So last weekend I came down with something nasty! This rarely happens to me, but I was laid out pretty flat on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately for me I had to work on Friday night! I managed to make it through my little three hour shift, but there were a couple times I was kneeling down to pick up items off the floor and I honestly wondered if I was going to have the energy to get back up! haha Saturday morning I woke up feeling worse! (imagine that) I had a bad feeling it was strep throat, so I drug myself to the Dr for a test and sure enough, it was strep! I can't believe it still, something like 90% of strep throat cases occur in kids 15 and under - I thought I was well past my strep throat years!! I came back home equipped with penicillin and locked myself up in the bedroom to wait out my 48 hours of contagious time so I didn't share the love with my husband or the kiddos. That's the bad news. Since I was contagious and super sick, I also had to miss my Grandmother's 90th birthday celebration that day as well as a fun night out with my girlfriends to celebrate two of their birthdays that same night. That's the other bad news!!
The good news is - my self imposed quarantine WORKED and a week later, no one else in the family has come down with any sore throat or fever symptoms. Yay!! The other good news is I am back to feeling like my fantastic self again ;-) But the best news of all is I got super sick THIS month, instead of NEXT month when we will be in Disneyland *whew* The kids also all had a pretty yucky head cold last weekend and early this week, so we are hoping that will ensure their good health for the trip as well! All we need to do now is get our flu shots and we should all be in business!! *fingers crossed*
Friday, October 21, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Officially Enamored
When we moved to our town about four years ago, I went through the dreaded process of finding a new pediatrician for the kids. I HATE moving to a new town and trying to find a person I feel I can trust with the health of my children. Moving to a place where we didn't know anyone else compounded the problem, because I couldn't even ask for reliable recommendations from friends or family. In the end, we found the clinics that were in network with our insurance and took a wild stab in the dark. I can actually remember calling the clinic to make the boys' new patient appointments. The receptionist listed off four physicians who were accepting new patients at that time and asked me who we wanted to see. I picked the doctor with the most interesting name :)
Over the years we have thanked our lucky stars on numerous occasions because our pediatrician has turned out to be the ideal doctor. He is great with the kids and really pays attention to them when they have something to say, he relates to parents unbelievably well because he has three young children of his own and most importantly - he is willing to settle in and listen to your concerns and answer any questions you might have. He never makes you feel rushed or unimportant.
Before today I would have described my feelings towards the kids' pediatrician as "appreciative," "grateful," "impressed," "relieved." But today, I have officially become enamored.
And here's why:
Middle-Bug had his fourth birthday last week and today I was taking him in for his annual portrait. We always go to a photo studio in the mall down town and have typically had a pretty good experience with them. Today was unfortunately an exception, but that is a story for another day. Towards the end of our photo session today, Middle-Bug went to sit down on a small stool in the waiting area. When he sat on the stool it tipped over backwards and Middle-Bug cracked his head on a table top on his way to the ground. He instantly started to cry and I went over to inspect the damage. When I got close to him I could see that he had actually split his head open and was bleeding quite a bit! The employees at the studio were swarming all around us, one called an ambulance (probably a bit of an over reaction) one brought paper towels, one brought an ice pack, one brought stickers for all the kids and started entertaining Big-Bug and Baby-Bug and one ran to the back to print our photos out at no charge. In hind sight their response was so smooth, I wonder how many times they have been through this drill!
When the fire crew arrived they took a look at Middle-Bug's head, asked me a few questions about his mental status (which was fine) declared his injury safe enough for private transportation and then I signed some wavers so I could take him to be seen in my own vehicle. The EMT who did the exam recommended the urgent care facility at the local hospital rather than the ER because the wait time is shorter, so I packed everyone back up into the car, called my husband and told him what was going on and then headed to urgent care. When we got there I unloaded all the kids (and Middle-Bug's ice pack!) and we headed across the loooong parking lot to the entrance. Unfortunately when we got to the door there was an employee standing outside who asked me if we had an appointment. WHAT?! An appointment for urgent care?! She said if we really wanted to we could come inside, but we most likely wouldn't be seen today. I asked her where else we should go and she (very rudely!!) said "another urgent care I guess." *sigh* So I packed everyone BACK to the car again and called the boys' doctor to see if he could recommend another local urgent care. They told us to come right in and the doctor could do any necessary stitches/staples himself. By this point of course, I was pretty shaken up and was trying my best to keep from breaking down in tears while I was on the phone and it was such a comfort to finally feel like we had a solution.
We drove the short distance to the clinic, checked in at the reception desk and were immediately seen! Their doctor checked Middle-Bug over from head to toe, decided his (extremely minor) head wound was already clotting and sealing up so well he didn't want to mess with stapling it and opening the wound back up, checked his ears and nose and throat for swelling and determined that Middle-Bug was in fact Wolverine. (To Middle-Bug's unending delight)
This awesome doctor has seen us through an electrical shock, a knocked out tooth, a broken arm, infant hernia surgery, a super-sprained foot and now....a (minor) head wound, each time in a way that has made the experience feel comfortable and safe. I mean seriously, could there BE a greater pediatrician on the planet!!
Over the years we have thanked our lucky stars on numerous occasions because our pediatrician has turned out to be the ideal doctor. He is great with the kids and really pays attention to them when they have something to say, he relates to parents unbelievably well because he has three young children of his own and most importantly - he is willing to settle in and listen to your concerns and answer any questions you might have. He never makes you feel rushed or unimportant.
Before today I would have described my feelings towards the kids' pediatrician as "appreciative," "grateful," "impressed," "relieved." But today, I have officially become enamored.
And here's why:
Middle-Bug had his fourth birthday last week and today I was taking him in for his annual portrait. We always go to a photo studio in the mall down town and have typically had a pretty good experience with them. Today was unfortunately an exception, but that is a story for another day. Towards the end of our photo session today, Middle-Bug went to sit down on a small stool in the waiting area. When he sat on the stool it tipped over backwards and Middle-Bug cracked his head on a table top on his way to the ground. He instantly started to cry and I went over to inspect the damage. When I got close to him I could see that he had actually split his head open and was bleeding quite a bit! The employees at the studio were swarming all around us, one called an ambulance (probably a bit of an over reaction) one brought paper towels, one brought an ice pack, one brought stickers for all the kids and started entertaining Big-Bug and Baby-Bug and one ran to the back to print our photos out at no charge. In hind sight their response was so smooth, I wonder how many times they have been through this drill!
When the fire crew arrived they took a look at Middle-Bug's head, asked me a few questions about his mental status (which was fine) declared his injury safe enough for private transportation and then I signed some wavers so I could take him to be seen in my own vehicle. The EMT who did the exam recommended the urgent care facility at the local hospital rather than the ER because the wait time is shorter, so I packed everyone back up into the car, called my husband and told him what was going on and then headed to urgent care. When we got there I unloaded all the kids (and Middle-Bug's ice pack!) and we headed across the loooong parking lot to the entrance. Unfortunately when we got to the door there was an employee standing outside who asked me if we had an appointment. WHAT?! An appointment for urgent care?! She said if we really wanted to we could come inside, but we most likely wouldn't be seen today. I asked her where else we should go and she (very rudely!!) said "another urgent care I guess." *sigh* So I packed everyone BACK to the car again and called the boys' doctor to see if he could recommend another local urgent care. They told us to come right in and the doctor could do any necessary stitches/staples himself. By this point of course, I was pretty shaken up and was trying my best to keep from breaking down in tears while I was on the phone and it was such a comfort to finally feel like we had a solution.
We drove the short distance to the clinic, checked in at the reception desk and were immediately seen! Their doctor checked Middle-Bug over from head to toe, decided his (extremely minor) head wound was already clotting and sealing up so well he didn't want to mess with stapling it and opening the wound back up, checked his ears and nose and throat for swelling and determined that Middle-Bug was in fact Wolverine. (To Middle-Bug's unending delight)
This awesome doctor has seen us through an electrical shock, a knocked out tooth, a broken arm, infant hernia surgery, a super-sprained foot and now....a (minor) head wound, each time in a way that has made the experience feel comfortable and safe. I mean seriously, could there BE a greater pediatrician on the planet!!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Chicken Pot Pie and What a Day!!
My husband has been out of town the past two days on a business trip. This is always a challenge for me because it means "Daddy" isn't here to distract the kids while I take care of certain tasks like brushing the kids' teeth at bedtime or cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Without that distraction, the kids are left to entertain themselves (something they are very good at doing) and I regularly find myself with twice the mess to clean!
Luckily, these past two days have actually been pretty smooth. I was able to get Big-Bug to school on time both days, even with the littler bugs in tow. We had a successful trip to the grocery store all together and I was even able to take care of some banking and finish picking up decorations for Middle-Bug's birthday party this weekend! On the home front, I caught up on the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and managed to stay on top of the toy clutter (for the most part.) I was feeling very accomplished and decided I was going to have the house in pristine condition by the time my husband came home this evening. I had such a good head start on the cleaning I felt like I also had time to make something extra tasty for dinner! Since I had leftover roast chicken in the fridge, it seemed obvious to do a chicken pot pie.
Lately the bugs have been turning their noses up at veggies, so inspiration struck this afternoon and I decided to make three miniature pot pies (one for each kiddo) as well as one regular pie for my husband and myself. It took a little longer that way, but I let each child fill their own pot pie with a custom mix of peas, corn, carrots, celery and chicken in the hopes that it would encourage them to actually eat at dinner! When the pies were stuffed, I added the gravy and then carved each of the bugs' initials onto the top of their pie before popping them into the oven.
I could leave it at that and have you all thinking I had a productive, blissful two days followed by a night of creative cooking and some quality bonding time with the bugs...but instead I will tell you the whole story. The whole story being that while I was rolling out pie crusts this evening I asked the bugs to please clean up their toys in the living room. The three of them went right to the living room and I could hear them having a good time together and smiled to myself, thinking they were doing such good work. Unfortunately, when I peaked around the corner to check on their progress, I discovered they had not been cleaning at all. Instead, they had been shredding a roll of toilet paper all over the living room. Yep. Since I was in the middle of pot pie prep, I couldn't do a whole lot about it aside from confiscating the remainder of the roll and telling the kids they needed to clean up the mess they made.
A few minutes later, the bugs were chasing each other up and down the hall and into the bedrooms playing some form of pirate game. At this point, my anxiety level had already been raised, but I could hear little snips of phrases like "which room should be the ship and which one should be the island?" "You take this map and I'll take this one" so everything seemed to be going alright again (with the exception of the shredded paper that was still littered all over the living room floor.) Suddenly Middle-Bug let out a frantic holler and began to cry and call for help. I dropped everything in a flash and raced down the hall to see what was wrong. I found Middle-Bug wedged between his closet door and the chest of drawers inside the closet "I'm stuck I'm stuck!" he cried. I could see right away that all he had to do was turn his head to the side and he could fit right back out the way he went in, but Middle-Bug was so hysterical it took me a while to calm him down enough to understand my directing. Once he finally emerged unharmed (thank goodness!) I realized Baby-Bug was no longer in the room observing the spectacle. My mind instantly shot to the unmanned kitchen with it's pre-heating oven, unattended chopping knife and vulnerable pot pies! I raced back down the hall just in time to see Baby-Bug snatch the open bottle of vegetable oil off of the counter top (what was I thinking!) and take a huge swig, pouring oil all over his shoulder, down his chest and back and onto the floor at the same time.
At that point Baby-Bug was sponged -off and buckled into his high chair for the remainder of dinner prep, and the older Bugs were sent to work cleaning up the mess they had made of the living room (and thankfully, they did clean up this time.) A little while later the pies were ready and I pulled them out of the oven, carefully popped the Bugs' pies out of their tart pans and dinner was served! The kids were pretty proud of their creations and spent a while congratulating themselves on being "master chefs." Then they spent a little while fantasizing about all the things they plan to cook next "I'm going to bake the bread tomorrow morning" "I'm going to put the peanut butter on the sandwiches" "I'm going to do the jelly!" Next they fantasized about turning our house into a restaurant "We can call it pumpkin halloween house restaurant!" "We can invite our friends to eat at our restaurant!" "We'll need decorations!" Finally they picked at the crust on their pot pies...then they asked to be excused. *sigh*
Luckily, these past two days have actually been pretty smooth. I was able to get Big-Bug to school on time both days, even with the littler bugs in tow. We had a successful trip to the grocery store all together and I was even able to take care of some banking and finish picking up decorations for Middle-Bug's birthday party this weekend! On the home front, I caught up on the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and managed to stay on top of the toy clutter (for the most part.) I was feeling very accomplished and decided I was going to have the house in pristine condition by the time my husband came home this evening. I had such a good head start on the cleaning I felt like I also had time to make something extra tasty for dinner! Since I had leftover roast chicken in the fridge, it seemed obvious to do a chicken pot pie.
Lately the bugs have been turning their noses up at veggies, so inspiration struck this afternoon and I decided to make three miniature pot pies (one for each kiddo) as well as one regular pie for my husband and myself. It took a little longer that way, but I let each child fill their own pot pie with a custom mix of peas, corn, carrots, celery and chicken in the hopes that it would encourage them to actually eat at dinner! When the pies were stuffed, I added the gravy and then carved each of the bugs' initials onto the top of their pie before popping them into the oven.
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| Personal Pot Pies! |
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| I carved a tree into mine, but the kids told me it doesn't look like a tree! haha |
I could leave it at that and have you all thinking I had a productive, blissful two days followed by a night of creative cooking and some quality bonding time with the bugs...but instead I will tell you the whole story. The whole story being that while I was rolling out pie crusts this evening I asked the bugs to please clean up their toys in the living room. The three of them went right to the living room and I could hear them having a good time together and smiled to myself, thinking they were doing such good work. Unfortunately, when I peaked around the corner to check on their progress, I discovered they had not been cleaning at all. Instead, they had been shredding a roll of toilet paper all over the living room. Yep. Since I was in the middle of pot pie prep, I couldn't do a whole lot about it aside from confiscating the remainder of the roll and telling the kids they needed to clean up the mess they made.
A few minutes later, the bugs were chasing each other up and down the hall and into the bedrooms playing some form of pirate game. At this point, my anxiety level had already been raised, but I could hear little snips of phrases like "which room should be the ship and which one should be the island?" "You take this map and I'll take this one" so everything seemed to be going alright again (with the exception of the shredded paper that was still littered all over the living room floor.) Suddenly Middle-Bug let out a frantic holler and began to cry and call for help. I dropped everything in a flash and raced down the hall to see what was wrong. I found Middle-Bug wedged between his closet door and the chest of drawers inside the closet "I'm stuck I'm stuck!" he cried. I could see right away that all he had to do was turn his head to the side and he could fit right back out the way he went in, but Middle-Bug was so hysterical it took me a while to calm him down enough to understand my directing. Once he finally emerged unharmed (thank goodness!) I realized Baby-Bug was no longer in the room observing the spectacle. My mind instantly shot to the unmanned kitchen with it's pre-heating oven, unattended chopping knife and vulnerable pot pies! I raced back down the hall just in time to see Baby-Bug snatch the open bottle of vegetable oil off of the counter top (what was I thinking!) and take a huge swig, pouring oil all over his shoulder, down his chest and back and onto the floor at the same time.
At that point Baby-Bug was sponged -off and buckled into his high chair for the remainder of dinner prep, and the older Bugs were sent to work cleaning up the mess they had made of the living room (and thankfully, they did clean up this time.) A little while later the pies were ready and I pulled them out of the oven, carefully popped the Bugs' pies out of their tart pans and dinner was served! The kids were pretty proud of their creations and spent a while congratulating themselves on being "master chefs." Then they spent a little while fantasizing about all the things they plan to cook next "I'm going to bake the bread tomorrow morning" "I'm going to put the peanut butter on the sandwiches" "I'm going to do the jelly!" Next they fantasized about turning our house into a restaurant "We can call it pumpkin halloween house restaurant!" "We can invite our friends to eat at our restaurant!" "We'll need decorations!" Finally they picked at the crust on their pot pies...then they asked to be excused. *sigh*
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Big-Bug Starts Kindergarten!
Big-Bug decided he wanted to ride the school bus to school this year (eek!) so on his first day of school all five of us went out to the bus stop to wait for the bus to arrive. It showed up right on time and Big-Bug didn't hesitate for a second. He climbed right up the steps of the bus, found a seat, sat down and started waving to us from the window. The rest of us hopped into the car and drove up to the school to meet the bus so we could make sure Big-Bug found his way from the bus parking to the kindergarten classroom without any confusion. When we arrived, we found out the school has a great method for keeping track of it's students and all the kids who ride the bus go straight into the gym each morning where they line up by grade and are then released one line at a time into the hallway of the school. We intercepted Big-Bug when he got off the bus to explain this new info to him and he changed direction and headed straight into the gym. With a little assistance from the gym teacher, he found the kindergarten line (as I watched through the window) and sat down next to the other children. We left at that point and as we all walked back to the car my husband told me "It's alright for you to cry, just don't go over the top okay?" ha ha When he said that to me I paused for a moment to think about it, did I feel sad? Not really! I was going to miss Big-Bug for sure, but more than anything I was looking forward to hearing about his day when I picked him up from school....only two and a half hours later :)
When the time came, we pulled up to the school with Big-Bug's favorite treat, a vanilla steamer from Starbucks, and waited for the teachers to bring their students out front. When they walked out, Big-Bug was grinning from ear to ear and barely even noticed I had a steamer for him because he was so busy telling me about the picture he painted, the story they read, and the sparkly playdoh he got to play with in class. But he was the most excited to tell me "Mom, I can READ!!"
The only negative piece of news he reported was he did NOT enjoy lining up in the gym with the students who ride the bus. Apparently the teacher in the gym blew a whistle when it was time for the students to be dismissed and Big-Bug thought it was way too loud. He said it scared him and hurt his ears and he no longer wants to ride the bus if it means sitting in the gym each morning. I was a little surprised he would let a little whistle keep him from the awesomeness of the bus ride (which he LOVED) but he was very insistent. So from now on we are dropping him off in the mornings so he can line up with the kids who get a ride from their parents in the front of the school (under the supervision of a teacher who told me she NEVER blows her whistle because she thinks it is too loud)
Today when we picked Big-Bug up from his second day he told us he got to read books with a "bigger kid," ran into some of his preschool friends at recess (where they apparently played "ninjas") and that tomorrow they are going to work their letter sounds again. I think it is going to be a fun year :)
Friday, September 9, 2011
Bring it on Fall!!
September is here, it's back to school for Big-Bug (his first "real year" of school and he is SO excited for kindergarten!) and it's state fair time in the northwest! The Bugs and I joined a good friend of ours and her two little boys at the fair last week and oh man did we have fun!! We started our trip with a European-style circus show with trapeze artists, gymnasts, acrobats, jugglers, clowns, contortionists and musicians. It was absolutely amazing and so impressive to think about the amount of dedication and self-discipline the performers must have to reach that level of skill-mastery. The kids were really into the flashier performances, but their interest waned a bit when the more delicate, slow acts were on the stage. They were boarder-line too young to appreciate how awesome it truly was! I, on the other hand was completely in love with the whole event! Something about the combination of the music, the choreography was so magical! When the music started and the show began I actually felt myself tear up - I definitely want to see more circus shows! My husband promised to take me to see Cirque du Soleil when we got to Vegas (whenever that may be! haha)
After the circus show we spent the rest of our day viewing animals, riding ponies and carnival rides, sliding down big slides, riding a barrel train, eating ice cream, holding a python and walking through a petting zoo. It was a great time!
That same week we took a camping trip with my whole extended-family on my mom's side. It's an annual tradition and always a ton of fun. Since Baby-Bug has been having a really hard time sleeping away from home lately, we decided we would all enjoy ourselves more if we only stayed one night at this year's camp trip. Thankfully the camp ground is only about 2 hours away, so it's not too bad to go up one day and down the next. On this trip Big-Bug and Middle-Bug discovered they can swim unassisted in a pool with their life jackets on (prior to this realization they used to cling to my husband and me like little monkeys!) Once they experienced the glory of "real" swimming, there was no getting them out of the pool! While we were camping we also enjoyed a lot of great conversation with the family, a nice camp fire and the kiddos even had some toasty s'mores! Maybe next year we will be able to stay all three nights :)
Since we've been back from camping we have enjoyed a breakfast pajama potluck with some friends from our playgroup and I hosted my monthly book club meeting that same night. It was a long, busy day- but so much fun! We also took Big-Bug for his classroom open-house and had the chance to meet his kindergarten teacher. While we were there, countless older students popped into the room just to say "hi" to their old kindergarten teacher. I LOVED seeing this, obviously this is a woman who is well liked by her students and it reassures me that Big-Bug will have a great year at school.
Today we attended another great play-date with our fantastic playgroup, a Teddy Bear Picnic at one of the local parks. We have done this in years past and it is always so cute to see all the little kids with their favorite stuffed animals :) Today was no exception and as an added bonus, a lot of the snack items were adorable too! There were Teddy Grahams, biscuits shaped like teddy bear faces with sesame seed fur and raisin eyes and smiles and great big ginger bread teddy bears with icing details (very impressive!)
We are forecasted to have temperatures in the upper 90's this weekend (maybe even breaking 100!) so it looks like we are getting a last-blast of summer weather. BUT....starbucks already launched the pumpkin spice latte....so I say: Bring it on Fall!!
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| The kiddos loved these goats! |
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| Ready for dinner! |
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| yummy over-night breakfast casserole! |
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| Tea Party Table set for a themed book club meeting :) |
Today we attended another great play-date with our fantastic playgroup, a Teddy Bear Picnic at one of the local parks. We have done this in years past and it is always so cute to see all the little kids with their favorite stuffed animals :) Today was no exception and as an added bonus, a lot of the snack items were adorable too! There were Teddy Grahams, biscuits shaped like teddy bear faces with sesame seed fur and raisin eyes and smiles and great big ginger bread teddy bears with icing details (very impressive!)
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| Favorite Teddies (and animals of other varieties!) |
Friday, August 26, 2011
Life is Never Dull.
I take it back. Any time I ever complained about being bored, I deeply regret it now. Just in this summer alone we have had a broken arm, a knocked out tooth, a hotel lock-out, a play-pen escapee and a tsunami alarm on the beach. Tonight we add to the list - a destroyed crib! Baby-Bug is definitely more physically adventurous than either of his brothers were at this age. Big-Bug was the only kiddo when he was going on two, so he was having to figure everything out on his own. Middle-Bug was (and is) just the type of personality that would rather snuggle and give hugs than run around and climb things - although he has still had more than his share of bumps and bruises! Baby-Bug though, he has TWO big brothers to keep up with and he takes that job very seriously. He started climbing the ladder on his brothers' bunk bed before his first birthday (which prompted us to un-stack the bunk beds pretty quickly!) He is fearless on a play structure, we have to stack our kitchen chairs when they are not in use to keep him from climbing up onto the table and I routinely find him standing on the back of the sofa (eek!)
Tonight my husband is at a baseball game, so I was looking forward to having the house to myself (a rare occurrence.) I made homemade pizza for the kiddos, gave them a bath, brushed their teeth, read them each a story and tucked them into bed. All three boys were being so good and we really had a pleasant night together. After I had said goodnight, I fixed myself an iced coffee with almond milk, popped in a movie and got ready to settle in and fold some laundry. I could hear a little giggling coming from the bedroom, but it was pretty quiet. Then Big-Bug hollered out "Uh oh mom, I have some BAD NEWS!" I hurried down the hall to see what was wrong and found one of the crib bars of Baby-Bug's crib split in two! According to his brothers he was kicking at his crib with his feet and yanking on the bars with his arms at the same time. Apparently this is an effective method of escaping! Obviously I was not about to leave him sleeping next to the crib bar-turned-spear tip so I set about converting his crib into a toddler bed (thankfully he broke a bar on the removable side of the crib!) Naturally - this transition is not going well. It has been almost two hours since I put the kids to bed and all three are still awake. Baby-Bug won't stay in his bed, he is REALLY enjoying his new freedom. I had to put a baby gate in the bedroom doorway so I can sleep tonight (Baby-Bug also knows how to unlock and open the front door!) and the gate is doing a pretty good job of containing the chaos. There is however, a small pile of stuffed animals accumulating in the hallway outside their bedroom. Poor Big-Bug is trying hard to sleep in a room with his mini-tornado baby brother, but I had to pull Middle-Bug out and put him to sleep in our bed because he was encouraging Baby-Bugs antics a little too enthusiastically.
I'm not sure where we are going to go from here now. Obviously Baby-Bug can not remain un-contained in a bedroom with his big brothers. So it's either a new crib (which we probably only use for 4-6 months tops) or it's a re-shuffling of bedrooms......we shall see. We are a family of five in a three bedroom house, so someone has to share no matter what. Lately I have been extremely tempted to just get a murphy bed for the living room and give up our bedroom to the kids. We hardly use our room anyway, we only go in there to retrieve clothing or sleep, so it wouldn't make that big of an impact. The only issue would be storage...oh, and getting my husband on board haha
Tonight my husband is at a baseball game, so I was looking forward to having the house to myself (a rare occurrence.) I made homemade pizza for the kiddos, gave them a bath, brushed their teeth, read them each a story and tucked them into bed. All three boys were being so good and we really had a pleasant night together. After I had said goodnight, I fixed myself an iced coffee with almond milk, popped in a movie and got ready to settle in and fold some laundry. I could hear a little giggling coming from the bedroom, but it was pretty quiet. Then Big-Bug hollered out "Uh oh mom, I have some BAD NEWS!" I hurried down the hall to see what was wrong and found one of the crib bars of Baby-Bug's crib split in two! According to his brothers he was kicking at his crib with his feet and yanking on the bars with his arms at the same time. Apparently this is an effective method of escaping! Obviously I was not about to leave him sleeping next to the crib bar-turned-spear tip so I set about converting his crib into a toddler bed (thankfully he broke a bar on the removable side of the crib!) Naturally - this transition is not going well. It has been almost two hours since I put the kids to bed and all three are still awake. Baby-Bug won't stay in his bed, he is REALLY enjoying his new freedom. I had to put a baby gate in the bedroom doorway so I can sleep tonight (Baby-Bug also knows how to unlock and open the front door!) and the gate is doing a pretty good job of containing the chaos. There is however, a small pile of stuffed animals accumulating in the hallway outside their bedroom. Poor Big-Bug is trying hard to sleep in a room with his mini-tornado baby brother, but I had to pull Middle-Bug out and put him to sleep in our bed because he was encouraging Baby-Bugs antics a little too enthusiastically.
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| The Carnage |
I'm not sure where we are going to go from here now. Obviously Baby-Bug can not remain un-contained in a bedroom with his big brothers. So it's either a new crib (which we probably only use for 4-6 months tops) or it's a re-shuffling of bedrooms......we shall see. We are a family of five in a three bedroom house, so someone has to share no matter what. Lately I have been extremely tempted to just get a murphy bed for the living room and give up our bedroom to the kids. We hardly use our room anyway, we only go in there to retrieve clothing or sleep, so it wouldn't make that big of an impact. The only issue would be storage...oh, and getting my husband on board haha
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Reading with Baby-Bug
This afternoon Baby-Bug carried a board book out to me and wanted to read together. This particular book doesn't have any words, it just has a collection of related, brightly-colored photos on each page. When I "read" this book with one of the boys, I typically just point to each picture and say the name of the object. Today when Baby-Bug handed the book to me, he pointed to one of the small pictures on the cover and said "shoes!" This is the first time he has ever said the word "shoes" and he definitely knew what he was saying. I decided to mix things up this time as we read the book, and instead of pointing to the objects and saying their name, I would ask Baby-Bug to point to a particular object on each page. We made it through the book and by the end I was amazed at his comprehension! He could point out shoes, pants, a shirt, a car, books, teddy bears, a stroller, cup, spoon and fork, an apple, banana, ball, a nose, a mouth, a hand, strawberries, a dog, a fish, a hat, rain boots, a tricycle, a crib (which he called "nigh-night") and a boat. When he pointed to the boat he even sang "yo-ho yo-ho!" haha. Obviously a lot of these objects are things he interacts with on a daily basis, so it makes sense that he has been exposed to those words, but I was really surprised he knew all the names for those objects because they aren't words he speaks (yet.) He was pretty pleased with himself!
The other boys enjoyed some reading today as well. We had a stop at a book store earlier so I could pick up the next four books in a series I am currently reading and I let Big-Bug and Middle-Bug each pick a new book as well. Instead of books though, the boys decided on comic books! This is a first for us :) Big-Bug picked a Star Wars Clone Wars comic (which was pretty neat, even included pages with mechanical specs on some of the fighter planes - Big-Bug was way into that!) and Middle-Bug picked an X-men comic book that also featured a guest appearance from Spiderman! I had to censor out a word a couple of times, but it was a pretty neat story and the kids ate it up! I have a feeling there will be more comics in our future...
The other boys enjoyed some reading today as well. We had a stop at a book store earlier so I could pick up the next four books in a series I am currently reading and I let Big-Bug and Middle-Bug each pick a new book as well. Instead of books though, the boys decided on comic books! This is a first for us :) Big-Bug picked a Star Wars Clone Wars comic (which was pretty neat, even included pages with mechanical specs on some of the fighter planes - Big-Bug was way into that!) and Middle-Bug picked an X-men comic book that also featured a guest appearance from Spiderman! I had to censor out a word a couple of times, but it was a pretty neat story and the kids ate it up! I have a feeling there will be more comics in our future...