Saturday, August 31, 2013

King Crib Update!


Many have asked how the King Crib (double wide crib) is working out for Evan and Jaden (and for us!). For the most part, the boys have done great and seem to enjoy the big crib- as you see in the pictures, although they have a double-sized crib, they are often together on one side or the other.
 Typically, I’ve been told that it takes 3 nights to make a change with a kiddo; like with unswaddling, taking away a pacifier, etc. The king crib took more like 5 nights. I guess 3 nights times 2 kids = 6…….so 5 nights isn’t bad!
During those first nights they would ‘play’ for about 2 hours: jumping, racing, rolling, laughing. Then for the next 30-60 minutes they would whine and cry as they were over-tired. It was 11:00pm at this point when they (and we) would fall asleep.
We stuck it out and for the last month they’ve cut down playtime to about 45 minutes and typically they are asleep by 9:15pm.
The only issue we have had is that Evan is a night owl. Always has been! So he will jump and bounce and do tuck jumps on the mattress----all while Jaden is trying to sleep, or is sleeping. And you probably guessed it, this also means that Jaden is up earlier. But most of the time we get there soon enough to take Jaden out of the crib before he wakes up Evan.






This routine seems to be working for them.......for now! 

Friday, August 23, 2013

South Dakota Summer Fun!


Although it’s been a few weeks since our trip to S.D., I wanted to post some pictures of Evan and Jaden’s fun with family. After a quick stop to run around the car in Sioux Falls visiting Aunt Laurie, we finally arrived in Volga around 11pm. Since Evan only napped 5 minutes the whole day, they were both pretty tired and ready for bed.
Friday the boys helped out in the garden……clearly they had fun, and got a ‘little’ dirty. Who knew how much fun dirt could be!



 Aunt Rachel's Birthday!
 I got to go shopping with nephew Elliot- we had a great time in Downtown Brookings. Evan and Jaden loved spending time with Elliot, too.
Saturday we were up early in Watertown. Although the hills have not gotten any smaller, Laurie and I had a nice run-around-the-lake for the Kampeska Half Marathon. Pretty sure the only reason I registered is because I won a door prize last year: Free Registration for this year! We had great spectators! Mom and Dad, the boys, and Aunt Bondell saw us numerous times along the course. I felt bad for Jaden at mile two- after we ran by him for this first time, he realized it was us and started running after us- blanket in hand. Poor kiddo. After the third time, I think he started to get the run-on-by concept of the race. In the end, I won a watermelon for traveling the furthest for the race!



This post won’t be complete without pictures from the farm. Little Farmer Evan and Farmer Jaden ran right over to the tractor and took turns driving it to haul hay.

 They also got to see the cows. It was pretty amazing to me, to see how amazed they were to see cows. Evan waved to them all!
Grandma taught the boys to skip rocks at the lake. 

Taylor was also visiting her grandparents next door. She wasn't too sure about Evan and Jaden, but liked coming over to play with their toys. 
We had a wonderful trip visiting family and friends. 
However, once we got home, the boys thought all tractors were for riding......


Thursday, August 8, 2013

Jaden Being Jaden


I knew that Wednesday I had a busy day planned with mommy. She told us to go to sleep early on Tuesday night, but my big brother Evan kept wanting to stay up. In his defense, mom and dad are putting us to bed in this mini gymnasium. Evan thinks we should practice our floor routines, so I help him with his summersaults. He is trying to teach me to jump hard enough in order to get enough bounce and vault over the side of the crib. So we practice every night. He must think he needs more practice because he stays up about 45 minutes later than I do.
On Wednesday we got to sleep in and after mom dropped Evan off at day care, I got to play at Rosa Park. But guess who was there? All of my friends from the church nursery! It was so fun. I also got in some climbing practice. I just can’t let Evan be the only one to make it over those crib walls.












My friends even had story time in the park, and we got to eat popsicles. This was my first popsicle all to myself. I sat on the end and got my popsicle first---which meant I finished first. When I looked around, everyone else was still eating a popsicle, so I let mom know that I wanted to still be eating, too. Luckily, my buddy Mason shared his yogurt melts with me.

Then mom said we were going to school. I briefly panicked because I knew I hadn’t gotten my back-to-school haircut yet and I didn’t have school-clothes on. But as it turns out, I wasn’t the one actually going to school, we just stopped by mom’s office at school. I hadn’t been there in a while and now that I can run, I wanted to test out all of the halls and secret corners of Turner.
 









She talks about a Foods Lab- but I peaked in the window and couldn’t see any food, so I’m a little uncertain what she does for 6 hours in there on Wednesdays?
We had just enough time to shop. Mom didn’t have a single stroller, so she said I could walk in the store. I thought it best that she carry me. I mean it’s not like I weigh 30 pounds- I only weigh 27:)
Naptime in the mini gymnasium was no fun without Evan. I pitched a huge fit (and then smiled sweetly), so mom put me in a pac n play in the dark basement and I slept a long time. I even slept through a very noisy thunderstorm. Mom also read me a 'book'......but it was clearly not a book like my other ones that I throw around, I had to be really careful. Not sure why people are concerned about me learning my words- this nook book thing read the words to me!











Afterwards, I got my haircut. I did just as I was told and sat still. I heard the door ding as someone new walked in, and I wondered who that was? I turned quickly, just as the hairdresser was trimming around my ears. Oooops. By the look on moms face, I knew it was not good. They tried to even things out, but I had had enough. It was time to go. 


Even with my struggle at the end, they liked my Elmo shoes so much that they gave me a sucker anyway. I know mom said I shouldn’t have too many sweets, so I threw it in the garbage when we got home. I bet Evan ate the whole thing, but I like to follow the rules.


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Evan being Evan


I overheard Mom say that she planned to spend the whole day with me Monday---I was SO excited on Sunday night that I just couldn’t go to sleep. I had to tell Jaden the news, but he kept falling asleep in his crib. I threw all my stuffed animals on his head to try to keep him awake. Finally, I decided, I better climb over to his crib and wake him myself. I had done this one other time the night before, so I knew the ropes of this escape plan fairly well. 
Jaden greeted me and was excited to play a little bit longer……until mom heard us jumping. Reinforcements came and mom and dad started taking the front side off of Jaden’s crib- and we were free. Wow, would they really just let us roam around our room all night? I will never ever have to sleep again! Nope. After taking my crib apart as well, they pushed our cribs together and we have one giant king-sized crib. Oh did we have fun jumping, pushing, rolling, and wrestling for the next 2 hours! Jaden kept wanting to sleep, so I did my best to keep him awake.
 Finally, we both fell asleep. But since mom said I got to spend Monday with her, I didn’t want to miss a minute, so I got up at 5:30am. She said 6 hours of sleep was not enough for me- I guess kids my age typically need twice as much. Those kids are just missing out on half the playing time.

So can you believe, the first thing on moms list-to-do with me, was put me down for a nap? Ugh.
I finally got to see what this thing called story-hour was all about at Barnes and Nobel! A lady read four books to about 18 of us kids. A big copy of Green Eggs and Ham was the first book, and I could really relate to Sam-I-am. I often think I won’t like the food mom gives me in my high-chair, but she finally convinces me to try it. Most of the time I do like it, but then it’s too late as I’ve already thrown half of it on the floor. The next three books were regular sized and hard to see, so I ventured to bigger and better things like the stuffed animals!
I also found a book shaped like a digger with wheels on it! I love that book so much, and I thought mom may buy for me if I screamed loud enough when she put it back on the shelf. Doesn’t she know I just had to have that book in my collection? I thought maybe she couldn’t hear me, so I screamed louder. As she took me out of the store, she said something about life not being fair, and as Grandpa Al says, if I want fair go to Huron (Springfield for the Illinois readers!).
Mom and I had a picnic lunch, and I got to use the spoon with my yogurt just like mom. But I realized I could get just as much yogurt in my mouth at a time if I used my hands.











I was exhausted at naptime and took advantage of being King of the Cribs.
After naptime, mom decided last minute to stop and get my hair cut on the way to pick up Jaden. I was still half-asleep, so I just sat very still as I was told to do. The ladies kept telling me I was being so good, but clearly I was just following directions to get the cherry flavored sucker they were bribing me with.

I missed Jaden, so we made up for lost time in our big crib that evening and jumped around for about two hours. We also finally were able to reach the last canvas wall hanging. So we worked together to pick off all of those little animal stickers. I am sure Grandma will thank us for the empty canvas to work on her next project.