bedtime switch

Naomi and Hudson have switched role in the past few weeks when it comes to bedtime.  For a long time, Hudson often cried when he went to bed; not for long, but usually nightly we would hear him anywhere from 2 min - 20 min, which is when I would usually go intervene.  Now i am nursing him downstairs, getting his teeth brushed and otherwise ready for bed and then heading upstairs to read a book or two, rock, and sing you are my sunshine a few times.  I lay him on his tummy (as I always have) and he goes to sleep.  Even if he doesn't go right to sleep, he sits up and plays, talks, reads, and eventually lays down quietly.  It's been amazing!  Around the same time that Hudson has quieted down his nightly routine(August 2014) Naomi has reverted to crazy fits.  Historically, (since age 1) she has done pretty well at bedtime, especially in the last year.  We brush teeth, wash face, go potty, read, cuddle, hug, kiss, sing, make sure all necessary items are in bed with her (blankies, babies, water bottle, and toy of the day), say goodnight and leave.  She would sit in bed and read, or talk to herself, or play.  For the last few weeks we've been in quite a battle.  We do all the same prep, but now we've added fish kisses, back rubbing, multiple hugs and kisses, a bunch of fast small kisses in a row (all her), an overview of our day, a prep for tomorrow, multiple I love you's, and now a very strong bribe.  If you don't cry tonight, you can watch Peppa Pig tomorrow.  The bribe has worked, and actually did tonight (!), but it's not perfect.  It's a long time for a 3 yr old to wait to watch a TV show, but I'm hoping it only gets better as we proceed.


Update (10/2/14): Hudson has decided that since he goes down easily, that he should be waking up during the night.  We're on the 3rd night of him waking up throughout the night AND waking up Very early for the day (4am).  Last night he was up at 2am, 4am, 5am, 5:30am, and 6:15am.   Ouch.  I gave up.  Although he still nurses, I'm not sure there's enough milk for 5 feedings in a row...  I'm guessing he's about to take off on the walking front and never crawl again.  He has been doing much better, but still crawling more.  He's probably growing too since he eats like a maniac. / Naomi is still fighting bedtime. It's awful, but every once in awhile she gets to watch Peppa Pig!

Start recording life

I should have started recording life with children when they were born, but Naomi's 3rd birthday seems like a good time to start.

Hudson turned 1 just a few weeks ago! He's trying to walk and gets a few steps in. It's adorable how he looks up to make sure we are watching him! He's so proud of himself!

Naomi turned 3 last Sunday. We are celebrating tomorrow. Alaina and Danny got married last Saturday so her birthday party had to be delayed. Alaina had a small cake made for her and everyone at the wedding sang to her. She was beyond excited. Her eyes were huge and she flexed her arms out and bounced up and down. Kind of adorable. She loves the attention.

I was the maid of honor, Naomi was the flower girl, and Hudson was the ring bearer. I carried him and the rings!  Naomi was supposed to throw flowers ; and she did; one huge hand full on the side on the aisle. There was no sprinkling, just one hard throw down.

Tomorrow we will have 20+ people over for Naomi's Bubbles and Balloons Birthday Bash.  I hope it goes well! We will have a bubble lady here to play with the kids and make balloon animals. Must lots of fun bubble activities- bubble painting, bubble guns, bubble popping...

Dave has been traveling for almost 2 weeks straight, of course he comes home in-between trips and on weekends. He has 7 employees now and just keep getting bigger!

He was accidentally pushed into the pool at the wedding! This was very out of character for Dave but pretty entertaining! My mom broke her ankle at the wedding too. She was jumping over the ravine and everyone heard it crack. She had surgery on her shoulder just a couple days ago, so hopefully both her shoulder and ankle will heel!

10/2/14 -Update - The Birthday Party went well. Naomi cares more about the cake than about the theme or the event itself.  She does enjoy her friends, but really she'd be happy with cake.  It's me who wants to make an event out of it.  I was hoping for some cute pictures of Naomi in the small baby pool that I filled with homemade bubble, but because she doesn't like being messy, she wouldn't get in.  She barely played with the bubbles at all.  Oh well.  She enjoyed the cake!

Hudson played in the water during Naomi's party:

oh ya, and then we smashed her face into the cake!