Bostonisms

Well, sleep as of lately is improving, as far as Boston goes. He hasn't pulled another all-nighter since my last post, which is always appreciated. He usually seems to go in waves, so hopefully we are on a good-sleep wave right now and maybe we will eventually outgrow the entire shenanigan. Nevermind that Maia has taken this opportunity to start waking up at least twice a night again to eat. She started sleeping 13+ hours only waking up once around 12 weeks, which was fantastic. Oy.


Lately I keep telling myself I need to write down all the funny stuff Boston is saying. He cracks me up on a daily basis, there is never a dull (or peaceful, or relaxing) moment when he is around.

He was going potty the other day and since we have been at this for a while and he is doing pretty well, I don't usually praise him with as much gusto for a successful toilet trip. As he sat there he turned to me and said, "Mommy. Tell me good job!"  So I did. He then told me somewhat sternly "Nooooow say I'm so proud of you! Come on, Mommy. Say it."


We were driving in the car the other day and he started singing Child of God, unprompted. Since he won't usually sing on command, I turned my music down so I could hear him better. He sang out, "Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me....FLY LIKE BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!"

I asked Boston what he wanted for lunch the other day. "Lets go to Grandma's!" I asked why we should go to Grandma's and he replied, "Because. Grandma will give me candy for lunch."  Busted, Grandma.

He loves to climb into Maia's crib in the morning and talk and play with her while I get her dressed. He was in there the other morning and I left to go to the bathroom. The bathroom is right by her room and I could hear him the entire time talking to her. "Hello, little princess! Did you sleep good, pretty lady? Huuuuuh? Did you sleep good? You're so pretty!" He talks to her in a high pitched baby voice and it is a crack up. As I came back into the room I heard him say (in the same high voice) "Okay, Maia. I'm going to jump on your head now...." Luckily I got back before he smashed her noggin into the mattress. Poor girl has a rough life ahead.

Today for lunch he asked for "a sandwich with a cheese square cooked in a pan" - I translated it to a grilled cheese.

Not really a funny saying, but something to remember - Boston is obsessed with socks right now. He changes his socks 20 times a day, and loves finding new socks to try on. He steals Maia's sock leggings constantly and takes off his pants to wear them. Printed sock that go up to his knees are by far his favorite, as seen above. He also loves any of mine or Jason's socks because he can pull them up so high.

Another favorite of his lately is going to the gas station. He asks me several times a day if it is time to go to the gas station to get our drinks yet. There is a good to excellent chance this is 100% my fault.

Please take note that this post was written at 2:30 am...

Somebody....please help.

I'm going to lose my freaking mind, due to the fact that a certain 2 year old has recently decided sleeping is optional.

This kid used to be the BEST sleeper on the planet. I used to smile smugly to myself when I could lay him in his crib awake and he would lightly babble for a few minutes before drifting off to dreamland. I gave myself a little pat on the back when he transitioned seamlessly from crib to toddler bed with nearly no issues at all. I practically printed out my own blue-ribbon certificate when his bedtime routine consisted of taking him to bed, singing a few songs, telling him goodnight and leaving the room, with no worry of him getting out of bed...because he never did.

Holy mother of crap, none of that exists in my world anymore. He is terrible to get to sleep to begin with and it is becoming less and less often that he even sleeps through the night. He will wake up around 1 or 2 a.m. and stay awake until 4 or 5 a.m., regardless of what we do. He isn't waking up scared or upset (I don't think its night terrors), he wants to play, watch movies, you name it. I have tried every trick in the book and IF they work, its only once or twice and then they no workie no mo'.

Things we have tried:

--Locking his door and letting him cry it out*
--Going in his room, singing songs, reading stories, holding him, etc
--Going for a drive (a last resort that usually works.  Not tonight.)
--Very small doses of Melatonin
--Giving in and letting him watch a movie
--Letting him come in our bed (augh), which never works because he is always too hyper and wants to play

*His doctor suggested this method, because he (as am I) is a very strong believer in sleep training. We have sleep trained both our kids and both responded very well. The problem with letting him cry (scream) it out now is he is a much MUCH louder screamer now and will come and repeatedly kick his door, etc. If we let him keep it up for too long he will wake Maia up, and we also live in a condo and I feel terrible that our neighbors that share a wall with his bedroom probably hate us slash are ready to call DCFS on us for neglectful parenting.

Back when we were sleep training him as a baby, we would let him cry for 10 minute intervals, go in and soothe him, let him cry for 10 minutes, etc.  It was extremely effective and as I mentioned, he has been a stellar sleeper since. If I try to let him cry in intervals now and go in to calm him down every so often it only seems to aggravate him more.

I'm seriously at a loss here. I have no idea how a 2 year old can stay awake for up to 4 hours in the middle of the night.  I can barely do it. He has been up for 2 1/2 hours so far (woke up at 1:15, its now 2:45 but also daylight saving time) and he is showing few signs of slowing down.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Words of encouragement? 

Halloween 2011

Halloween this year with Boston was a blast. He loved Trick or Treating (except that he tried to walk into EVERYONE'S house), he loved seeing all the costumes (he became awkwardly obsessed with another little boy in a Buzz Lightyear costume and stood thisclose to him screaming "BUZZ! YOU CAN FLY BUZZ! BUZZ LIGHTYEAR TO THE RESCUE! YAY!") and yet he is still has a memory of a 2 year old. Meaning I gave him 2 pieces of candy that night and put the rest away and he has no idea.

I originally wanted to dress him as a Polynesian fire dancer, but decided that in order for it to work he would have to be barefoot and bare chested, and doing that in October that might fall under the Child Abuse category.

And so, he was a greaser. Everyone thought he was Fonzie, so we'll go with that.

And Maia was a duck. The fluffiest, puffiest, cutest duck you ever did see. Boston started calling her MaiaBird and it stuck. So cute.

I'm pretty sure she saw her reflection in the lens and thought, "WTF did you do to me?" Or maybe you can submit your own caption in the comments.  I laugh like a lunatic every time I look at this photo:

 She was great with the headpiece all Halloween night but didn't love it so much for photos. The outtakes from this session are one of my favorite things EVER. She is either scowling, cross-eyed or looks completely baffled in most of the photos. Some a combination of the 3, which is even better.

Once we took the head piece off, she was  much happier.

Potty Training

I'm starting to form a theory/idea. For anyone who hasn't started potty training their toddler, don't. I bet that if you just never broached the topic, the social pressure would eventually be enough for a kid to potty train himself. Granted he might be, like, 15 and severely ridiculed, but I'm starting to think thats not so bad compared to the loads of pee-smelling laundry I'm washing.

Potty training sucks.

Sigh. If I'm being perfectly honest, I really shouldn't complain. It only took Boston 2-3 days to "get it" and he rarely has accidents. He is in underwear anytime he is awake (he still has a pretty wet diaper most mornings so we are sticking with diapers at night for now) but we can comfortably go out grocery shopping, to the mall, etc and he will stay dry.  He is great about telling me when he needs to go unless he is playing with friends or at a park or whatever, then he needs to be reminded.

But it still sucks. I know accidents are inevitable you can't potty train without them, but MAN do I hate them. Its so frustrating to know that 95% of the time he is accident free, then randomly he will walk up to me and announce, "I PEED!" with wet pants. I have gotten into the (good) habit of always bringing him spare pants/underwear whenever we leave the house, and that has saved my soul more than once.  Add to the equation that Maia poops with the force of a hurricane and is regularly found with poop spilling out of her collar, and I find myself dealing with a lot of bodily fluids on a daily basis. (For real - the girl explodes at least one diaper every. single. day.)

I know this totally falls under Sucky Things We Signed Up For When We Decided To Breed. I know its only going to be a small blip in life and soon I won't even remember how obnoxious it was. I think I just need to start reminding myself of that every time I start the washer (AGAIN) filled with tiny little monster-truck undies.

Random thoughts

There really is no point to this post, other than to get out some random things bouncing around in my head lately.

--Throughout October I was really wanting to change my ringtone to "This is Halloween" because I just love it. Only, I kept forgetting and putting off downloading it. Imagine my surprise when the day after Halloween I discovered I had downloaded it last year and made it into a ringtone. I was bummed for about 3 seconds before deciding that whose business is it of anyone's if I have a spooky ringtone after the Eve of Hallows? It will likely stay set as my ringtone until Christmas, when it will change to something Grinch-related. I appreciate any calls that allow me to listen to it.

--Chick Fil A is such a freaking mommy hang out, and it drives me nuts. This is possibly the most hypocritical opinion that I own, being as that I go around noon to take my kid to play like every other mom in Utah County.  GAH its just so crowded, but I can't resist the excellent service, decent food and a play area that is completely enclosed so I can send B in there and ignore him decompress for a few minutes.

--Potty training sucks. Not much more to say about it.

--I might be swearing off Facebook until December. Its only November 2 and I am sick to death of hearing what everyone is thankful for*. Not that I think this isn't a good practice, or that you shouldn't take the time to think of things you are grateful for, but my feed is clogged with thankfulness and I'm really more of a "If you're thankful and you know good for you (clap clap)" kind of girl. Meaning, I would rather ponder on the blessings of my life with myself instead of shouting it from the rooftop for all of facebook to see.

--Don't you hate it when you forget to turn your Redbox? I mean, Bridesmaids made me laugh and all, but it wasn't really $16-and-I-don't-even-own-it good.

--Can we talk about the service at Chick Fil A again? Man. The employees are so helpful and nice. Having my drink refilled while I wait at my table, bringing me mints and any other item I might need while dining? I guess its no wonder its a madhouse. There is something to be said about getting better service at a fast-food restaurant than many higher-end restaurants.

Hmm. I think this turned into more of a therapy venting session. Thanks for listening.  I feel better now, don't you?










*I know a lot of you are doing this, and don't feel like you have to stop because of me and my grinchy opinions.  Be grateful for whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want.  Just don't be offended if I hide everyone from my feed until Dec 1. :)

Maia's Nursery

First off, I have to say that its possible I am a psychic mother who foretold her children's personalities simply in the design of their rooms

OR

The decor of the room of a tiny little infant who doesn't even sleep in it yet let alone care about the color palette has the power to shape and mold them into the humans they are to become

OR

a child's room has no impact on their personality whatsoever and I'm delusional and should stop trying to make things out of nothing.



One of those.


Regardless, if you will recall, Boston's room was (is) decorated in lime green, black and white with pops of orange. Prints are all polka dots and stripes. (I don't think I ever actually blogged his entire room. Shame. You can get an idea of it here.) (Or you can just be facebook friends with me, because I document things much better on there, apparently.)  Anyway, its a loud, fun, bright, crazy room and I seriously love every inch of it. Its just so him. (Loud. Fun. Crazy. If a room could be described  as exhausting maybe it's a little of that too.)

When I started designing Maia's room in my head, I wanted something much more calm, cool, and peaceful. (You see where I'm going with this, right?! PSYCHIC!)

I ended up going with a color palette of grey, pink and tangerine orange. I used owls in several areas of decorating as well.

Its funny...because as much as I LOVE Boston's room...I LOVE Maia's just as much. It is just as much her as his is him. I love the clean simplicity of it all, the bright whites and fun pinks, and cute little owls.

Bedding was made by me, using the Moda Sunkissed fabric line.
Owl pillow in bed as well as owls on shelf: Pier 1
Frames and knick knacks on shelf and dresser: IKEA, Hobby Lobby, Target
Rocking chair, curtain panels: IKEA
Tree murals painted by me
Name frames: IKEA shadowbox frames with scrapbook paper, letters of her name etched into glass
Prints above dresser: Trendography Prints, the empty frame will have a birth stats collage when I get around to making it
Pink Bench: Homegoods
Dresser: KSL Classifieds, sanded down and painted white

Maia - 4 months (and some change...)

Awwww.  Baby Maia. I'm going to try to document all the wonderful wonderfuls about this little lady in the 4 months since she joined our family.

Maia is sweet, smiley, calm, curious, bright eyed and overall the happiest little baby ever. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father knew the personality Boston would pack, so he set aside this little darling as a reward for keeping all parties alive so far.

At her appointment this week, she weighed in at 13 lbs. She is in the 5th percentile for height and head size and 20th for weight. Just a little thing, and she is perfect that way!   She started smiling around 8 weeks and hasn't stopped since. She gives huge, gummy smiles to anyone who will look at her. Sometimes she gets so overwhelmed with the HAPPINESS and EMOTION of it all that her entire body starts to shake and her face looks like it might break from smiling.

She can roll from front to back and back to front, but still has a look of "WHAT THE CRAP JUST HAPPENED?!" every time she does it. She has started scooting around the floor while on her back, and today after her nap I found her in the opposite end of her crib, facing the opposite direction of how I put her down.

She still has barely any peach fuzz to speak of, but I am happy to report her super insane widows peak indent seems to be filling in. Until she decides to grow some hair we will be rockin' the headband look.

She is an amazing sleeper, sleeping around 13+ hours a night, waking up once to eat. She loves her naps and has taken to sleep training incredibly well.

Boston still does great with her. Really amazing...considering how wild he is in most aspects of his life, he is very sweet and gentle with her. He calls her his "little lady" and loves to talk to her in the morning when she wakes up. He always talks to her in a very high-pitched voice, "Good morning, widdle wady! Did you sweep well? huuuuuh? did you? You're so pretty!"  It melts my heart every time.

She fits so well into our family. Its so funny to see how opposite she is from Boston already, I can't wait to see if it changes as she gets older. We you so, SO much little lady!