A Rough Week

It's been a tough week.  Both the kids have been sick, so they have been feeling miserable and grumpy.  They are so congested and uncomfortable.  They've been waking up in the middle of the night and just having a hard time sleeping in general.  I have been dealing with snotty noses and lots of dirty (sick) diapers.

Alex is now a quick, adventurous, and skilled crawler.  We are so excited for this new milestone, but it has definitely been a game changer.  Taking care of both the kids, especially on my own, has been a lot more exhausting!  Alex gets into everything and unknowingly frustrates his big sister on a regular basis.   

On top of all that, Jimmy has been working late and is also stressed and exhausted.  It's makes for an extra long day for me.  Sadly, this also gives him very little time with the kids.  Once he gets home, it's usually time to put the kids to bed.  We've been letting them stay up a little bit longer, but there is never enough time in the day :( 

It's just been one of those weeks.  I'm hoping the kids get better soon and Jimmy can get home earlier.  Even though we see each other every day, Jimmy and I talk about how much we miss each other!  Once the kids are in bed, we eat, do some chores, and are so exhausted that we go straight to bed.  I'm just ready for our pace to slow down a little bit!

Amelia stocking up on vitamin C

"Lots of oranges"

Turning a New Leaf

The crisp, cool Fall weather is here and I'm more determined than ever to make Tennessee feel like home.  We've been here for about four months and I'm still not feeling completely settled. 

I'm embarrassed to say that the house is still not completely done.  I don't know how long I can keep saying, "We just moved in" and get away with it, ha ha.  We still have to finish our master bedroom, which is a hot mess, and the office area upstairs.  The kitchen cabinets are a mess as well, so I have to take some time to organize them.  There is also lots and lots of work we have to do in the yard.  We might not get to the yard this season, but are hopeful that next Spring we will have our act together and bring the yard to life. 

My mom is coming for a two week visit in October, so hopefully she can help us with the kids while we try to get the rest of our home put together.  I'm hoping her visit will be just the boost we need to finally settle in. 

We had a slow start, but the kids and I have finally settled into a schedule during the week.  We have some new friends and have been going to lots of play dates: story time at the library, visiting new parks, doing crafts, checking out museums, indoor play areas, lunch dates, and going for walks.  Amelia has also been going to school and started up gymnastics again.  It's been so nice to get back into a good routine. 

Since we live in a small town surrounded by farm land, we have lots of Fall activities to look forward to like apple picking, visiting farms, and of course a few visits to the pumpkin patches and their Fall Festivals since they are just down the street.  There's not much to do around this area with the kids, so it's always exciting when we stumble upon new things to do or hear about local activities from friends.

I usually take the kids out three days a week.  I'm definitely against over scheduling kids and it's just nice to be home and relax.  Now that we have a yard, this kids can play outside too.

I've become close friends with two other moms from our playgroup.  The three of us are all new to the area, so we decided that every Friday we would check out a new local restaurant and then do something fun with the kids.  Amelia is in school on Fridays, so it works out well.  I don't think I could manage going out to eat with both kids!  It's good for Alex to have his own play date too. 

Well, that's all for now!  Sorry grandparents, but I haven't been taking many pictures lately.  It's pretty much impossible for me to take pictures when I'm out by myself with the kids.  Here are a few pics I took while we were hanging out at home:

"Ahh-kicks hat.  It's beautiful."

Comb over action

Scratching her head with her foot.

She repeated over and over again:

"Foot on Mimi's head..."

Oh, here's a picture from The Customs House Museum.  They have a great kids area in the basement.  We actually got a membership, so plan on visiting often. 

Amelia really enjoyed grocery shopping!

(I'll definitely try to take more pictures when we are out and about!)

Amelia's Lego House

TV Thoughts

Baby/Toddler TV watching is a controversial parenting topic.  Most every parent I meet eventually asks me about my thoughts on the subject.

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about it.  I'm not against TV at all.  In fact, I'd say that Jimmy and I are avid TV watchers.  However, during the week, I don't watch any TV during the day and most evenings we don't turn it on until the kids go to bed.  Thank goodness for the DVR, Netflix, and the kids' 7pm bedtime! 

 

Amelia doesn't watch TV every day, but when she does, I try to limit it to just one show a day.   Amelia loves TV. She could watch hours of it, non stop, if I let her.  Per her request, she watches Sesame Street 95% of the time.

 

Here's my rationale.  I want Amelia's (and soon to be Alex's) TV watching to serve a purpose.  My goal is to use it to my full advantage.  I use TV as a tool.  Whether it is for getting her to sit still or calming her down when she is cranky, I feel there needs to be a reason she watches it. 

 

I also want to make sure that she gets something out of the shows that she watches, so educational programming is important to me.  We also let her watch You Tube videos about letters, colors, shapes, and nursery rhymes.

 

To be honest, another important reason we don't watch much TV is that it's more work and hassle to transition her out of watching TV (known in the parenting world as a trigger), so I figure, why bother with it to begin with. 

 

She watches part of a show while I fix her hair and cut her nails.  The TV is the only way I can get Amelia to sit still long enough to do those things.  Sometimes when she's super fussy (cranky nap wake ups are common), I let her watch part of a show.  It also helps when she fights her diaper changes.

 

Bribery?  Yeah, it probably is, but I don't care because it works for us. 

 

When she's sick or if we have guests, we are a lot more lenient as well.  We also have a DVD player in the van which has been useful for the two long road trips we have taken so far.  If we are out and about and she starts to get bored or cranky, we give her our phone so she can watch a video.  It especially helps when were are out to eat and she starts to get cranky or bored. 

 

I'm sure things will change as the kids get older, but this is what works for us now!

 

Sickness Cycle

Amelia only goes to school once a week, but every time she goes, she gets sick a few days later!  Then, Alex gets sick.  It's very frustrating. It seems to be a never ending cycle of snot and sick kids. 

 

Amelia goes to school on Friday and by Sunday or Monday, she's sick. She usually just has cold symptoms, but it's enough to make her feel uncomfortable and contagious. We stay home for a day or two, she gets better, then goes back to school on Friday and the cycle starts all over again

 

I know this is common for children who start going to school, but it's hard to deal with.  I hate to see my kids feeling miserable and keeping them stuck at home.

 

 

Leopard print hat, bath robe, Elmo slippers, and pink purse- Amelia informed me she was ready to go bye-bye.  When I told her we weren't going anywhere today because she was sick, she got really sad.

 

Miserable and snotty

 

Two snotty kids stuck in the house

At least they have each other to play with

Amelia calls Alex's snot "ickys"

"Ahh-Kicks" 7.5 Months

-Amelia pronounces Alex, Ahh-kicks

-Crawling!

-Loves floor vents and electrical cords

-Drools like a leaky faucet (no teeth yet)

-Grabs at anything he can get his hands on, especially my hair (ouch!)

-Favorite foods include Mum mums, any type of fruit

-Has the highest pitched scream we've ever heard

-Ticklish right under his chin

-Snorts when he laughs

-Blows bubbles with his drool constantly

-Still wakes up at 4:30am, but goes right back to sleep after eating, then wakes up for the day around 6:30am

-Blows out diapers regularly, cloth and disposable

This is what little man looks like when I wet his hair and combed it to the side!

He looks like such a big boy!

Mini Jimmy

Nerd face ;0)

Look closely, he busted his lip :(

 

Clarksville Riverfest

On a whim, we went to check out Clarksville's Riverfest.  It's a local festival featuring live music, art, food, river boats, and activities for kids.  There wasn't much for toddlers to do, so we just walked around the festival and then spent most of the time at a park by the river.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  It was sunny, breezy, and just the right temperature.  

Amelia couldn't stop talking about this pizza guy.  She kept wanting to go back to see him.

At the petting zoo
  At first she thought the goats with horns were rhinos.

"It's a goat."



The Cumberland River

Alex on the Move (videos)

Alex started crawling about a week ago at seven months.  He is the cutest little crawler and is so much happier and content.  Now, there are trails of drool on our floors and carpet. 

Since his new milestone, it's been absolutely exhausting for me.  He gets into everything and I can't ever keep him out of sight. 

Amelia is also having a difficult time adjusting to the idea that Alex is mobile.  Alex follows her around and desperately wants to play with her.  Most of the time, Amelia just gets annoyed but Alex is very persistent. 

We are also amazed because he crawled about two months earlier than Amelia did! I don't know what I'm going to do once he starts walking, which hopefully isn't any time soon.

This video was taken the day before he really took off.  Poor guy was getting very frustrated.

 

Master crawler

 

Amelia is TWO

It's finally starting to sink in.  Our baby girl is two.  She is the first-born of two first-borns and is growing into a smart, sassy, and silly little girl.

What is Amelia like at two?

She gives the best hugs and kisses.

She is a sponge. Like most two year olds, Amelia picks up concepts so quickly. It just amazes me!

Amelia has mastered all the upper and lower case letters and their sounds. (Although, she has trouble distinguishing the lowercase letter l with the number 1.) With assistance, she can identify the first letter of words she hears. During mealtimes we practice letter sounds. We pick a letter and then try to come up with as many words as we can that begin with it.

We have also been working on sight words. She can now recognize about 30 words. Some examples are: cat, tiger, dog, arm, elephant, eyes, etc. Amelia can also recognize and spell her name.

She knows her shapes and colors. It's very cute, if you ask her what color she is, she says she's beige. I think her favorite colors are peach, brown, and black because those crayons are worn down to little nubs. If you look at most of her coloring projects, those are the dominant colors.

We pick out shapes and colors when we go out. She constantly talks about how many sides each shape has, which is super cute. "Octagon has eight sides. Triangle has three sides."

She loves to pretend.  She is starting to have more elaborate tea parties, that now include food, and specific place settings.  Dress up has also become a popular activity for her.  She is obsessed with shoes, especially now that she can get them on and off herself.  Amelia is also starting to pretend with her dolls- not just playing "mommy" but other, new scenarios. 

She loves to sing and dance.  Amelia knows a bunch of nursery rhymes and songs and loves to sing them.  She has a surprisingly low singing voice, so it makes Jimmy and I laugh.  Her signature dance move is running around in circles and dropping it low.

She loves books and being read to.  Honestly, I've had to hide some of her favorite books for a few days because I get tired of reading them 30 times a day!  She has memorized some of her favorites and insists that she read those on her own.  Then there are other books that must be read to her.  She's very particular.  Sometimes bedtime is difficult because she doesn't want to go to bed and just piles more and more books for us to read to her.

She loves to count.  She can count to 20 on her own and recognize the numbers.  With a little assistance, she can count to 30.  She loves loves loves to count.  This morning, she had a waffle for breakfast and I heard her counting all the little squares left after each bite.

Amelia's Favorites...

Catch Phrases:
Oh my goodness!
Careful
It's a mess!
What are you doing?
Oh no! Fix it!
Where is _______? There it is!  I found_____!
Look at that!

Songs:
Twinkle Twinkle
If You're Happy and You Know it
Wheels on the Bus
ABC Song

Animals:
Elephants
Monkeys

Outfit:
ABC Pajamas

Foods:
Rice
Oranges
Apples
Chips
Carrots

Stuffed Friends:
Ellie
Froggy
Diva

Books:
Monster at the End of This Book
If You're Happy and You Know it
Olivia
Brown Bear, Brown Bear

TV Shows:
Sesame Street
Wiggles

Finding the Daddy

The kids and I tagged a long with Jimmy during one of his runs this weekend on the Greenway.  Amelia has been obsessed with her stroller lately, so I thought I would bring it along for her to play with.  While Jimmy ran, Amelia proudly took her baby for a nice long walk.  She walked her baby for over an hour.  She was in heaven!  She cried when when had to pack up the stroller and leave.

While we were walking, Amelia went on and on about how we were going to find daddy.  She inspected every runner passing by to make sure it wasn't daddy.  "Oh, that's not daddy."

 

A walker told Amelia she was cute and Amelia responded by saying, " I'm finding the daddy." We started cracking up because that statement could be misinterpreted.