYS!!!

I'll take some more pictures of the crafts around the house, but here are a few of them being "scared":

Cough, cough, COUGH

So as most of you know both of my boys have had Croup in the past. We started out learning about the sickness with a very scary episode from Aaron. We heard him coughing in his room while putting Connor to bed, and when we went in there, he almost couldn't breathe. He began to turn red and blue, so Brian quickly called 911, and I brought him outside to try and get him to calm down. As some mothers might agree - a change of scenery can sometimes calm a fussy baby. Sure enough - Aaron calmed down and was able to breathe again.

When the paramedics arrived, they were so relieved to see Aaron calmed down (they are always scared when called out for an infant problem). One ambulence ride and hospital visit later, I was taught all about Croup, and have since experienced it more than I have ever wanted to.

Cold, humid air is a great way to open up the lungs and that is why bringing Aaron outside could have saved his life (or at least brain cells) that night. Two other suggestions are opening the freezer, and turning on the shower and letting it steam up the bathroom.

Aaron has since had Croup one more mild time. It's a lot worse in infants, since it blocks their airway. Once they're older it's just a very barky annoying cough (I'm sure more annoying for the child than me!)

Connor has had Croup 3 (or maybe 4) times this year. Last Friday I brought him in after coughing all day without a break. I thought he was either going to make himself throw up, or pop the blood vessles in his eyes. I just had brought him to the doctor the day before, and he said it was a cold. I always think I am an over-reactive mom since I can only remember a couple times where I didn't have to bring my kids to the doctor when they were sick. I'm ALWAYS going to the doctor.

Once again Croup revisited my family. Now she said it might have to do with Allergies and Asthma. Hopefully we will get through this, and hopefully it won't hinder Connor too much. At least we are trying something new to stop the COUGH COUGH COUGHING in our house!

Dinosaur Bones!

Last time we went to the cabin I always told Connor we were discovering DINOSAUR bones on our hiking adventures. The older kids didn't believe me, but look what they found on our hike!!!!

Accomplishing a Hobby

Thanks to the support of my wonderful Husband, I have been able to keep myself busy with a few "hobbies" that I do on my own.

Running has been somewhat of a challenge for me to keep up, but I'm trying to do it. My dad, friend and I are going to be running the Rock n Roll Marathon in December so in order to get ready for that I've been trying to build up some tolerance for running. I am going to be doing another 5K this weekend and a 10K in November to get ready. Sometimes I only have time to run 1 mile each day. I try to get one long run in a week, and at this point that is 6 miles. Hopefully I'll be able to get up to 10 before the big day comes. One thing I've noticed now, is that when I'm not running up a particularly steep hill, it's nice to enjoy moving. I really have never gotten to the point where it just feels good to run (at a reasonable pace anyway), and that makes me happy.

Thanks to my wonderful sister, she has hired me several times to make montage videos for her work trips, and whenever her boss wants one. I enjoy doing these for my kids birthdays every year, but it's really nice to get paid for a hobby. I get the chance to try new things with the videos and "hone" my skills.

My nice camera I've had for 5 years has finally kicked the bucket. It will cost me $150 to get it fixed, but I decided that I would really like to invest in a Digital SLR camera and really get more serious about my photography. Since having kids I have learned a lot about lighting, positioning, and really about storytelling with photos. I want to start taking some nice pictures, but it is going to take some$$. Thankfully my sister has me doing 5 videos this month, so that might fund this hobby!!

So sometimes my life isn't all about the kids, but in the end if I have hobbies this will teach them to have hobbies themselves!