what a stinker.

Lately Jackson has been giving me a run for my money. I am trying really hard to be consistent in his punishments so that he knows that I mean business (this really is not one of my strengths). Anyway, one of his rules is that when we ask him to do something he doesn't say no to us (usually very rudely). If he does he has to go to his room which he hates to do. So now when we ask him to do something he doesn't want to he says "ni". I guess he is not saying no, although the meaning is the same. He is such a smart little stinker.

let's be honest for just a minute...

We are would like the world to believe that our children are the little saints that we are able to capture in the ONE Christmas card photo, but in all honesty, doesn't this more closely depict what our children are REALLY doing while we are getting photos taken??:)

Thanks Andrea for letting me capture your children how they REALLY are. It was refreshing.

just testing out my macro settings.

kinda trippy.

Preview

This one is for you, Robyn...

These things don't last long...

you know, all the cute things your kids do and say so I thought that as I wait for pics to upload I would share a few.



First, Jackson always says, "after later." Anytime he wants something and I tell him he can have it later he will say, "okay, I can have it after later."



Paige is still fairly new to solids and still has a pretty strong tongue thrust so every time I give her a bit of food she sticks her thumb right in her mouth, takes a few sucks and pulls it out. I think that is how she has figured out how to get it down. It is cute and messy!

a little friendly discussion...

So, here it is. I know there will be many differing and strong opionions on this subject. I will lay out the facts, and my opinions. Then I would love to hear what all of you think about the matter. Then I will tell you what decision I made.

I am a firm believer that all babies that are healthy can be trained to sleep through the night. By 14 weeks I think all babies can be sleeping at least 8 hours if not longer. Both of my babies were sleeping a good 12 hours by about 12-14 weeks. People say I am lucky to have great babies, but I also think it is because I teach my babies to sleep. I am not saying I am an amazing mother, I just follow a philosophy called "The Baby Whisperer" and it has been magic with getting my babies to sleep, eat and play on a schedule. It is my sanity. I can't function without a little predicatbility. That being said I have to say that I am really against the idea of letting a child "cry it out". I will let Paige cry for a few minutes until she finds her thumb and gets to sleep, but seriously, it kills me to listen to my babies cry.

So here is the situation: over a week ago P had the stomach flu--you know the whole throwing up, diarreah bit that no mother wants their little baby to have. Because she was sick she started waking in the night and I would feed her. I don't know if she was actually hungry or just needed comfort, but when my kids are sick I will give them what they want and need. So fast forward a week...P is healthy and still waking up one or two times a night. She wants to eat. Period. She wants her mommy and a boobie and nothing else. Is she hungry? Doubt it. Does she want comfort? Probably. I kept thinking it would pass, but it didn't. I was getting exhausted and cranky. Something had to be done. So I came up with a plan.

Yesterday with the time change P's routine was a little out of whack. That necessitated an extra feeding during the day. I figured that it was a perfect opportunity to get a few extra calories in her body and make sure she had enough to get her through the night. I also gave her two bowls of rice cereal.

7 pm came around and I fed and put the kids to bed. I am just about to settle down for a long winter's nap around 11pm (way too late) and what do I hear?? My sweet little P crying. I gave her a few minutes to see if she would settle down. She would and then a few minutes later she would start up again. Had it been 2 am I probably would have just gotten up and fed her, but it had only been 4 hours. She goes 4 hours during the day, most certainly she can go longer (much longer) than that at night. What to do?? D and I discussed this at length as we lied in bed not sleeping because P was crying. It wasn't a pained cry. It wasn't a hungry cry. It was a MAD cry. I knew that if I went in there it would reinforce that if she cries I come in, yet at the same time, I really don't want her to feel abandoned or whatever else. Honestly, it was killing me to hear her cry.

What would you do?

It is sad when this is a big life decision...

Okay, so it is Miss P's first Christmas. I have waited for the chance to dress a little girl up for Christmas my whole life and let me tell you, this has not been an easy decision. So, here are the candidates. D informed me that with all the money I have spent on shipping I could probably pay for the dress...

practicality...totally over rated.


Love this one, but here is the problem...it is silk and dry clean only...spitty baby + silk = a lot of dry cleaning.

So, I already got this green one (dress only--J is WAY too old for a little outfit like that). I thought that maybe it would be a nice simple dress. It was really ugly and kind of Walmarty looking...not that I have any problem with Walmart, but I would rather pay the Walmart price if that is the case.I love the idea of J and P totally coordinating...at least until J is Way too old for that to be cute anymore. I love the brown and blue. We will see how they look in person. (it would be the vest outfit for J and little dress for P)This was my first idea. I think it is really pretty, but I am not IN LOVE with it. It is machine washable though. I guess it just doesn't look too Christmasy to me.


And, I found this today and I sort of think I am in love and it is machine washable...still I need to get it to see how it really looks.
I already have an outfit for J picked out if I don't go with the brown outfits. It is a cute sweater vest, trouser outfit from Gymboree with, of course, the cute hat for picture purposes.

silly j

ole?

halloween pumpkins

my long lost daughter

isn't she a pretty one? j came upstairs and said, "hi mom, I'm you." too cute.

Happy Halloween

Thanks Grandma Dee for the great costumes!

Little Indian Princess Wow. His smile is definitely one of a kind. It cracks me up!

That's more like it.
I made D put on this get-up. When he came downstairs I think I laughed for a good five minutes. I look hot with long black braids.

from our tribe to yours....

luv those chubby cheeks

Just a picture of my little miss P.

carving the pumpkin part deux

Love that little face.

Okay, so D found patterns for pumpkins and set out to carve a witch . He wasn't too impressed with it, but as soon as J saw it he said, "cool witch." I will take a pic tonight and you can see if you can tell what it is. I carved a good old fashioned J lantern. Jackson wasn't much help in the carving process.

Carving the pumpkin part 1

Still hasn't figured out the whole smile bit.
Thanks Nana for my Skeletor pjs (too bad he doesn't even know who Skeletor is) "It's dark in there" (this is what he was actually saying when I shot this pic)

Drama anyone??

Our little thief.

So we went out on a family walk yesterday. We made it to Andrea's house when J started getting kind of rough with Paige. After a warning or two he wouldn't stop so I got him out of the stroller and told him he had to walk. He refused to so I said,"all right, we will miss you then." and we headed back towards our house. I thought it would be a short while before he started running after us crying, but no, he would just occasionally walk down the driveway to see where we were and then go back up. We made it back to the stop sign when D informed me that J had won the battle of wills...(we will just see when I make him go to bed early...hmph.) Anyway, we head back to get him when all of a sudden he comes walking down the street pulling the little decorative wagon that Andrea keeps by her door. You know, the one that is probobly an antique or something.

Douglas heads back to Andrea's door with him and as he is getting it situated J rings the doorbell.

Thanks for not being home.

Little stubborn stinker.

Mr. Chatterbox

Typical Conversation with J

J- "Where are we going Mama?"
M-"On a walk"
J-"What walk?"
M-"A walk around the neighborhood."
J-"What neighborhood?"
M-"This neighborhood."
J-"What this neighborhood?
M-"The one we are walking around."
J-"What walking around?"
M-"The walk we are on."
J-"What walk?"
M-"The walk where we are just quiet and look around."
J-"What walk where we are quiet?"

and you can extrapolate where the conversation goes from here....

here's j

it's a pony...

tail...does this look goofy or cute?? I hesitated to put a pony in because I thought it would rip her hair out, but she is doing a good job rubbing it out in her crib anyway so I figured why not.

p.s. Paige started puking today. Oh joy.

p.p.s. i threw one of J in there just so you realize that I love him too. I just have to fight him to take a picture and it's not worth it most of the time.

One more

Love my Paigie Girl