toddler bedtime routines

Routines are important for babies/toddlers. I think that's something that every new parent hears a thousand times from the moment they find out they are pregnant. I couldn't agree more! To me, routine and regularity are as important to a toddler as good nutrition and a good night's sleep- and these things seem to work together. Now, I'm not a firm believer that every single part of the day needs to be scheduled- in fact, we purposely take our boys new places and introduce them to new things as much as possible. Spontaneity can be a good thing! When it comes to bedtime, though, my boys have had pretty set routines since they were very young.

Up until very recently, our evenings looked something like this: 

• We all eat dinner at the table around 6:30.
• Once we are finished, the boys retreat to our bedroom for some roughhousing with Daddy. Elliot has dubbed this special Daddy-son playtime ritual "beat up time"- lol.
• At 7:15, it was bath time for Emmett and Elliot would go shower with Daddy or occasionally tubbie with his brother. 
• Emmett would be dressed in his PJs, with teeth and hair brushed, and tucked into bed right around 7:30. Usually he's asleep within minutes. He's never been difficult to put to sleep- even when he was younger, he would just nurse himself to sleep for a few minutes after his bath, but he stopped doing that when he was fifteen months and has been quick to get into bed ever since. 
• Elliot usually emerged from his shower with Daddy sometime around 8, and then he would be allowed to watch a episode of one of his favorite shows while he ate his nighttime snack. Then we'd read him a book and tuck him into bed.

Since the boys are going to be sharing a room when we move into our new house in three weeks, we decided now was as good a time as ever to get them onto the same bedtime schedule/routine. After we talked about it we settled on a target bedtime of 8:30, which is an hour later than usual for Emmett and a half hour-hour earlier than usual for Elliot. We decided they would bathe together around 7:30, then once they were in their PJs, they would sit on the couch and eat a bedtime snack together (for Elliot's sake- poor child has my super fast metabolism and wakes up hungry in the middle of the night if he doesn't eat before bed) while we read them two books. Then they would get tucked into bed at the same time.

We figured getting them on the same page now would make for a much easier transition come February when in the new house- after all, they are already going to have to adjust to a new home, in a new state, with a much colder climate. Just because it may be an easier transition later, however, does not mean it will be easy now. Emmett seems to have adjusted well enough- although he's been napping earlier the last few days (I assume because he's going to bed later now). Elliot is having a harder time, though. He also seems less than thrilled about sharing a room with baby. I'm hoping that changes once the excitement of seeing the new house and his new bedroom hit, though. They're also getting new matching toddler beds so I'm sure he'll be excited about that. For now, we've been giving him extra cuddles and reassurance. I hope he warms up to the idea soon!

What are your little one's bedtime routines? If you have multiples, how did you prepare your older child to share his/her bedroom?

I didn't take any pictures specifically for this post... so instead here are some fun throwback pictures of Elliot in their crib! Which we sadly just sold, since Emmett is now sleeping like a big boy. 

some family pictures (finally)

Some of you may remember me complaining a few months back about how we had no decent family pictures of the 4 of us. Feel free to read the post here. Well, I'm happy to say that one cloudy day in November, when I was doing a family shoot for a close friend of mine, I set up my camera, handed it to her, and told her to snap away. And you know what? We ended up with some cute pictures! Doing it this way actually worked out pretty well, because I could be picky and delete all the pictures I didn't like. ;)

I of course took a bunch of Daddy and the photogenic one, Emmett, as well. Don't mind Elliot's painful-looking cheese face or scowls. Pictures are just no fun for three year olds! And his shirt is really big... which we didn't realize until we got him dressed that morning. Tiny boy fits in 24 month or 2t and drowns in 3t.

It's finally, really, happening!

"Nothing really ever happens, you know?" -Kipper the Dog

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the show "Kipper the Dog", but it is one of my boys' favorite shows currently. I guess it's glaringly obvious that I spend my life immersed in a toddler world lately, since that was the very first quote I could think of to start off this overdue blog post. I've received more than just one or two emails and facebook messages lately, wondering how I've been and why I haven't been blogging anymore. Well, that quote above, by non other than the animated dog Kipper himself, pretty much explains it all. Up until very recently, we were living our lives in a state of perpetual waiting. We had been enjoying our last months in Texas as best we could, but it's hard to live knowing that you have a looming cross-country move, one that you cannot plan for because so much is out of your hands.

I'm happy to say that the wait is finally OVER! Aaron received his much deserved disability ratings and then finally, finally his orders! The day we've been waiting for all of this time is growing near- we will soon be parting ways with the US Army, closing that chapter of our lives, and starting a new, exciting adventure 1500 miles across the country in northern Michigan.

Let me tell you, after literally months of being unable to plan, the minute we received word, I went to work. I had already been scouring the internet for houses to rent, but honestly, there just isn't much available up there. It's a small, snowy town with no real long-term rental draw. The few places that ARE available to rent are either apartments, scungy, small mobile homes or duplexes, or ridiculously overpriced gargantuan  houses. We are working with a limited budget, but I was determined to find us a house- a house that allows pets (the last 1 1/2 years in a pet-free apartment have left me sort of miserable), and preferably one with a yard for the boys.  The odds were really against me on this one. But guess what? I did it! My writing abilities paid off and I was selected over seventeen other applicants as first in line to what is now our future home.

I still can't believe our luck. I really can't. Our future home is a newly built, 1500 square foot, 2 bedroom 2 bathroom home nestled on 3.5 acres and then surrounded by an additional 100 acres of a tree farm. It has a 4 car garage. Everything inside is clean and new. The living room boasts a lovely wood burning stove which will save us tons of money over heating with propane over the long Michigan winters, it has the big bright kitchen I've always wanted, more windows and natural light than you could ever dream of, and really? It's perfect. It's just perfect. I've dubbed it "our little house in the woods" and I absolutely cannot wait to move in. We've already signed and mailed the lease and deposit, and we move in February 14th! How's that for a move-in date? Our Realtor joked that it would be our best Valentine's Day yet- and I couldn't agree more. FINALLY we will have a home with SPACE, in the country, with room for my boys to roam and play, and no annoying neighbors or apartment managers. I'm thrilled. Even more thrilled that I managed to pull it all off and secure this home while across the country (with some help from my father and father-in-law who met the owner and Realtor this past Monday to check out the property for us.)

So... that's it! We will be back in Northern Michigan, after spending five years away, in just three weeks! I can hardly believe it. That's where I will leave you for today. I have more- so much more- to blog about. But I'll save it all for many more posts to come.

To everyone who has continued to check my blog- thanks for sticking around. I'm sorry to have left you waiting for so long.

fall festivities (catching up on October)

I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the extreme photobomb I'm about to unleash on the bloggy universe. I realized today, while redesigning a friend's blog, that I haven't blogged since September, and I miss it. The main thing holding me back was the fact that painted all over my blog was the fact that we were supposed to be moving overseas. I guess Michigan just pales in comparison to Costa Rica or Panama... but our decision has been made for awhile now, so it's about time that I moved on, huh?

We enjoyed our last October in Texas by visiting a local pumpkin farm- and don't let our outfits fool you- it was 80 degrees that day. We all had a blast, though. It was so much fun this year, because Emmett was old enough to play and explore right alongside Elliot. It's hard to believe that last year, he was only five months old, not even sitting up on his own yet, and this year a walking, talking toddler. Emmett was more content to ride in the stroller and climb all over the pumpkins while Elliot rode a barrel train, fed/pet the goats, picked mama flowers, and carefully chose his very own "wittle kunkin!".

The boys had just as much (if not more) fun on Halloween. Elliot picked out his own costume this year. He was a "bigggg MONSTER!" in his words. Emmett wore the same lion costume that Elliot wore last year. Elliot walked almost the entire time, and he said "trick or treat!" and "thank you" at every single door. Emmett sat in the stroller holding onto his pumpkin bucket full of candy.

Okay- that's about enough pictures for one post, right? I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween and fall!!

things I don't want to forget #2

Elliot, 33 months:

• Elliot's favorite new sayings include "I'm too shy", "one last time!", "just right", "I did it!" and "watch this!" His vocabulary has absolutely exploded in the last few months, and although he still has a bad habit of mispronouncing a lot of sounds/words, he likely won't qualify for speech therapy anymore after his evaluation next month.
• he will repeat something over and over until you either acknowledge him or repeat what he said back to him. He got into this habit back when people had a hard time understanding him- he would wait to hear you repeat what he said so he knew that you knew what he was saying. 
• he is REALLY artistic and absolutely loves to color, draw, paint, and play with play dough. 
• he is obsessed with dinosaurs and (still) trains
• he is fond of collecting things- currently, he has rather large collections of rubber duckies, bouncy balls, and dinosaurs.
• I'm proud to say that he seems to have grown out of his camera-hating stage. In fact, he will even say "cheese" for pictures without me asking, sometimes
• he loves to do flashcards- particularly the ABC and animal ones.
• he hasn't been eating very much at mealtimes lately, instead preferring to have small snacks throughout the day. He really loves broccoli (still), pizza, popcorn, Chinese food, cheese, and chocolate milk.
• he always has to have a bedtime snack- I think that's because he inherited my super fast metabolism. (I always have a bedtime snack, too).
• his favorite animals are parrots, and he loves visiting them at pet stores and the zoo. 
• his favorite shows include Super Why, Dragon Tales, Godzilla (the 1970's version), and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. 
• he fights his naps tooth & nail ("I'm not tired! I don't want it!") but the minute he gets comfy in his carseat he's fast asleep. His bedtime is 9pm but if he skips his nap he will fall asleep before that on the couch. He usually wakes up between 8:30-9:00 in the morning which is perfect because it gives me a chance to shower before his brother wakes up.
• he wears mostly 24 month & 2t shirts and can wear anything from 12m-24m shorts because of his tiny waist.
• he weighs 27 lbs and is 37.5", and was at the 5th percentile for his age until he recently lost weight and fell off the growth scale altogether. 

Emmett, 16 months:

• Emmett is what we call an "aggressive snuggler." He LOVES to cuddle and he will make that known by randomly and enthusiastically diving onto unsuspecting people (which sometimes results in painful headbutting/etc)
• He LOVES chocolate milk and will usually gulp his cup down and then proceed to try to steal Elliot's 
• he has recently grown attached to his green polka dotted blanket and often brings it along when I lift him out of his crib 
• he says a wide variety of words, but the ones we hear most frequently are "mama, dada, please, more, up, all done, uh oh, water, love you, bye bye, choo choo, and thank you". He often surprises me by saying a new word out of the blue, like "brother." 
• he LOVES his big brother and follows him around pretty much everywhere. He also loves destroying block towers that Elliot is working on.
• Emmett loves to give kisses :)
• he also loves to make toy dinosaurs and lions go "RAWWWRRRR!"
• he will stop whatever he's doing and say "choo choo! all aboard!" whenever the train goes by.
• he is always hungry, always eating, and will nearly never turn down food that is offered to him. Also, if you made yourself something to eat, you'd better be prepared to share! 
• he could care less what is on TV but gets mad whenever a show on Netflix ends. He'll point at the TV and say "uh oh!" with increasing urgency until I put something else on. I think he mostly just likes the background noise. 
• he usually takes one long nap in the afternoon, and occasionally a second. His bedtime is 8pm and he sleeps in until 9:30-10:30 almost every morning. 
• he nurses only once a day now (before bed). He dropped his nighttime nursing a month or two ago.
• he wears 12-18 month shirts and 9 & 12 month shorts. We are about to move up to 24 month pj's for the length, though. 
• He weighs 24 lbs and is 31" and is at the 68th percentile. He's definitely thicker than his brother and has a little belly. We always joke around that he got my husband's genes and Elliot got mine. 

It's hard to believe how quickly my little boys are growing up :( but at the same time, it's fascinating to watch them grow and develop into individuals- and to watch their relationship grow, too. 

our plans have changed again... but at least my kids are still cute

I have decided I am a unpredictable blogger. I blame part of this on the fact that our plans are always changing. I tend to get an idea, get super excited, and run with it. Then the army (or in this case, the VA) throws us a curveball or two and our plans have to change, and I get discouraged and simply stop blogging for awhile.

It's happened again. Our plans changed. Instead of moving to Costa Rica this winter/spring... we will instead be moving to... wait for it... northern Michigan. Womp womp womp. Why? Well, the VA is now teaming up with the good ol' Army and making things really difficult for us. Trying to plan anything, let alone a move overseas, is nearly impossible right now. Deadlines keep getting pushed back, news keeps changing, and nothing about our financial future is set in stone. All of this was making me really uneasy. As a result, the sensible side of me pushed the dreamer to the side and developed a whole new grand plan.

You see, my little boys are lucky enough to have three sets of grandparents all in one town. The same small, safe town where Aaron and I met and fell in love. Said town also happens to have a community college with a welding degree that my husband is quite interested in. And Aaron has access to a pretty amazing GI Bill, which is probably the only real thing he will have to show for the past six years he spent in the army, other than a few tattoos and a metal plate in his head. Are you seeing where I'm going with this, yet?

We're going to move back to Aaron's hometown, where Aaron will go to college. As for me? Well, I'll mostly be doing the same thing that I've been doing all along- working on my photography and raising my two rambunctious little boys, except that we will also be starting to homeschool (pre-k), we will be able to spend a lot more time with family, and I might enroll in a college class or two myself- because I really miss it! Oh, and let's not forget the fact that half the year we'll be buried under snow. I'm not looking forward to that part. Hopefully during the winter I'll be able to keep myself busy indoors (because in case you didn't know, I am not a winter-loving girl) and of course I'll be continuing to plan our future move out of the country. Because you can bet your bottom dollar that although we will be spending 1-3 years back in Michigan, my husband and I are both bent on moving out of the country soon after Aaron gets his degree. 

So that's the plan! I can't promise a timeframe or anything like that, because let's face it- we're still waiting. Sitting ducks. In case you're wondering what we've been up to, well- it's been hot. Here we are in the second week of September and it is still in the 100's every day. But the heat doesn't bother my boys one bit, so we've been spending lots of time outside. And inside doing crafts, too. More blog posts about later ;)

I'll leave you to ponder about our ever-changing life with a few recent pictures of the boys. See? I told you they were still cute ;) At least that will never change. I hope. 

 

currently #6

go link up with Harvesting Kale & Ot & Et!

THIS WEEK'S THEMES: trying, wearing, choosing, laughing, tasting

Elliot and Emmett are currently...

Trying Elliot has been trying to evade naps any way possible lately, despite being exhausted every day by 1 or 2pm. My solution? I've been letting him fall asleep on the couch after I put Emmett down for his afternoon nap. While the couch might not be the most conventional or practical place for a toddler to nap, he falls asleep there easily and our afternoons are now much more stress free.

Wearing some of the same size shorts (12-18 months) & "ship shops" as Elliot calls them (flip flops)

Choosing to drag mama outside no matter how hot it is outside. I mean, really... 106 degrees? According to Elliot, that's the perfect weather to "go play playground!" You'd think they'd change their minds once they were out in the heat for awhile, but nope... I think if I let them, they'd stay outside all day even if it were like 130 degrees outside. Provided that I bring lots and lots of water to refill their straw cups.

Laughing at eachother. It is SO cute! Elliot and Emmett have been forming a really close bond over the last month or so. They spend much of the day following each other around, playing together, trying to make each other laugh, etc. And Elliot's new favorite thing to do? Feed Emmett. Emmett prefers to use his own fork or spoon now, but when Elliot comes over? Elliot gets to feed his baby brother- either with a utensil or even just  putting bites right into his mouth- and Emmett seems to love being fed this way by his big brother. They are melting my heart lately, guys. And really affirming my decision to have them so close together. I can't even imagine my life with one and not the other anymore.

I am currently...

Trying to make further plans for our future... but the Army and the VA are making that really hard right now. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty stressful week. Right now, we have theoretically talked about all of our options, all the places we may end up, and when... now we really just have to wait for the VA to give Aaron his ratings! It's driving me crazy. I've said this before and I'll say it again- I am a serial  planner and having a soldier as a husband makes it impossible to plan anything very far in advance.

Wearing sundresses and lots of new jeans shorts. Despite finally being back to my pre-baby weight (can I get a woot woot?), I'm still not fitting into my pre-baby jeans comfortably. My butt and hips have definitely changed. While my husband sees this as a good thing, I'm on the fence and would love to tone up some more- the trouble is finding the time when you have one & two year old little boys.

Choosing my battles, when it comes to Elliot. He's a sensitive little boy and his feelings get hurt very easily. Luckily a hug or kiss and "Mama/Daddy's sorry" usually makes it all better. But really! He gets upset so easily sometimes. Like if he asks politely for me to play with him or get him a snack and (god forbid) I need to do something for Emmett first- Oh no- Elliot's little heart will be crushed into a million tiny pieces. That's the nature of being two though, right?

Laughing at the hilarious things that my boys do. Emmett insists on giving you three, four, or five enthusiastic high-fives in a row, Elliot thinks it's hilarious to sneak up and lick people, Emmett growls like Elliot while Elliot can almost perfectly mimic Emmett's babbling sometimes, Emmett likes to raid my cupboards and walk away with pots and pans, Elliot is obsessed with drawing "cupcake choo choo trains" and "BIIIG sailboats"... I could go on and on. They're too funny!

Tasting a lot of restaurant food. Somehow we managed to fall almost completely off the diet bandwagon and ate out a LOT last paycheck. I blame it mostly on the long holiday weekend but... wow. Next paycheck? I'll be making a lot cheaper and healthier meals at home again.

why we have no family pictures hanging on our walls

We desperately need family photos taken. Our boys have grown and changed so much in the last year- it makes me really sad to think that we don't have any family pictures at all when Emmett was a tiny baby. There are a lot of reasons for this- for one, I'm normally the one with the camera, which means I rarely make it into a photo. The fact that I was basically a nursing slave to Emmett for the first several months of his life, and wore nothing but stretchy clothes that provided easy access for nursing, is also to blame. Not to mention the fact that I hated  my post-baby body so much that I pretty much avoided the camera lens like the plague. Sure, I have plenty of pictures of Elliot and Emmett, or of Daddy and the boys, and (thanks to my cooperative husband) a few recent ones taken with me in them, too. However... we have taken, sadly, exactly ONE family photo since Emmett was born.

Let's be honest, that one photo is pretty horrible. I'm embarrassed that it ended up on our Christmas cards last year. It was a spur of the moment idea, so our outfits were nothing special- for pete's sake, I'm wearing yoga pants.... and let's not even talk about my hair. Also, I took it with my tripod- do you have any idea how hard it is to run back and forth from the camera to the photo spot and manage to compose yourself (and two babies) in 20 seconds flat? Yeah. It wasn't easy. I know they make these nifty things called remotes that make working with a tripod a lot easier- but I wasn't about to buy one for my old Canon camera when I was planning on upgrading so soon. This was the best shot we got- and it's awful. Just awful.

So, my new mission in life is to schedule a family photo session- and soon. Hopefully, I'll report back within the next month or two with some great photos to share, okay? If not, feel free to harass me on here, twitter, facebook- wherever. ;)

Now, I haven't been failing totally at the whole capturing memories via photos with my kids, at least. Lately, I've been handing my camera over to Aaron and forcing bribing him to take some pictures of me with with the boys. Surprisingly, he got some really cute shots! Here are a few of my favorite recent pictures with the kids- all taken by my husband, who knows pretty much nothing about my camera. :)

How often do you guys get family photos taken? Do you ever use a tripod to take your own? Do you just ask your friends to do it, or do you make sure to get professional pictures taken regularly, too? 

Happy 4th of July from my little firecrackers (a little late)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Aaron had the long weekend off, so I've been trying to simply enjoy our time as a family and I've been to busy during the day (and too tired at night) to blog. I really need to learn the fine art of blogging while still spending time with my family, or better yet... blogging about all the great things we've been doing together! I've been a bad blogger :(

Well, we had a FANTASTIC fourth of July! It was, probably, the last time we will be celebrating America's birthday IN the United States. So we made sure to have the best day possible! First, we all dressed in red, white, and blue- like any good 'Merica family, right?? We drove out to Round Rock, which is only supposed to be a little over an hour away... but somehow we ended up driving all the way to Austin. It was worth the drive. The festival/fair in Round Rock was really fun- Elliot got to ride a "choo choo train" and he got to follow goats and chickens around in the petting zoo (he couldn't understand why they weren't more interested in the feed!). It was hot- even by Texas standards- so we ended up leaving the festival for awhile and checking out a huge mall in Cedarville (more driving). We returned to the festival just in time to watch the sky divers! My boys were totally fascinated watching them twirl and twist in the sky. Emmett couldn't stop pointing and clapping and I don't think Elliot quite knew what to think about "flying" people- I mean, only "airpwanes" and "hewacoppers" can fly, right?

The fireworks were delayed by over an hour, and didn't start until about 10:15, but they were well worth the wait. The firework show was far more impressive than the one we saw last year at Freedom Fest at Fort Hood. Elliot and Emmett were both totally entranced and Emmett clapped and said "ooooh!" after every. single. firework. :) I was a little nervous how Emmett would handle all the noise and staying up so late, but he was a little champ. In fact, both of my boys were absolute angels the whole day. I sure am glad they loved the fireworks and festival so much, and that they spent most of the day running around. They were so tired that they both fell asleep and slept through what was probably the slowest moving traffic jam I've ever been in (and I've been in some horrible rush hour Chicago and NYC traffic before) along with the rest of the ride home. I'm not kidding guys, our car didn't even move for over an hour, and we didn't make it out of Old Settlers Park until after midnight. During our drive, we nearly hit (but missed) a kitten and a raccoon, and we saw over 25 deer on the side of the road. Someone was looking out for us! My babies didn't end up back in their own beds until after 2AM.

Aaron and I realized, at about 1AM, that this was our very first time keeping the boys out so late- and after talking about our sweet boys and the day's events for a bit, we both agreed that God blessed us with such well behaved children. We can always take them out in public without worrying about meltdowns, tantrums, or really any trouble at all, and that makes our lives so much easier. I sure do love those little men!

totally enthralled

one of the sky divers

 

Elliot trying to coax the chickens into eating some of his feed- and Emmett feeding them grass through the bars! ha.

Elliot walking with his best friend, Trenton- and no, we didn't prompt them to hold hands. :) So sweet.

Our day could have definitely ended up less-than-thrilling, what with all the extra driving, the extreme heat, etc- but with toddlers, you just have to roll with the punches, right? Thankfully my boys didn't feel like throwing many punches that day ;)

I hope you all had great 4th of July's too! What did you do?