It's so hard for me to believe that my itty bitty baby who was just born last week will be three years old in a few weeks! It honestly goes so fast. Since Aubrey is getting older, David and I have been thinking a lot about school for her recently. Our children's schooling is actually something that we've talked about since before we even had kids.
David went to private schools and had a really good experience. I went to a private school through 6th grade and then homeschooled (that might be something you didn't know about me?). I had a really good experience, too. Neither one of us is at all opposed to public school. So, we have plenty of options and lots to discuss.
Even though I had a great experience homeschooling, it's not something I ever felt like I would do with my own kids. The reasons might not be what you would assume. I actually had plenty of friends throughout highschool while I homeschooled. I never felt like I didn't have a social life, and I think I turned out pretty normal? At least, I like to think I did! ;) My family was never that stereotypical homeschool family, and I can tell you that there are a LOT of homeschoolers who don't fit that stereotype. I also was (and am) really close to my family, and I think homeschooling contributed a lot to that for me. BUT I still never thought I would homeschool. I just didn't feel like I'm disciplined enough to do it well, and if I did it, I would definitely want to do it well. I was worried that I would have no accountability, and that I would totally be doing my children a disservice. I'm NOT a Type A personality at all, and I was worried that that would negatively impact my children's education.
But, I also haven't felt a peace when we've talked about other options. For some reason, I just don't feel good about the schools we've talked about. Granted, we haven't researched any school extensively at this point, but I guess I just didn't feel at peace about the idea of school in general. We were actually never planning on sending Aubrey to preschool. While I think preschool is great and I know some kids thrive in preschool, I don't think it's necessary. I think really what it boils down to is that I just want my child with me as much as possible! :)
So that lead me to start thinking about homeschooling again. The idea was more appealing the more I thought about it, but I was still worried about the discipline part of it for me. Then we heard about a school for homeschool families that's only 2 days a week but offers classes and enrichment programs. They help you pick curriculum, hold you accountable on your homeschooling, and teach your child stuff that you might not feel comfortable teaching them at home (like Latin and music). David and I went to a meeting to get more information, and we were both impressed. I think it might be the best of both worlds for us. Our children would be able to go to "school" and get the experience of having teachers and peers, but they would still spend the great majority of their time at home with their parents. Also, I would have a lot of structure to the way we would do school. I wouldn't feel like my child's education and preparation for college rested solely on my shoulders, which I think would be a good thing for me!
The big question would be when to send Aubrey. They do have a 3 year old program, but David and I have mixed feeling about sending her so soon. I think there are some really good pros and cons to going ahead and getting her started. It's something we're praying and talking about. And of course, nothing has been decided at this point. The Lord may have another plan for our children's schooling and totally change our hearts. We are excited to have this option, though.
Picking a school for your child is such a huge responsibility. It can be overwhelming. That's one reason I wanted to blog about this. I want our kids to know that we take every aspect of raising them (including their education) very seriously. I can't believe that I'm actually considering becoming a homeschooling Mama!
Showing posts with label Aubrey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aubrey. Show all posts
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Love
Ever since the first time she saw him, she has been smitten.
July 17th, 2010
Now, there are few things that make me happier than seeing how their relationship has developed over the past year.
She asks about him first thing every morning if she wakes up first.
He kicks and squeals when he sees her. 
She is a little Mama and always looks out for him.
He always laughs at her silliness. 
Of course, it's not all fun all the time. She is bossy bossy, and he has quite the ear piercing scream when she makes him mad. And, out of all the toys we own, WHY do they always want to play with the same one. Never fails. 
But all of that - the good and the bad - is just part of having a sibling, and I'm so happy they have each other. I know their relationship will continue to change over the years, but my prayer is that they will always have this same love for each other that they have now. It might look different when they are 14 and 16, but I pray it's there nonetheless. 
I love my sweet sister and my little brother!
July 17th, 2010Now, there are few things that make me happier than seeing how their relationship has developed over the past year.
She asks about him first thing every morning if she wakes up first.
He kicks and squeals when he sees her. 
She is a little Mama and always looks out for him.
He always laughs at her silliness. 
Of course, it's not all fun all the time. She is bossy bossy, and he has quite the ear piercing scream when she makes him mad. And, out of all the toys we own, WHY do they always want to play with the same one. Never fails. 
But all of that - the good and the bad - is just part of having a sibling, and I'm so happy they have each other. I know their relationship will continue to change over the years, but my prayer is that they will always have this same love for each other that they have now. It might look different when they are 14 and 16, but I pray it's there nonetheless. 
I love my sweet sister and my little brother! Tuesday, August 2, 2011
quotes
by David Howie
Aubrey is full of life and personality. And she says the dardest things. When I was in college, we used to carry a paper and pen whenever we went out in groups to write down quotes (I hope that file has been lost forever). We may need to start doing this for Aubrey too. Some examples of her quotes:
Aubrey was lifting something, and we said, “You’re strong, Aubrey.”
Aubrey: “No, I’m not strong.”
Us: “You’re not? Who is?”
Aubrey: “Daddy and God are strong. And Aladdin.”
Aubrey wet her pants during church. I asked her what happened. She said, “Some tee-tee wanted to come out, so I let it.”
Aubrey and Jude were playing on the floor. Every time Jude started playing with something, Aubrey all of the sudden wanted that thing. I told her she couldn’t have all the toys to herself. She said, “But I love to have everything.”
Aubrey is full of life and personality. And she says the dardest things. When I was in college, we used to carry a paper and pen whenever we went out in groups to write down quotes (I hope that file has been lost forever). We may need to start doing this for Aubrey too. Some examples of her quotes:
Aubrey was lifting something, and we said, “You’re strong, Aubrey.”
Aubrey: “No, I’m not strong.”
Us: “You’re not? Who is?”
Aubrey: “Daddy and God are strong. And Aladdin.”
Aubrey wet her pants during church. I asked her what happened. She said, “Some tee-tee wanted to come out, so I let it.”
Aubrey and Jude were playing on the floor. Every time Jude started playing with something, Aubrey all of the sudden wanted that thing. I told her she couldn’t have all the toys to herself. She said, “But I love to have everything.”
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Bed Transition and a Big Girl Room
I've mentioned a time or two that we bought a big girl bed for Aubrey recently and moved her from her crib into the new bed. I'm so happy and relieved to report that the transition has been basically perfect. For the record, I was pretty petrified to make this change. Aubrey slept great in her crib, and she was contained for naptime, which was so important to me. Even if she chooses not to sleep, she still has to stay in her room for a certain amount of time, and I was so worried that would become a major ordeal when we moved her into a bed that she could get out of.
After I bought her big girl bed, we explained to her that she was going to be sleeping in a new bed. She was actually SO EXCITED about this! She literally could not wait for us to get her bed set up. It didn't hurt that I got her some "pink covers" (sheets) for her new bed. Anything involving pink is just awesome as far as Aubrey is concerned! :) Her bed is a full size bed, and we decided not to do any bed rails. One of my favorite baby/toddler books written by a pediatrician actually doesn't recommend bed rails, and I think a bed looks better without rails (obviously), so we decided to just see how it went without any. If we felt like we needed them, we would have just gotten some after we realized they were going to be a necessity. I'm happy to report that Aubrey has only fallen out of the bed once, and she was totally fine. It did scare her, but she wasn't hurt. It was in the middle of the night, and it about scared the daylights out of David and me when we heard a crash and a scream over the monitor. Like I said though, she was fine, and she wanted to get right back in her bed and go back to sleep. It hasn't happened again since. We just make sure there isn't anything hard that would hurt her around the bed if she did happen to fall out. She has carpet in her room, so that helps too.
We also decided that we weren't going to make a rule that she had to stay in her bed. Because she was older when we moved her, we felt like she was old enough to make the decision about whether or not she should get out of bed. If she chooses to play and skip her nap, that's fine, but she will be tired later, and maybe she will know not to skip it the next day. Also, since we don't have a video monitor, it would have been hard to enforce this rule because we wouldn't really have any way of knowing if she was out of her bed unless we went into her room. This was what we decided would work for Aubrey, but I know every family and child is different, and for some kids, I think it probably would work best to have a "no getting out of bed" rule. Anyway, so far this hasn't been an issue, because Aubrey NEVER gets out of bed unless we go into her room and tell her she can get out. I was shocked by this. I thought she would be out of her bed the moment we shut her door. Even when she wakes up in the morning or after nap, she just calls for me to come get her, and as soon as I open her door, she jumps out of bed. It's so funny! I wouldn't mind if she got up in the mornings and just played quietly in her room for a while, but I'm not going to put that idea into her head! The way it is now is working out fine, so I'm going to leave well enough alone!
I am so relieved that this transition went so well. I really had prepared myself for no sleep for days, and I half expected her to drop her nap completely. She does skip her nap probably once or twice a week, but she did that while she was still in her crib. As long as she is having quiet rest time in her room, it doesn't really matter to me whether she sleeps or not. She isn't all that dependant on her nap anymore now that she's older, and she can skip it and still be in a good mood that evening.
It's been fun to be able to start thinking about finishing Aubrey's room now that we have her big girl bed. I got a white matelasse coverlet for her bed, and now I just need to have some Euro shams made. I would like to do some kind of canopy over her bed, but I don't know how that will work with the way her ceiling is sloped.
I'm using this blue floral fabric in her room, and I got this pink fabric to go with it.
I LOVE the pink fabric. I was originally going to use it to make window seat cushions, but then I thought I might want to use it in a way that would be seen more. So, I can't decide.
I also got this mirror for her room recently, and I think it looks perfect over her dresser.
I still need to get a nightstand for her, and I'm planning on painting it blue to match her fabric and distressing it. We also still have to do the moulding boxes on the walls below the chair rail, and THEN I think we should be about finished with Aubrey's big girl room! I can't wait for it to all come together! :)
After I bought her big girl bed, we explained to her that she was going to be sleeping in a new bed. She was actually SO EXCITED about this! She literally could not wait for us to get her bed set up. It didn't hurt that I got her some "pink covers" (sheets) for her new bed. Anything involving pink is just awesome as far as Aubrey is concerned! :) Her bed is a full size bed, and we decided not to do any bed rails. One of my favorite baby/toddler books written by a pediatrician actually doesn't recommend bed rails, and I think a bed looks better without rails (obviously), so we decided to just see how it went without any. If we felt like we needed them, we would have just gotten some after we realized they were going to be a necessity. I'm happy to report that Aubrey has only fallen out of the bed once, and she was totally fine. It did scare her, but she wasn't hurt. It was in the middle of the night, and it about scared the daylights out of David and me when we heard a crash and a scream over the monitor. Like I said though, she was fine, and she wanted to get right back in her bed and go back to sleep. It hasn't happened again since. We just make sure there isn't anything hard that would hurt her around the bed if she did happen to fall out. She has carpet in her room, so that helps too.
We also decided that we weren't going to make a rule that she had to stay in her bed. Because she was older when we moved her, we felt like she was old enough to make the decision about whether or not she should get out of bed. If she chooses to play and skip her nap, that's fine, but she will be tired later, and maybe she will know not to skip it the next day. Also, since we don't have a video monitor, it would have been hard to enforce this rule because we wouldn't really have any way of knowing if she was out of her bed unless we went into her room. This was what we decided would work for Aubrey, but I know every family and child is different, and for some kids, I think it probably would work best to have a "no getting out of bed" rule. Anyway, so far this hasn't been an issue, because Aubrey NEVER gets out of bed unless we go into her room and tell her she can get out. I was shocked by this. I thought she would be out of her bed the moment we shut her door. Even when she wakes up in the morning or after nap, she just calls for me to come get her, and as soon as I open her door, she jumps out of bed. It's so funny! I wouldn't mind if she got up in the mornings and just played quietly in her room for a while, but I'm not going to put that idea into her head! The way it is now is working out fine, so I'm going to leave well enough alone!
I am so relieved that this transition went so well. I really had prepared myself for no sleep for days, and I half expected her to drop her nap completely. She does skip her nap probably once or twice a week, but she did that while she was still in her crib. As long as she is having quiet rest time in her room, it doesn't really matter to me whether she sleeps or not. She isn't all that dependant on her nap anymore now that she's older, and she can skip it and still be in a good mood that evening.It's been fun to be able to start thinking about finishing Aubrey's room now that we have her big girl bed. I got a white matelasse coverlet for her bed, and now I just need to have some Euro shams made. I would like to do some kind of canopy over her bed, but I don't know how that will work with the way her ceiling is sloped.
I'm using this blue floral fabric in her room, and I got this pink fabric to go with it.
I LOVE the pink fabric. I was originally going to use it to make window seat cushions, but then I thought I might want to use it in a way that would be seen more. So, I can't decide.I also got this mirror for her room recently, and I think it looks perfect over her dresser.
I still need to get a nightstand for her, and I'm planning on painting it blue to match her fabric and distressing it. We also still have to do the moulding boxes on the walls below the chair rail, and THEN I think we should be about finished with Aubrey's big girl room! I can't wait for it to all come together! :)Sunday, July 10, 2011
Week in Review: July 4th, Memphis, and a Big Girl Bed!
We had a fun filled week! It started off with a holiday, and I had a fun girls' trip in the middle. The week ended with a big transition for us: We moved Aubrey to a big girl bed!! I will do a whole post on that later when we have more nights under our belts :)
Sunday: We got up and got ready for church. David had to usher, so we really had to be on time. We did manage to make it just in the nick of time :) We had communion that day, and just as I that was being served, I got paged. I assumed it was Jude, but I really NEVER get paged for him. I rushed over to the nursery hoping everything was ok, and it was Aubrey I had been paged for! She had had an accident in her clothes :( She was sitting in the corner and wouldn't let the teacher help her. Poor thing! I think she was just embarrassed. She has not had an accident in ages, so I didn't even have a change of clothes for her. We had a random skirt in the car, and our nursery coordinator found a shirt for us. It was a rather interesting outfit that Aubrey sported during Sunday School ;) At least she was dry, though! After all of that, we went to Sunday School. We had another joint class with all the other adult classes, and it was good again. After church, we came home and ate tacos for lunch. We took naps after lunch and went back to church that evening. After church, we went to dinner at Amerigo. Yum, my favorite! :) We came home and put the kids to bed that night.
Monday: Happy 4th of July! We actually had probably the most low-key Independence Day in history :) David got up with the kids that morning, and I slept in. When I got up, we just hung out until Jude's naptime. I put him in bed, and then David, Aubrey, and I went outside to play in the water.
That was fun, and we stayed out until Jude woke up. Once we were back inside, we all ate leftovers for lunch. The kids played, and I took a shower and got dressed. We had been having water coming up out of the ground in our flower bed for a few days, so David called a plumber. We expected them to not be working on July 4th, but we were hoping someone would be able to come fix it the next day. Turns out, the guy offered to come right away. I got both of the kids down for an afternoon nap, and then I went to Target while David stayed at home with the kids and the plumber. We had a busted pipe, so it's good that we were able to go ahead and get it taken care of! I got some diapers and other staple items at Target and then came back home. I pounded out some chicken and made a marinade when I got home. I then started looking for my cell phone and couldn't find it anywhere. David called it, and I had left it at Target :( Thankfully, it was safe in customer service. I did have to go back to Target to pick it up, though. When I got home from round 2 of Target, David grilled the chicken and I cooked some broccolini and baked some potatoes. We ate a good dinner, and I then cooked an apple pie. I just felt like we HAD to have apple pie on the 4th in order to be proper Americans :) After dinner and dessert, we just hung out with the kids until bedtime. After they were asleep, I packed some stuff for my girls' trip the next day and went to bed fairly early.
Tuesday: David woke me up at 6:30 so that I could get ready. For some reason, Jude decided to get up super early, too. I got ready and fed him and finished getting my stuff together. Aubrey woke up before I left, too, and my mom came over to keep the kids. They weren't too sad to see me go, thankfully. (It would make me SO sad to leave them if they were really upset -- they're usually so excited about playing with someone "new" that they don't even notice. Haha.) I went and picked Sarah Denley and Graves up, and we got on the road about 8:30. The trip was SO easy. We didn't even stop, and Graves was perfect. SD and I had a good time talking (in peace and quiet! VERY rare these days ;), and the time passed quickly. We got a little lost when we got into Memphis, but Ashley was able to help us out :) We were so excited to meet up with Ashley as soon as we got to the hotel! We went ahead and unloaded all of our stuff, and we were able to check in early. We got to our room and got freshened up, and then we walked to lunch. We had fun talking and eating together... just like the old days! :) We walked back to our hotel after lunch and ended up just spending the day there talking and taking pictures.
SD had forgotten Graves's overnight bag, so we needed to make a Target run. We got ready to go and headed to Target. While we were out, we saw a Pottery Barn Outlet, and of course we just HAD to stop :) After getting the essentials at Target for Graves, we went to dinner. Then we made an ice cream run!Sunday: We got up and got ready for church. David had to usher, so we really had to be on time. We did manage to make it just in the nick of time :) We had communion that day, and just as I that was being served, I got paged. I assumed it was Jude, but I really NEVER get paged for him. I rushed over to the nursery hoping everything was ok, and it was Aubrey I had been paged for! She had had an accident in her clothes :( She was sitting in the corner and wouldn't let the teacher help her. Poor thing! I think she was just embarrassed. She has not had an accident in ages, so I didn't even have a change of clothes for her. We had a random skirt in the car, and our nursery coordinator found a shirt for us. It was a rather interesting outfit that Aubrey sported during Sunday School ;) At least she was dry, though! After all of that, we went to Sunday School. We had another joint class with all the other adult classes, and it was good again. After church, we came home and ate tacos for lunch. We took naps after lunch and went back to church that evening. After church, we went to dinner at Amerigo. Yum, my favorite! :) We came home and put the kids to bed that night.
Monday: Happy 4th of July! We actually had probably the most low-key Independence Day in history :) David got up with the kids that morning, and I slept in. When I got up, we just hung out until Jude's naptime. I put him in bed, and then David, Aubrey, and I went outside to play in the water.
That was fun, and we stayed out until Jude woke up. Once we were back inside, we all ate leftovers for lunch. The kids played, and I took a shower and got dressed. We had been having water coming up out of the ground in our flower bed for a few days, so David called a plumber. We expected them to not be working on July 4th, but we were hoping someone would be able to come fix it the next day. Turns out, the guy offered to come right away. I got both of the kids down for an afternoon nap, and then I went to Target while David stayed at home with the kids and the plumber. We had a busted pipe, so it's good that we were able to go ahead and get it taken care of! I got some diapers and other staple items at Target and then came back home. I pounded out some chicken and made a marinade when I got home. I then started looking for my cell phone and couldn't find it anywhere. David called it, and I had left it at Target :( Thankfully, it was safe in customer service. I did have to go back to Target to pick it up, though. When I got home from round 2 of Target, David grilled the chicken and I cooked some broccolini and baked some potatoes. We ate a good dinner, and I then cooked an apple pie. I just felt like we HAD to have apple pie on the 4th in order to be proper Americans :) After dinner and dessert, we just hung out with the kids until bedtime. After they were asleep, I packed some stuff for my girls' trip the next day and went to bed fairly early.Tuesday: David woke me up at 6:30 so that I could get ready. For some reason, Jude decided to get up super early, too. I got ready and fed him and finished getting my stuff together. Aubrey woke up before I left, too, and my mom came over to keep the kids. They weren't too sad to see me go, thankfully. (It would make me SO sad to leave them if they were really upset -- they're usually so excited about playing with someone "new" that they don't even notice. Haha.) I went and picked Sarah Denley and Graves up, and we got on the road about 8:30. The trip was SO easy. We didn't even stop, and Graves was perfect. SD and I had a good time talking (in peace and quiet! VERY rare these days ;), and the time passed quickly. We got a little lost when we got into Memphis, but Ashley was able to help us out :) We were so excited to meet up with Ashley as soon as we got to the hotel! We went ahead and unloaded all of our stuff, and we were able to check in early. We got to our room and got freshened up, and then we walked to lunch. We had fun talking and eating together... just like the old days! :) We walked back to our hotel after lunch and ended up just spending the day there talking and taking pictures.
Ashley and I both said that neither of us are really "ice cream people" in general, but for some reason, we both agreed that we HAVE to have ice cream when we're on "vacation." Funny! The ice cream was delicious! We went back to the hotel after that and stayed up talking until 3AM. Yes, we did.Wednesday: Thankfully, we were able to sleep in until 10 after out late night. We got up and all got ready and packed all of our stuff up. We checked out a little before noon, and left to go to lunch. We went to a mall somewhere outside of Memphis and ate at this delicious crepe place. Seriously, it was SO GOOD.
After lunch, we went to a few little boutique stores, and then we wanted to go to a thrift/antique place. We happened to run into someone that Ashley and Sarah Denley knew, and she was able to tell us about a GREAT antique mall nearby. It worked out SO perfectly, because I found a big girl bed for Aubrey!! I was so excited! The best part is that it's already been painted and distressed, and I got it for what I think is a great price! :) I had a moment of panic when we tried to load it into my car and it almost didn't fit, but we got it in there. By this time, it was late afternoon and time to say our goodbyes and head home. We were sad to say bye to Ashley, but we planned to see each other again soon! SD and I stopped at a McDonalds on our way out of town so that she could feed Graves. We got on the road around 4:30, and the trip home was very smooth, too. Graves was wonderful again and only cried toward the very end. I dropped SD off at home, and then I got home around 8. I was excited to see David, Aubrey, and Jude, and I think they were pretty happy to see me, too :) Especially Jude. I talked to them for a while, and then I put Jude to bed. David unloaded Aubrey's new bed, and she was super excited. It was cute! We just needed to get a mattress. David put Aubrey to bed, and then I talked to him about the trip for a while before going to bed. I was tired after pulling such a late night! ;)Thursday: Jude woke up fussing at 5:30AM, but I managed to get him to go back to sleep. Sadly, he woke up again at 6:20, and then Aubrey was up at 6:30. Not exactly what I was hoping for :( We just hung out at home all day.
Aubrey has gotten really into puzzles.!
I enjoyed being with the kids after being away from them the previous two days. Jude was pretty fussy and clingy. I think it was partly from me being gone and partly because he's getting a tooth. He took a good morning nap, and then we ate lunch.
Sweet boy getting a bottle.
I bathed Aubrey after lunch, and then it was time for naps for everyone! The kids both went to sleep at the same time (thank God), so I took a nap, too. It was nice! When we were all up from our naps, I put makeup on and straightened up. Then David got home and we talked to him and went to dinner at Cheddar's. After dinner, we went to Target and I got a few things to try for Aubrey's new bed. When we got home, we put the kids to bed and then just had a low-key evening.
Friday: We were up bright and early again. Jude is on a get up at 6:30 kick :(
Aubrey loved listening to David's ipod for a little while before he went to work. Notice her bedhead! ;)
I decided that we were getting out of the house that day! When Jude went down for his nap, I got myself and Aubrey ready. We left to go run errands when Jude woke up. We went to Hobby Lobby to get stuff for Jude's birthday banner. I didn't find everything I need, but I got a few things. We went to lunch at Chick Fil A after that. I didn't know it was dress like a cow day at CFL, so I kind of felt dumb when we showed up in normal clothes. ;) It was a madhouse at CFL, of course. We managed to get in and get lunch, and then we went to Pier 1. I had a credit that was about to expire. I got a pillow for Aubrey's bed. When we got home, I put Jude down for a nap, and he went to sleep easily. Aubrey never went to sleep, but she stayed in her room for a long time talking and playing. I finally got her up, and she colored for a while until Jude got up.
"No more pictures, please!"
David came home and played with her for a while, and then I got ready to go to a birthday party. My mom and brothers came over to keep the kids, and David and I went out to eat for a friend's birthday from church with a lot of couples from our Sunday School class. We had fun, and Jude was asleep when we got home, but Aubrey was still awake. David got her to bed, we talked to my family for a while, and then they left. We went to bed not too long after that.
Saturday: David got up with the kids and let me sleep. When I got up, Jude was down for his nap, and I got ready to go run errands. David took Aubrey to go buy a mattress for her new bed, and when Jude woke up, the two of us went shopping to find a birthday outfit for him. We ran all over town, and I didn't find what I was looking for. It was SO HOT, and Jude wasn't real happy to be loaded and unloaded into his carseat multiple times. Poor baby! He had a major meltdown, so we stopped at Target and I fed him lunch. I got some sheets for Aubrey's bed while we were there, and then we went home. David was there, so I put Jude down for a nap, and then went back out. I went to a few more stores and finally found an outfit for Jude's birthday. I felt like I had run all over town all day! When I got back home, Jude had just gotten up. Aubrey was still napping, and when she woke up, we went to her room and set up her new bed. Unfortunately, the box springs we had gotten made the bed way too tall. I knew we were going to need to exchange it for the shorter one. It was already late in the day by this point, though. David had to go to my parents' house, get my dad's truck, come back home, load up the box springs, and then drive to the mattress store all before they closed in less than an hour. I took the kids to dinner while David did all that. Aubrey decided that she needed to go to the bathroom as soon as we got our food. Of course. David called me in the middle of dinner to let me know that he hadn't made it to the store before they closed. Ughhh, just a stressful night. The kids and I went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and TJ Maxx after dinner before going home. David was able to rig Aubrey's bed up without the box springs so that she could sleep in it that night. We had already told her she could, and she was really excited.
I put Jude to bed and then went to Kroger. By the time I got home, I got on the internet for a little while and then was ready for bed after our crazy day!
This is going to be a busy week! I'm going to be trying to get everything ready for Jude's birthday on Saturday. We're having a small, low-key party, but I want it to be special for my sweet baby. I am in denial that's he's almost ONE!
I enjoyed being with the kids after being away from them the previous two days. Jude was pretty fussy and clingy. I think it was partly from me being gone and partly because he's getting a tooth. He took a good morning nap, and then we ate lunch.
Sweet boy getting a bottle.I bathed Aubrey after lunch, and then it was time for naps for everyone! The kids both went to sleep at the same time (thank God), so I took a nap, too. It was nice! When we were all up from our naps, I put makeup on and straightened up. Then David got home and we talked to him and went to dinner at Cheddar's. After dinner, we went to Target and I got a few things to try for Aubrey's new bed. When we got home, we put the kids to bed and then just had a low-key evening.
Friday: We were up bright and early again. Jude is on a get up at 6:30 kick :(
Aubrey loved listening to David's ipod for a little while before he went to work. Notice her bedhead! ;)I decided that we were getting out of the house that day! When Jude went down for his nap, I got myself and Aubrey ready. We left to go run errands when Jude woke up. We went to Hobby Lobby to get stuff for Jude's birthday banner. I didn't find everything I need, but I got a few things. We went to lunch at Chick Fil A after that. I didn't know it was dress like a cow day at CFL, so I kind of felt dumb when we showed up in normal clothes. ;) It was a madhouse at CFL, of course. We managed to get in and get lunch, and then we went to Pier 1. I had a credit that was about to expire. I got a pillow for Aubrey's bed. When we got home, I put Jude down for a nap, and he went to sleep easily. Aubrey never went to sleep, but she stayed in her room for a long time talking and playing. I finally got her up, and she colored for a while until Jude got up.
She's been really into coloring lately, too.
"No more pictures, please!"David came home and played with her for a while, and then I got ready to go to a birthday party. My mom and brothers came over to keep the kids, and David and I went out to eat for a friend's birthday from church with a lot of couples from our Sunday School class. We had fun, and Jude was asleep when we got home, but Aubrey was still awake. David got her to bed, we talked to my family for a while, and then they left. We went to bed not too long after that.
Saturday: David got up with the kids and let me sleep. When I got up, Jude was down for his nap, and I got ready to go run errands. David took Aubrey to go buy a mattress for her new bed, and when Jude woke up, the two of us went shopping to find a birthday outfit for him. We ran all over town, and I didn't find what I was looking for. It was SO HOT, and Jude wasn't real happy to be loaded and unloaded into his carseat multiple times. Poor baby! He had a major meltdown, so we stopped at Target and I fed him lunch. I got some sheets for Aubrey's bed while we were there, and then we went home. David was there, so I put Jude down for a nap, and then went back out. I went to a few more stores and finally found an outfit for Jude's birthday. I felt like I had run all over town all day! When I got back home, Jude had just gotten up. Aubrey was still napping, and when she woke up, we went to her room and set up her new bed. Unfortunately, the box springs we had gotten made the bed way too tall. I knew we were going to need to exchange it for the shorter one. It was already late in the day by this point, though. David had to go to my parents' house, get my dad's truck, come back home, load up the box springs, and then drive to the mattress store all before they closed in less than an hour. I took the kids to dinner while David did all that. Aubrey decided that she needed to go to the bathroom as soon as we got our food. Of course. David called me in the middle of dinner to let me know that he hadn't made it to the store before they closed. Ughhh, just a stressful night. The kids and I went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and TJ Maxx after dinner before going home. David was able to rig Aubrey's bed up without the box springs so that she could sleep in it that night. We had already told her she could, and she was really excited.
I put Jude to bed and then went to Kroger. By the time I got home, I got on the internet for a little while and then was ready for bed after our crazy day!This is going to be a busy week! I'm going to be trying to get everything ready for Jude's birthday on Saturday. We're having a small, low-key party, but I want it to be special for my sweet baby. I am in denial that's he's almost ONE!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
My sweet funny girl
Aubrey is as cute and funny as ever these days. Really, just when I think she can't get any more fun, she does. I love being around her, and I'm so happy to get to hang out with her everyday. She has said and done some funny things lately, and I just wanted to write some of them down :)
She is quite the little drama queen. This morning, she and Jude were playing on the floor. She looked at me with a brokenhearted expression on her face and said, "Mommy! Jude keeps crawling away from me, so I'm going to go into your room and lay on that "ting" (thing) and CRY!" (I'm pretty sure "that ting" was the ottoman that we have in our room. She lays across it and cries when she is feeling especially broken hearted over something.) She didn't end up having to go take a cry break after all, though. Guess Jude started cooperating ;)
She is very loving.... on her own terms. Sometimes, I'll ask her for a hug or a kiss and she will say no. I will then say something like, "Awww, that makes me sad! I want a kiss from my girl!" She will reply, "I love you, Mommy, but I don't want to kiss you right now." Haha! Well, alrighty then. But she makes up for it when she runs to me randomly and hugs my legs and tells me that she loves me with NO prompting. Best feeling ever!
The other day, David asked her for a kiss, and she said that she "didn't have any kisses right now." I told her that she did because I could see one on her lips. She thought about that for a minute and then gave us kisses! I couldn't believe that worked!
Aubrey has always LOVED my brother, Joel. My brother Michael is pretty hit or miss with Aubrey, though. Sometimes it seems like it's mostly miss. Bless his heart; he tries so hard to win her love! When we used to ask Aubrey if she liked Uncle Michael, she would say no. We told her that wasn't very nice, so now she will say that she likes Michael "a little bit." Ha! But then sometimes she says that she liked Michael yesterday, but she doesn't like him today. She's such a girl!
Speaking of yesterday and today, Aubrey thinks every time she goes to bed and gets up, it's a new day. So, when she wakes up from her nap, everything that happened that morning was yesterday. We only let her watch one movie a day, and she usually watches it in the morning. She asks to watch another one when she gets up from her nap, and when I tell her that she's already watched one that day, she tells me that that was yesterday. She can't understand why I don't let her watch a movie some days!
Aubrey can count to 12 or 13 by herself. Once she gets to that point, she just starts repeating random numbers. The other day I decided that I should start working with her on this and teach her to count higher. (I've never taught her any numbers; We really don't know how she learned to count as much as she has.) So, after she got to 12, I kept counting, and she would repeat each number after me. We counted to 20, and after she repeated 20, she paused and said, "You didn't say twentyTEEN!" I told her that 20 was just 20. No teen. She didn't really buy that, though. She said again, "You mean twentyTEEN." ;) I have realized lately what a little sponge Aubrey is right now, and I decided that I need to take advantage of that and really be more purposeful about teaching her things.
She knows all of her colors, and that gets me in trouble now. She thinks that if she's wearing a pink shirt, she has to wear pink shoes. If I try to put her white sandals on her, she will tell me that those shoes "don't match because they're white, not pink." I'm trying to explain to her that white goes with almost everything, and that all pinks do NOT match each other ;)
Aubrey still has a crazy memory when it comes to clothes. We went to Bible Study on Tuesday, and David was asking Aubrey about who she played with in the nursery when he got home. She named several children, and then she started telling David what all of them had on. I couldn't remember all of the ones she told him about, but the ones that I did remember, she got right! That's just so crazy to me!
She notices when things are different before I do sometimes. David cleaned out my car the other day, and I didn't even notice right away because I was busy getting Jude and then Aubrey buckled into their carseats. While I was buckling Aubrey, she was looking down at the floorboard. She then asked, "Why is anything not down there, Mommy?" I looked, and sure enough, my car was clean! It cracks David up that our two year old is sometimes more observant than I am. Haha!
I think Aubrey has a great vocabulary and communicates very well. She does get a few words wrong right now, but I think it's cute and don't worry about correcting her at this point. I just think she will pick up the correct words on her own soon. An example of this is that she says "what" instead of "that." She says, "These are the shoes what Daddy put on me." This is really the only example I can think of, so there obviously aren't a lot of words that she messes up.
She is getting more and more self-sufficient. When we are at home, she goes to the bathroom all by herself. I go make sure she's all clean, but she usually doesn't even need my help. She likes to dress herself, and she LOVES to pick out her own clothes (although, I don't let her do that ALL the time ;). She is very specific about how she wants to wear her hair. Her FAVORITE hairdo is a ponytail. She asks to wear her hair in a ponytail every single day. Sometimes I let her, but other times I tell her that I want to be able to see her pretty curls :) She still has never had a haircut!
I love watching Aubrey learn and develop into more of a "little girl" and less of a "toddler." When I start to get sad about Jude getting so old, I look at Aubrey and remember how every stage is the BEST stage. I sometimes wish that I could just freeze time and keep my children exactly as they are now for a while, but then I remind myself that if I had done that a few months ago, I would be missing out on this. And this with my children is the best stage yet!
She is quite the little drama queen. This morning, she and Jude were playing on the floor. She looked at me with a brokenhearted expression on her face and said, "Mommy! Jude keeps crawling away from me, so I'm going to go into your room and lay on that "ting" (thing) and CRY!" (I'm pretty sure "that ting" was the ottoman that we have in our room. She lays across it and cries when she is feeling especially broken hearted over something.) She didn't end up having to go take a cry break after all, though. Guess Jude started cooperating ;)
She is very loving.... on her own terms. Sometimes, I'll ask her for a hug or a kiss and she will say no. I will then say something like, "Awww, that makes me sad! I want a kiss from my girl!" She will reply, "I love you, Mommy, but I don't want to kiss you right now." Haha! Well, alrighty then. But she makes up for it when she runs to me randomly and hugs my legs and tells me that she loves me with NO prompting. Best feeling ever!
The other day, David asked her for a kiss, and she said that she "didn't have any kisses right now." I told her that she did because I could see one on her lips. She thought about that for a minute and then gave us kisses! I couldn't believe that worked!
Aubrey has always LOVED my brother, Joel. My brother Michael is pretty hit or miss with Aubrey, though. Sometimes it seems like it's mostly miss. Bless his heart; he tries so hard to win her love! When we used to ask Aubrey if she liked Uncle Michael, she would say no. We told her that wasn't very nice, so now she will say that she likes Michael "a little bit." Ha! But then sometimes she says that she liked Michael yesterday, but she doesn't like him today. She's such a girl!
Speaking of yesterday and today, Aubrey thinks every time she goes to bed and gets up, it's a new day. So, when she wakes up from her nap, everything that happened that morning was yesterday. We only let her watch one movie a day, and she usually watches it in the morning. She asks to watch another one when she gets up from her nap, and when I tell her that she's already watched one that day, she tells me that that was yesterday. She can't understand why I don't let her watch a movie some days!
Aubrey can count to 12 or 13 by herself. Once she gets to that point, she just starts repeating random numbers. The other day I decided that I should start working with her on this and teach her to count higher. (I've never taught her any numbers; We really don't know how she learned to count as much as she has.) So, after she got to 12, I kept counting, and she would repeat each number after me. We counted to 20, and after she repeated 20, she paused and said, "You didn't say twentyTEEN!" I told her that 20 was just 20. No teen. She didn't really buy that, though. She said again, "You mean twentyTEEN." ;) I have realized lately what a little sponge Aubrey is right now, and I decided that I need to take advantage of that and really be more purposeful about teaching her things.
She knows all of her colors, and that gets me in trouble now. She thinks that if she's wearing a pink shirt, she has to wear pink shoes. If I try to put her white sandals on her, she will tell me that those shoes "don't match because they're white, not pink." I'm trying to explain to her that white goes with almost everything, and that all pinks do NOT match each other ;)
Aubrey still has a crazy memory when it comes to clothes. We went to Bible Study on Tuesday, and David was asking Aubrey about who she played with in the nursery when he got home. She named several children, and then she started telling David what all of them had on. I couldn't remember all of the ones she told him about, but the ones that I did remember, she got right! That's just so crazy to me!
She notices when things are different before I do sometimes. David cleaned out my car the other day, and I didn't even notice right away because I was busy getting Jude and then Aubrey buckled into their carseats. While I was buckling Aubrey, she was looking down at the floorboard. She then asked, "Why is anything not down there, Mommy?" I looked, and sure enough, my car was clean! It cracks David up that our two year old is sometimes more observant than I am. Haha!
I think Aubrey has a great vocabulary and communicates very well. She does get a few words wrong right now, but I think it's cute and don't worry about correcting her at this point. I just think she will pick up the correct words on her own soon. An example of this is that she says "what" instead of "that." She says, "These are the shoes what Daddy put on me." This is really the only example I can think of, so there obviously aren't a lot of words that she messes up.
She is getting more and more self-sufficient. When we are at home, she goes to the bathroom all by herself. I go make sure she's all clean, but she usually doesn't even need my help. She likes to dress herself, and she LOVES to pick out her own clothes (although, I don't let her do that ALL the time ;). She is very specific about how she wants to wear her hair. Her FAVORITE hairdo is a ponytail. She asks to wear her hair in a ponytail every single day. Sometimes I let her, but other times I tell her that I want to be able to see her pretty curls :) She still has never had a haircut!
I love watching Aubrey learn and develop into more of a "little girl" and less of a "toddler." When I start to get sad about Jude getting so old, I look at Aubrey and remember how every stage is the BEST stage. I sometimes wish that I could just freeze time and keep my children exactly as they are now for a while, but then I remind myself that if I had done that a few months ago, I would be missing out on this. And this with my children is the best stage yet!
Friday, June 3, 2011
A battle of the wills
I feel like parenting a toddler can be so trying sometimes. Just when you feel like you are in a good place behavior wise, something new comes up. And when I say a "good place" I just mean that things are generally pleasant and there aren't major meltdowns coming at you every 5 minutes.
Aubrey has actually been behaving really well lately. I feel like she has really come into an easier stage. She communicates VERY well, and she is pretty independent. She usually minds well for the most part, and we haven't had any major discipline issues lately. There are little things that she needs to be disciplined for everyday, but we are past the stage where I feel like all I do is get on to her for doing stuff that she knows she isn't supposed to do or ignoring me when I tell her to do something.
Of course, things were just a little too pleasant. She had to go and rock the boat ;) The past two days we have had some major drama over FOOD of all things. We have never really had issues over food before. Aubrey isn't an overly picky eater and eats well for the most part. David and I feel like our children should be allowed to have preferences about food just like we do. I'm not running a buffet at mealtime, but I don't expect Aubrey to eat food that I know she hates, because I don't eat food that I hate. However, I do expect her to at least TRY a food before deciding that she doesn't like it. Last night, she decided that she didn't like zucchini, even though she hadn't even touched it. We told her that she needed to eat one bite, and if she didn't like it, she didn't have to eat anymore. You would have thought we told her she had to eat 10 pounds of zucchini for all the drama that went on over that bite. Finally, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, she ate a bite, and it was over.
Until today, that is. We went to lunch, and when we got home, Aubrey was still hungry. She asked for some strawberries, so I washed and cut some up for her. But then she decided that she didn't want strawberries anymore. I told her that she had asked for them, so she had to eat them because it would be wasteful if she didn't. She would. not. eat. those dang strawberries. I about lost my mind over this! At first I told her that she had to sit in her chair until she ate them. She got up anyway, so she got in trouble. I explained the situation to her and told her how it was going to be, but she would NOT touch a strawberry. I even put a bite in her mouth at one point, and she just spit it out. I have not been so frustrated with my sweet girl in quite a while :-/ The most annoying part is that I KNOW she loves strawberries, and she ASKED for them. It's not even like I'm asking her to eat something that she doesn't like!
I had to leave the room and call David to get some advice and sympathy. It was past naptime, but I had told her she was staying in her chair until she ate the strawberries. Since I obviously couldn't force her to eat the strawberries, we decided that I would put her down for her nap, but then when she wakes up and is hungry for a snack, guess what she's getting? Yep, a plate of strawberries! ;)
I am thankful that Aubrey is usually sweet and pleasant to be around, and I'm hoping this doesn't become the trend at mealtimes. And I'm REALLY hoping that Aubrey is in the mood for strawberries when she wakes up! In the meantime, I'm going to need some extra patience.
Aubrey has actually been behaving really well lately. I feel like she has really come into an easier stage. She communicates VERY well, and she is pretty independent. She usually minds well for the most part, and we haven't had any major discipline issues lately. There are little things that she needs to be disciplined for everyday, but we are past the stage where I feel like all I do is get on to her for doing stuff that she knows she isn't supposed to do or ignoring me when I tell her to do something.
Of course, things were just a little too pleasant. She had to go and rock the boat ;) The past two days we have had some major drama over FOOD of all things. We have never really had issues over food before. Aubrey isn't an overly picky eater and eats well for the most part. David and I feel like our children should be allowed to have preferences about food just like we do. I'm not running a buffet at mealtime, but I don't expect Aubrey to eat food that I know she hates, because I don't eat food that I hate. However, I do expect her to at least TRY a food before deciding that she doesn't like it. Last night, she decided that she didn't like zucchini, even though she hadn't even touched it. We told her that she needed to eat one bite, and if she didn't like it, she didn't have to eat anymore. You would have thought we told her she had to eat 10 pounds of zucchini for all the drama that went on over that bite. Finally, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, she ate a bite, and it was over.
Until today, that is. We went to lunch, and when we got home, Aubrey was still hungry. She asked for some strawberries, so I washed and cut some up for her. But then she decided that she didn't want strawberries anymore. I told her that she had asked for them, so she had to eat them because it would be wasteful if she didn't. She would. not. eat. those dang strawberries. I about lost my mind over this! At first I told her that she had to sit in her chair until she ate them. She got up anyway, so she got in trouble. I explained the situation to her and told her how it was going to be, but she would NOT touch a strawberry. I even put a bite in her mouth at one point, and she just spit it out. I have not been so frustrated with my sweet girl in quite a while :-/ The most annoying part is that I KNOW she loves strawberries, and she ASKED for them. It's not even like I'm asking her to eat something that she doesn't like!
I had to leave the room and call David to get some advice and sympathy. It was past naptime, but I had told her she was staying in her chair until she ate the strawberries. Since I obviously couldn't force her to eat the strawberries, we decided that I would put her down for her nap, but then when she wakes up and is hungry for a snack, guess what she's getting? Yep, a plate of strawberries! ;)
I am thankful that Aubrey is usually sweet and pleasant to be around, and I'm hoping this doesn't become the trend at mealtimes. And I'm REALLY hoping that Aubrey is in the mood for strawberries when she wakes up! In the meantime, I'm going to need some extra patience.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Misc.
-I think it is safe to say that summer has officially arrived! The high here yesterday was 98, and I heard that it might get to 100 today. It's miserable already. Makes me a little glad that I'm not hugely pregnant like I have been the past two out of three summers! ;)
-Jude is really getting more and more hair, and I'm so excited because I think it's going to be curly! When we are outside and he gets sweaty, he has the sweetest little curls in the back. Precious! I really hope that his hair is curly, because I think it would be hard to figure out what to do with straight boy hair. I'm not a big fan of bowl cuts, and I don't want stringy bangs in his face. I know lots of little boys with straight hair that are super cute, so I know it can be done; I just think their hair requires a little more effort. So, if Jude had curly hair, that would be GREAT with me! :) Funny how I have analyzed all this, right?
-Speaking of Jude, the nursing problem has gotten better. I have been pumping a lot and giving him bottles if he starts biting when I'm trying to feed him. There are certain feeding where I just kind of know he is going to bite and that I will need to give him a bottle. The important thing to me is that he gets breast milk for a year, so whether I'm nursing him or pumping and giving him bottles is beside the point to me. Although, it is WAY more convenient to just nurse him! He had actually gotten better and wasn't biting much at all, but he's started back recently. He was up a few times last night, too, so I think he might be getting another tooth. Anyway, I think we should be able to keep nursing until he is able to have cow's milk. Now that it's June, that means that Jude turns one NEXT MONTH. That blows my mind.
-We haven't been doing any major projects around the house lately, but there are so many little things that I want to take pictures of and post about. I like to document what our house looks like often, because it's always changing, and it's fun for me to look back :) I'm thinking it's about time to tackle a project that I've been wanting to do since the first time I saw this house: THE BUNNY BATHROOM! I think I want to wall paper it, which is very intimidating, because I have NO CLUE how to wall paper.
-The other day after Bible Study, I wanted to run into the mall to get some shoes for Aubrey, but I didn't have the double stroller with me. I did have the umbrella stroller, so I decided to be adventurous and put Jude in the stroller and made Aubrey hold my hand. I was slightly terrified that Aubrey was going to bolt at any minute, but she did GREAT! It probably helped that I told her that we could go to Chick Fil A for lunch if she held my hand and obeyed while we were looking for shoes. Haha! Anyway, I felt proud of myself for getting two kids in the mall, trying shoes on Aubrey, buying shoes, going to the Food Court and buying Chick Fil A, and then eating the Chick Fil A all with only one stroller. And I made it back to the car with both kids intact! Haha ;)
-Jude's afternoon naps are so spotty. It's kind of frustrating. I'm currently listening to him fuss/cry, and I've already been into his room twice. Have I mentioned how excited I'll be when he just takes one nap a day? Yes, that will be nice.
-I really want to join a pool so that we will have something fun to do this summer in the heat. I'm trying to decide if I'm brave enough to attempt the pool with the two kids by myself. Decisions, decisions! I know any outdoor activity that doesn't involve water is pretty much out of the question until probably around November.
Jude finally went to sleep, so I should probably do something productive while both kids are napping! :)
-Jude is really getting more and more hair, and I'm so excited because I think it's going to be curly! When we are outside and he gets sweaty, he has the sweetest little curls in the back. Precious! I really hope that his hair is curly, because I think it would be hard to figure out what to do with straight boy hair. I'm not a big fan of bowl cuts, and I don't want stringy bangs in his face. I know lots of little boys with straight hair that are super cute, so I know it can be done; I just think their hair requires a little more effort. So, if Jude had curly hair, that would be GREAT with me! :) Funny how I have analyzed all this, right?
-Speaking of Jude, the nursing problem has gotten better. I have been pumping a lot and giving him bottles if he starts biting when I'm trying to feed him. There are certain feeding where I just kind of know he is going to bite and that I will need to give him a bottle. The important thing to me is that he gets breast milk for a year, so whether I'm nursing him or pumping and giving him bottles is beside the point to me. Although, it is WAY more convenient to just nurse him! He had actually gotten better and wasn't biting much at all, but he's started back recently. He was up a few times last night, too, so I think he might be getting another tooth. Anyway, I think we should be able to keep nursing until he is able to have cow's milk. Now that it's June, that means that Jude turns one NEXT MONTH. That blows my mind.
-We haven't been doing any major projects around the house lately, but there are so many little things that I want to take pictures of and post about. I like to document what our house looks like often, because it's always changing, and it's fun for me to look back :) I'm thinking it's about time to tackle a project that I've been wanting to do since the first time I saw this house: THE BUNNY BATHROOM! I think I want to wall paper it, which is very intimidating, because I have NO CLUE how to wall paper.
-The other day after Bible Study, I wanted to run into the mall to get some shoes for Aubrey, but I didn't have the double stroller with me. I did have the umbrella stroller, so I decided to be adventurous and put Jude in the stroller and made Aubrey hold my hand. I was slightly terrified that Aubrey was going to bolt at any minute, but she did GREAT! It probably helped that I told her that we could go to Chick Fil A for lunch if she held my hand and obeyed while we were looking for shoes. Haha! Anyway, I felt proud of myself for getting two kids in the mall, trying shoes on Aubrey, buying shoes, going to the Food Court and buying Chick Fil A, and then eating the Chick Fil A all with only one stroller. And I made it back to the car with both kids intact! Haha ;)
-Jude's afternoon naps are so spotty. It's kind of frustrating. I'm currently listening to him fuss/cry, and I've already been into his room twice. Have I mentioned how excited I'll be when he just takes one nap a day? Yes, that will be nice.
-I really want to join a pool so that we will have something fun to do this summer in the heat. I'm trying to decide if I'm brave enough to attempt the pool with the two kids by myself. Decisions, decisions! I know any outdoor activity that doesn't involve water is pretty much out of the question until probably around November.
Jude finally went to sleep, so I should probably do something productive while both kids are napping! :)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Potty Training: Part 2
I blogged a while back about our potty training adventures so far, so I thought it was time for a little update! After that post, Aubrey was really to the point where I felt like she was potty trained at home, but she still wore diapers and then pull-ups when we ventured out. However, if she had a pull-up on, she wet it. I didn't really know how to advance beyond that point, until one day when we were getting ready to go somewhere, and Aubrey said she wanted to wear panties. I was a little nervous about that, but I figured what the heck? I just told myself, "If she has an accident, she has an accident. Not the end of the world."
Well... she didn't have an accident! She did GREAT, and I think having one successful outing in panties under our belt gave me the confidence to start letting her wear panties all the time. She's really been wearing panties everywhere since then, with a few exceptions. She has had a few accidents, but I just know that's to be expected, so we don't sweat it. Most of her accidents have happened in the car on the way to or from church (about a 30 minute drive). She doesn't really like for other people to take her to the potty, so David or I usually go to the nursery and take her between church and Sunday School, but she's even getting better about letting other people take her. So, I guess at this point, it's safe to say that Aubrey is potty trained! (I think I can say that even though she still occasionally has accidents, right? No one is perfect ;)
I really don't have anything to compare this experience to since I've never potty trained a child before, but I think Aubrey was really easy to train. We really just let her go at her own pace, and she just let us know when she was ready for the next step, and that seemed to be perfect for her. I think it was KEY that we didn't rush it. We took the potty training experience slowly, and that really worked. I'm sure some kids might require more of a gentle nudge, though ;) She still wears diapers to sleep. (The pull-ups leak.) I'm not even worried about that right now. It doesn't bother me at all for her to still wear diapers at night. I think bed wetting might be in Aubrey's genes, so I'm not stressing over that yet. HA! ;)
She still uses her little potty, but I would like to get rid of that soon. I feel torn about that, though. On one hand, I don't want to get rid of it, because she can go by herself, which is SO nice. It especially comes in handy when she needs to potty while I'm tending to Jude. On the other hand, I'd like to get rid of the little potty, because I HATE cleaning that thing. It would be so much easier if we could just flush! Haha! So, we'll see how long it sticks around.
So, that's been our potty training journey. All in all, it was pretty painless. I still can't believe that we have successfully potty trained a child now. How is our baby that old?!?
Well... she didn't have an accident! She did GREAT, and I think having one successful outing in panties under our belt gave me the confidence to start letting her wear panties all the time. She's really been wearing panties everywhere since then, with a few exceptions. She has had a few accidents, but I just know that's to be expected, so we don't sweat it. Most of her accidents have happened in the car on the way to or from church (about a 30 minute drive). She doesn't really like for other people to take her to the potty, so David or I usually go to the nursery and take her between church and Sunday School, but she's even getting better about letting other people take her. So, I guess at this point, it's safe to say that Aubrey is potty trained! (I think I can say that even though she still occasionally has accidents, right? No one is perfect ;)
I really don't have anything to compare this experience to since I've never potty trained a child before, but I think Aubrey was really easy to train. We really just let her go at her own pace, and she just let us know when she was ready for the next step, and that seemed to be perfect for her. I think it was KEY that we didn't rush it. We took the potty training experience slowly, and that really worked. I'm sure some kids might require more of a gentle nudge, though ;) She still wears diapers to sleep. (The pull-ups leak.) I'm not even worried about that right now. It doesn't bother me at all for her to still wear diapers at night. I think bed wetting might be in Aubrey's genes, so I'm not stressing over that yet. HA! ;)
She still uses her little potty, but I would like to get rid of that soon. I feel torn about that, though. On one hand, I don't want to get rid of it, because she can go by herself, which is SO nice. It especially comes in handy when she needs to potty while I'm tending to Jude. On the other hand, I'd like to get rid of the little potty, because I HATE cleaning that thing. It would be so much easier if we could just flush! Haha! So, we'll see how long it sticks around.
So, that's been our potty training journey. All in all, it was pretty painless. I still can't believe that we have successfully potty trained a child now. How is our baby that old?!?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Why?
This conversation that I had with Aubrey this morning perfectly sums up the stage that she is in. What stage is that? The "WHY?" stage!!!
Aubrey: "Mommy, why did those mean girls break Cinderella's necklace and her dress?"
Me: "Because they didn't want her to go to the ball."
Aubrey: "Why didn't they want Cinderella to go to the ball?"
Me: "Because they didn't want her to dance with the prince. They wanted to dance with the prince themselves."
Aubrey: "Why didn't they want Cinderella to dance with the prince?"
Me: "Because they wanted to dance with him. They were being selfish."
Aubrey: "Why were those mean girls being selfish?"
Me: "Well, because they were mean."
Aubrey: "Why were they mean?"
Me: "I don't really know, Aubrey." (Looking back, I'm thinking this probably would have been a good opportunity to have a deep theological discussion with her. Maybe next time! ;)
Aubrey: "Why don't you know?"
Me: "I just don't know."
Aubrey: "Why you just don't know?"
At that point, I changed the subject and tried to distract her. Thankfully it worked this time! She is not always so easily distracted :) This line of questioning could have literally gone on all day if I had let it. It's cute sometimes.... and sometimes it's tiring! Haha!
On a similar note, Aubrey is completely into all things related to Disney Princesses these days. My mom just gave her the Cinderella DVD, so that is her favorite at the moment. She also LOVES Aladdin. All week, Aubrey has insisted that David is Aladdin, she is Jasmine, and Jude is Abu (the monkey). I'm Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) apparently. What is hilarious is that she calls us these names pretty consistently. I was folding laundry this morning, and Aubrey held up a piece of clothing and said, "Aurora, is this Aladdin's underwear?" Ha! And she will ask me every afternoon if "Aladdin" is almost home from work. The FUNNIEST, though, is when David and I catch ourselves referring to Jude as Abu even when Aubrey isn't in the room. I mean, he does kind of sound like a little monkey when he talks ;) Ha!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Motherhood
I consider it an honor and a privilege to be a Mother.
More specifically, it's an honor and a privilege to be their Mother. 
Motherhood is such wild ride. It's hard and fun and exhausting and lonely and thrilling and frustrating and draining and oh so rewarding. It's beautiful. Happy Mother's Day!
More specifically, it's an honor and a privilege to be their Mother. Motherhood is such wild ride. It's hard and fun and exhausting and lonely and thrilling and frustrating and draining and oh so rewarding. It's beautiful. Happy Mother's Day!Thursday, April 28, 2011
Beach Excitement!
We are busy around here packing and getting ready to go to the beach tomorrow!! We can't wait! Aubrey is pretty excited too:
Is she not the cutest?! :) By the way, ignore the mess in the background of the video. My house doesn't always look like such a pig sty, but I guess I'm a messy packer. Ha!
And while Aubrey can hardly contain her excitement over going to the beach, poor little Jude is upstairs in bed with a fever :( He woke up from his nap this afternoon fussy and running a fever. I got him an appointment to see the doctor first thing tomorrow morning just to make sure he doesn't need any medicine before we leave town. Hopefully it will just be a very short little bug and he will be back to his happy self in no time! If you think about it, please say a little prayer that he feels better and that we have a good trip tomorrow! Thanks, friends! I plan on updating from the beach, so stay tuned! :)
Is she not the cutest?! :) By the way, ignore the mess in the background of the video. My house doesn't always look like such a pig sty, but I guess I'm a messy packer. Ha!
And while Aubrey can hardly contain her excitement over going to the beach, poor little Jude is upstairs in bed with a fever :( He woke up from his nap this afternoon fussy and running a fever. I got him an appointment to see the doctor first thing tomorrow morning just to make sure he doesn't need any medicine before we leave town. Hopefully it will just be a very short little bug and he will be back to his happy self in no time! If you think about it, please say a little prayer that he feels better and that we have a good trip tomorrow! Thanks, friends! I plan on updating from the beach, so stay tuned! :)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
A Little Comparison
When I went to see Sarah Denley at the hospital last week, among other things, we talked about whether our kids look like each other. That lead me to come home and look at pictures of Aubrey from when she was about Jude's age. The first thing I noticed was that the quality of the pictures is so much worse. It made me wish that we had invested in a nicer camera sooner. Oh well -- no point in being too sad about that now. The second thing I noticed was that, while I do think that Aubrey and Jude look similar, they definitely have some differences. So, I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison (Aubrey is on the left, and Jude is on the right): 
Another thing that I noticed that kind of surprises me is that I think that Aubrey had more hair at this age than Jude does. People used to comment that Aubrey was "bald as a bowling ball" and we have never gotten that comment with Jude. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, but I LOVE bald babies, so I could care less whether my kids' heads remind some people of bowling balls. Haha! :) So, do you think Aubrey and Jude look alike or no?
Another thing that I noticed that kind of surprises me is that I think that Aubrey had more hair at this age than Jude does. People used to comment that Aubrey was "bald as a bowling ball" and we have never gotten that comment with Jude. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, but I LOVE bald babies, so I could care less whether my kids' heads remind some people of bowling balls. Haha! :) So, do you think Aubrey and Jude look alike or no?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wardrobe Woes
Well, I figured it would happen at some point; I just didn't expect it to be so soon. I thought I would have at least another 10 years before it started. What am I referring to? Wardrobe drama with my daughter. Yes, getting dressed and deciding what Aubrey is going to wear each day has now become a MAJOR ordeal at our house. It usually involves weeping and gnashing of teeth. From both of us. How is Aubrey already this opinionated about her clothes at age two and a half??! What is my life going to be like when she is 13??!
I try to let her express her creativity and pick her own outfits when we aren't going anywhere. She likes to pick out some rather colorful ensembles. I'm sure you've noticed that she's usually wearing a pretty off the wall outfit in pictures that I post of her. In case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory:
Pajama shirt and no pants outside
So yeah, Aubrey definitely has some say in what she wears around the house. However, I'm just NOT going to let my two and a half year old decide what she wears OUT of the house. Maybe I'm mean, but I like to think that I'm just protecting her from herself :) She'll thank me later, I know she will. She doesn't see it quite like that right now, though. I have just come to accept the fact that there is going to be a HUGE meltdown when it comes time to get dressed to go out. And it does not matter what I pick out for her to wear. She NEVER wants to wear it. Sometimes, I've already picked out her clothes and ironed them, and she decides she wants to wear something else. The thing that she wants to wear might actually be a "real outfit" that I would be ok with her wearing if I hadn't already ironed something else and gotten the shoes/bow to go with it (we're always running late and I just don't have time for a last minute outfit swap). So the next day, I decide that I'll let her wear the outfit that she was having a FIT to wear the day before. But it's too late. She is completely over that outfit and has her heart set on a different one. Different day, different favorite outfit, new meltdown. So, basically, I can't win!
Also, Aubrey will NOT keep her shoes on when we get in the car. I'm always having to put shoes and socks on when we get where we're going. I know this is pretty common, though. She doesn't really care for bows anymore, either. She used to LOVE bows, but now she rarely wants to wear them. She will tolerate them for a little while, but she usually ends up ripping them out of her hair and totally messing up her hair. She then looks like she has bed head after ripping a bow out of it! Ha!
Seriously, Aubrey has recently developed some VERY strong ideas about what she does and doesn't want to wear. The child changes clothes no less than 5 times a day. Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) there is a pile of clean "baby laundry" in the floor of my room waiting to be put away. I can just never stay on top of this because really the only time to fold laundry is when my little "helper" is sleeping, otherwise my neatly folded piles end up strewn all over the place and not so neat and not so folded. However, it's kind of hard to fold and put away laundry when the kids are sleeping if the laundry needs to be put away in the kids' rooms. Plus, I feel like I literally do a HUGE load of Aubrey and Jude's laundry every other day. (Have I mentioned that we're potty training and that Aubrey changes clothes 5 times a day?) So, Aubrey usually has a nice little stack of clothes to choose from conveniently located right in the floor of my room. This makes it very easy for her to slip in there and do a quick wardrobe change whenever the urge strikes her. And it apparently strikes her a lot.
I try to let her express her creativity and pick her own outfits when we aren't going anywhere. She likes to pick out some rather colorful ensembles. I'm sure you've noticed that she's usually wearing a pretty off the wall outfit in pictures that I post of her. In case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory:
Pink on Pink
Mismatched BOY pajamas
Pajama shirt and no pants outside
Christmas shirt in April with random pajama bottoms
Just clashes
So yeah, Aubrey definitely has some say in what she wears around the house. However, I'm just NOT going to let my two and a half year old decide what she wears OUT of the house. Maybe I'm mean, but I like to think that I'm just protecting her from herself :) She'll thank me later, I know she will. She doesn't see it quite like that right now, though. I have just come to accept the fact that there is going to be a HUGE meltdown when it comes time to get dressed to go out. And it does not matter what I pick out for her to wear. She NEVER wants to wear it. Sometimes, I've already picked out her clothes and ironed them, and she decides she wants to wear something else. The thing that she wants to wear might actually be a "real outfit" that I would be ok with her wearing if I hadn't already ironed something else and gotten the shoes/bow to go with it (we're always running late and I just don't have time for a last minute outfit swap). So the next day, I decide that I'll let her wear the outfit that she was having a FIT to wear the day before. But it's too late. She is completely over that outfit and has her heart set on a different one. Different day, different favorite outfit, new meltdown. So, basically, I can't win!
I'm kind of speaking lightly and jokingly about all of this, but it really is stressful. I used to love picking out Aubrey's clothes and getting her dressed and fixing her hair and putting her bow and shoes on. Now it's something I pretty much dread, because I know what an ordeal it's going to be. I'm also having to teach her that throwing fits when she doesn't get her way is never acceptable behavior. It seems silly that something as simple as clothes has now lead to major disciplinary issues. I want to give her some independence, and that's why I do let her wear whatever she wants around the house, and I try to work with her and pick stuff that I think she likes. But, at the end of the day, she just has to learn that she can't be in charge of everything, and if it takes something like clothes to teach her that, well, I guess that's just how it's going to be. I'm also having to crack down on the number of times a day that she can change clothes. Of course she changes clothes if she has an accident, and I let her change when we get home if I have made her wear something that she hates. I just can't stay on top of the laundry if she changes 12 times a day!
Also, Aubrey will NOT keep her shoes on when we get in the car. I'm always having to put shoes and socks on when we get where we're going. I know this is pretty common, though. She doesn't really care for bows anymore, either. She used to LOVE bows, but now she rarely wants to wear them. She will tolerate them for a little while, but she usually ends up ripping them out of her hair and totally messing up her hair. She then looks like she has bed head after ripping a bow out of it! Ha!
So, all that to say, we're having some trouble in the clothing department at the Howie house. I'm praying that this isn't a sign of things to come in her teenage years. Maybe she is getting all of her wardrobe angst of of her system now and it will be smooth sailing from here on out? Maybe? Am I the only one with a two year old who is this opinionated, or is this normal??
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Faith like a Child
We had some severe weather here on Monday. I know that's shocking [not!]. It's a storm a week around these parts ;-) You can only imagine how much I'm enjoying that. Anyway, the storms hit while David was still at work this time, and that's pretty much terrible in my book. The only thing I hate more than tornadoes/bad weather is being home by myself [with the kids] in tornadoes/bad weather. Ughhh. I really tried to remain calm and composed and act like an adult so as not to terrify Aubrey. I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself :-) Aubrey and I had some pretty cute conversations during the bad weather, and I wanted to "write them down."
At one point, the kids and I were sitting on the couch watching "the weather." I kept referring to it as the weather, so Aubrey thought the bad weather was on the TV only. I was on the phone with my mom, and I said, "Ahhhh, I just hate this weather!!" Aubrey went and turned the TV off, and I told her to turn it back on so that I would know what was going on. To which she replied, "But Mommy, you don't like it!" I thought it was so sweet that she was trying to turn it off because she heard me say that I didn't like it.
A little while later, I was explaining to Aubrey that some bad weather might come to our house and that it might thunder and rain and that we might even have to go sit in the bathroom. I told her not to be afraid though, because Jude and I would be in the bathroom with her and that God would be with us and that He was stronger than the bad weather. She then asked me where God was. I said, "God is everywhere. He is right here with us right now. Isn't that great?!" She looked around and pointed to the TV and said, "Is he right there in that weather?" I told her that He was there, too. I repeated that God is everywhere. She seemed to accept that and said, "Ok, Mommy." She was watching the TV real closely after that, and a minute later she asked me again where God was. I thought she was just repeating the same question I had already answered, so I went into the whole "God is everywhere even though we don't see Him" speech again, but Aubrey cut in and said excitedly, "OH! There's God!" I looked at the TV and realized that, when she asked me that question, they were showing some weather maps, and when she cut in, they had gone back to showing the meteorologist. It dawned on me then that Aubrey thought the METEOROLOGIST ON TV WAS GOD! Oh my goodness. That made me laugh in spite of my terror over the weather. I quickly said, "Oh no! That's not God, Aubrey. His name is David, and he is just a man." Aubrey replied, "Oh, his name is David like you call Daddy David." Haha! Well, yes. But she was right back to asking where God was if that man wasn't God. I told her that God was right there with us. She kept saying that she couldn't see Him. I tried to explain that He doesn't have a body and we can't see Him, but He is with us, and He can hear us. She finally just gave up and said, "I don't know where He is, Mommy." It was so cute, and I said a little prayer right there that God would work in her little heart and give her understanding and faith.
We did end up having to go into the bathroom for a little while, and I suggested that we say a prayer and ask God to protect us. I started praying, and Aubrey cut in and prayed too, which I love. After the prayer was over, Aubrey said, "God is going to protect us, but when my Daddy gets home He won't need to protect us anymore." Ha! I have no clue where she comes up with these things. I told her that Daddy was strong but that God was even STRONGER! :-)
Thankfully, we made it through the whole experience in one piece. And I think Aubrey is now thoroughly confused about where God is :-) I love having conversations like these with her, even though I feel like my answers to her questions are completely inadequate. Hopefully little seeds are being planted in her heart and those seeds will take root and grow one day soon :-)
At one point, the kids and I were sitting on the couch watching "the weather." I kept referring to it as the weather, so Aubrey thought the bad weather was on the TV only. I was on the phone with my mom, and I said, "Ahhhh, I just hate this weather!!" Aubrey went and turned the TV off, and I told her to turn it back on so that I would know what was going on. To which she replied, "But Mommy, you don't like it!" I thought it was so sweet that she was trying to turn it off because she heard me say that I didn't like it.
A little while later, I was explaining to Aubrey that some bad weather might come to our house and that it might thunder and rain and that we might even have to go sit in the bathroom. I told her not to be afraid though, because Jude and I would be in the bathroom with her and that God would be with us and that He was stronger than the bad weather. She then asked me where God was. I said, "God is everywhere. He is right here with us right now. Isn't that great?!" She looked around and pointed to the TV and said, "Is he right there in that weather?" I told her that He was there, too. I repeated that God is everywhere. She seemed to accept that and said, "Ok, Mommy." She was watching the TV real closely after that, and a minute later she asked me again where God was. I thought she was just repeating the same question I had already answered, so I went into the whole "God is everywhere even though we don't see Him" speech again, but Aubrey cut in and said excitedly, "OH! There's God!" I looked at the TV and realized that, when she asked me that question, they were showing some weather maps, and when she cut in, they had gone back to showing the meteorologist. It dawned on me then that Aubrey thought the METEOROLOGIST ON TV WAS GOD! Oh my goodness. That made me laugh in spite of my terror over the weather. I quickly said, "Oh no! That's not God, Aubrey. His name is David, and he is just a man." Aubrey replied, "Oh, his name is David like you call Daddy David." Haha! Well, yes. But she was right back to asking where God was if that man wasn't God. I told her that God was right there with us. She kept saying that she couldn't see Him. I tried to explain that He doesn't have a body and we can't see Him, but He is with us, and He can hear us. She finally just gave up and said, "I don't know where He is, Mommy." It was so cute, and I said a little prayer right there that God would work in her little heart and give her understanding and faith.
We did end up having to go into the bathroom for a little while, and I suggested that we say a prayer and ask God to protect us. I started praying, and Aubrey cut in and prayed too, which I love. After the prayer was over, Aubrey said, "God is going to protect us, but when my Daddy gets home He won't need to protect us anymore." Ha! I have no clue where she comes up with these things. I told her that Daddy was strong but that God was even STRONGER! :-)
Thankfully, we made it through the whole experience in one piece. And I think Aubrey is now thoroughly confused about where God is :-) I love having conversations like these with her, even though I feel like my answers to her questions are completely inadequate. Hopefully little seeds are being planted in her heart and those seeds will take root and grow one day soon :-)
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Potty Training
Now that we're kind of on a roll with the potty training, I thought I would do a post and share what's worked for us so far. I definitely don't want to come across like a know-it-all or like I think I'm now an expert because I've been potty training my child for two weeks. Ha! Aubrey definitely is not "fully potty trained" yet, and I'm still learning what does and doesn't work for her. I know every child is different, but this has been our potty training experience so far:
Several months ago, we bought a little potty for Aubrey just to see how she would do and to introduce the concept. I was in no hurry, but I wanted her to get used to the idea of going on the potty at some point. Well, she LOVED the potty. A little bit too much. She wanted to sit on that thing all the time. She would just sit and sit but never do anything. I really think she started to think it was a toy, which I didn't want. I wanted her to learn that you "do your business" on the potty, and that's it. No sitting for hours looking at books. Haha! So, I decided that she wasn't ready, and we put the potty away.
Several months ago, we bought a little potty for Aubrey just to see how she would do and to introduce the concept. I was in no hurry, but I wanted her to get used to the idea of going on the potty at some point. Well, she LOVED the potty. A little bit too much. She wanted to sit on that thing all the time. She would just sit and sit but never do anything. I really think she started to think it was a toy, which I didn't want. I wanted her to learn that you "do your business" on the potty, and that's it. No sitting for hours looking at books. Haha! So, I decided that she wasn't ready, and we put the potty away.
A few months later, my mom bought Aubrey some cute little princess panties. I wasn't really ready to try again, so I just didn't show them to Aubrey. Well, she found them (it wasn't all that shocking that she did considering I left them in the floor of her room - ha!). Of course she wanted to wear them immediately, so we tried again. And she had many many accidents in the panties. She did go on the potty a few times, but she was going in the panties way more than the potty. At that point, I don't think she quite understood how to recognize the urge to go before she went. I think we probably could have pushed through at that point and she would have caught on, but I was just tired of cleaning up tee tee, frankly. So, we went back to diapers.
A little time passed, and I didn't really even think about potty training. It was in the back of my mind that we probably should start working on it soon, but I really just didn't know how to go about it. Everyone says, "When they're ready you'll know." Or, "Don't rush them." I really wasn't sure how I would "know" when she was ready, though. Well, the way I knew was that she suddenly started telling me that she needed to "tee tee." Pretty hard to miss. Ha! So, we got the potty back out and gave it another go. This time, she has done great! I decided to just let her run around without any pants on because I wasn't thrilled about the idea of washing 27 pairs of panties a day. That has actually worked REALLY well for us. She hates the idea of getting the floor all wet, and it's only happened once. She has been great about going on the potty. I don't even have to ask her a million times if she needs to tee tee. She will just run to the bathroom, and when I follow her in there, she is sitting on her little potty. Too cute! It's really been great. She gets one jelly bean when uses the bathroom, and she LOVES that :-) We have been putting panties on her a little more lately, and she has done pretty well with that, too. She has had a few accidents, but not many.
Right now, she is still wearing diapers when we leave the house. Someone recommended that I get some of those plastic panties to wear over her regular panties, and we did get some, but they were massive. Seriously, I think the size 2T would fit me. Haha! We laughed so hard when we opened those things. When we realized that they weren't really going to work, I got some pull-ups. They seem pretty pointless, though. When we are out and about, she never wants to go on the potty. I don't know if she is just too busy, or if going on a big potty scares her, but we haven't gotten to that point yet. That's definitely the next thing we need to work on. I don't know if I should just put a pull-up on her and make her sit on the potty every once and a while or what. We're still learning!
So... what's worked for us so far:
-Waiting until Aubrey was ready!
-Taking her pants and diaper off.
-Giving her a reward when she goes.
-Using a little potty.
-Being patient and not getting frustrated when she has an accident.
-Getting really excited when she goes on the potty.
Hopefully in the next month or so, we will be totally potty trained! Every time I buy diapers now, I think that might be the last time I buy diapers for Aubrey. Bittersweet!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Aubrey Funny
Tonight we took dinner to a family who recently had a baby. David was at karate, so my mom came and rode with us just for fun and so she could see the kids. On the way there and back, Aubrey talked our ears off, as usual. At one point, she randomly said the following:
"Gramzie, sometimes Mommy spanks Daddy."
My mom threw me a look like "What am I about to hear and do I really want to hear it?!" Haha! She said, "Oh really?"
And Aubrey said, "She spanks him if he doesn't wear pants to his office."
Well, yes, I guess that actually would call for a spanking. You just never know what is going to come out of that girl's mouth!
"Gramzie, sometimes Mommy spanks Daddy."
My mom threw me a look like "What am I about to hear and do I really want to hear it?!" Haha! She said, "Oh really?"
And Aubrey said, "She spanks him if he doesn't wear pants to his office."
Well, yes, I guess that actually would call for a spanking. You just never know what is going to come out of that girl's mouth!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Family Fun
We are so enjoying the extra daylight since the time change. David has been taking the kids outside when he gets home from work, which is so nice because I'm able to get dinner cooking in peace ;-) The other day, I joined them outside once dinner was in the oven. I took the camera with me, and I'm glad I did!
David said holding Jude like this was really uncomfortable on his back. Umm, yeah, that's what it felt like when he was inside me for 9 months. Ha! Not really ;-)
My sweet, sweet baby.
This is where things got interesting. We had a big rain the day before, and our yard basically had a river running through it. Aubrey went over and was dipping her foot into the water. At first we told her not to, but then we were like, what the heck? We decided that shoes will dry out, clothes can be washed, and she can be bathed. So we let her have fun. And took lots of pictures ;-)
She was giggling the whole time. She loved it. We loved watching her. 
After a while, she decided she needed to take her wet clothes off. 
Then she played with Knightly. I had gone inside to check on dinner at this point. David is a little more laid back about Aubrey/Knightly play time that I am ;-) Again, she had fun, and she held her own with our crazy dog. Of course David was right there the whole time. 
I'll just ignore the fact that my child has her MOUTH on our filthy dog who lives OUTSIDE.
It was a carefree, spontaneous night, and I'm so glad we decided to just go with it and let her play. There is a time and a place to just let loose and have FUN and enjoy life. I think that night was definitely a good time for that. How knows? Maybe next time we'll all play in the puddles :-)
David said holding Jude like this was really uncomfortable on his back. Umm, yeah, that's what it felt like when he was inside me for 9 months. Ha! Not really ;-)
My sweet, sweet baby.
This is where things got interesting. We had a big rain the day before, and our yard basically had a river running through it. Aubrey went over and was dipping her foot into the water. At first we told her not to, but then we were like, what the heck? We decided that shoes will dry out, clothes can be washed, and she can be bathed. So we let her have fun. And took lots of pictures ;-)
She was giggling the whole time. She loved it. We loved watching her. 
After a while, she decided she needed to take her wet clothes off. 
Then she played with Knightly. I had gone inside to check on dinner at this point. David is a little more laid back about Aubrey/Knightly play time that I am ;-) Again, she had fun, and she held her own with our crazy dog. Of course David was right there the whole time. 
I'll just ignore the fact that my child has her MOUTH on our filthy dog who lives OUTSIDE.
It was a carefree, spontaneous night, and I'm so glad we decided to just go with it and let her play. There is a time and a place to just let loose and have FUN and enjoy life. I think that night was definitely a good time for that. How knows? Maybe next time we'll all play in the puddles :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
