Toddlers and cats

Once again, Dagger and Ben have shown me that toddlers and cats are practically the same.  Okay, maybe not the same, but more similar than you might think.

This past weekend I was doing laundry, as usual.  I had left the laundry basket down in the basement on the machine, but I was upstairs to get a new load.  Not wanting to walk up and down the stairs more than necessary (is it too early to blame the babies for that?), I simply grabbed the hamper and brought the whole thing downstairs.  Ben found the hamper (once the clothes were out of it), and started playing with it.  He put toys in, took them out.  It's the type of hamper that can compress down in size to save space, so he enjoyed pressing it down and watching it bounce back up.  (Incidentally, it is the hamper Meo and Omi got me when I went to college.  Look guys- something you invested wisely in!  I still have it!;) )

After playing around the hamper a little bit, Ben pulled it over to me and tapped it while lifting up his arms.  Yes, he wanted to be in the hamper.  Well, being the good mom that I am, I of course put my child right in there.  And he loved it.  He wanted to get in and out.  He brought toys in with him.  He sat and giggled at us.  It was the best toy ever for a bit.

I'm sorry they aren't the best pictures.  But Ben and I were both giggling, and he just doesn't hold still much anymore.

Well, Ben had his fun and we went about our evening.  After we put Ben to bed, the hamper was still sitting in the living room.  Dagger always comes down at night to hang out with us.  I saw her come down, but then didn't see her for a little bit.  Well it was easy to find her.  Yep, in the hamper, as happy as can be.

Dagger hung out in the basket for almost an hour.

I know some people think getting a pet isn't real practice for having a kid.  It's true, they aren't the same thing.  But perhaps having a cat isn't always that different from having a toddler...

-Kim

Ben's big wheel

Our church put together a huge garage sale, and Omi was a big help in getting it off the ground.  So on Friday he took Ben and me over to check it out!  There was a ton of stuff, but we weren't actually looking to buy too much.  Pat and I are holding out a little longer on buying things for the babies.  As for Ben, well, Ben has a lot of toys.  He really doesn't need much.

We still had a lot of fun!  There was a whole room full of kids toys, and we let Ben just run around and play for a bit.  He was in heaven.  As I said, we weren't planning on buying him anything, but he became really attached to a big wheel there.  He pushed it all around the place.  When he couldn't push it (because I didn't want him running into anything with it) he made me carry it around.  He really fell in love with this thing.  It was funny, because he didn't want to sit on it, he just wanted to push it around.  Well obviously Omi couldn't let Ben walk out of there without that big wheel.  He got it for Ben, and Ben is so happy.

It is currently sitting in our living room, which won't last for too long.  I am a big believer in outdoor toys being outdoors.  He mainly likes to push it around, so I don't mind too much right now.  He does like to sit on it, and it working on figuring out the pedals!  I'm sure he'll pick up on it quick, then watch out!  I don't think I'll be able to keep up with him!

You can see him sitting on his awesome big wheel here.

Who's eating my dust?

Looking so grown up!

Watch out on the sidewalks, Ben will be coming through soon!

-Kim

BFBN Blog Week: Friday

Today is our last day blogging about the wonderful world of sleep.  (And as Ben is napping, and I wish I was napping, sleep does indeed seem wonderful right now:) ) I have really enjoyed learning and hearing from all the other ladies about the many aspects of sleep in children and infants.  What can I say, I really like sleep!

First up today is Elaine from Faithfully Infertile.  She is blogging about prioritizing sleep.  I know this whole week is about the importance of sleep, but she really drives home some good points.  It can be hard to plan around naps.  Real life keeps happening despite having a baby.  But I personally think it is so worth making that sacrifice to build the framework for good sleep.  Check out what Elaine has to say on the subject.

Finally we have Claire at My Devising.  She is talking about dropping the morning nap.  I know I was not looking forward to this with Ben.  Since he comes to work with me, that morning nap time was important work time!  But Claire has some good points that dropping the nap means more freedom.  We are able to adjust our mornings as needed now.  We can run errands on the weekends, have more time to go on family outings, and participate in morning library programs.  True, it meant more time to fill up in the morning, but it worked out pretty well.  Ben was able to really get back to independent play time instead.  This is perfect for us, as I get a chance to get work done, and he gets valuable time playing himself.  Plus, he has the option to fall asleep during that time.  Ben has always needed a decent amount of sleep, so he sometimes needs a power nap during this time.  Claire goes step by step through how to handle dropping the morning nap and embracing the freedom that comes with it.

This is it for my first BFBN Blog week!  I am still so thankful to be a part of this great group of women.  I have learned a lot from all their posts and hope other people have too.  

More Ben pictures starting tomorrow!

-Kim

Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Tuesday: Shea at The Moses Home

Tuesday: Stephanie at Giving It Grace

Wednesday: Brooke at Apffel a Day

Wednesday: Kimberly at Team Cartwright

Thursday: Carrie at Wiley Adventures

Thursday: Emily at The Journey of Parenthood

Friday: Claire at My Devising

Friday: Elaine at Faithfully Infertile

BFBN Blog Week: Thursday

Thursday of sleep week!  We have two more great blogs to read today on sleep.  The first is from Carrie at Wiley Adventures.  She is talking about conquering the 45 minute nap.  I didn't get Ben into a really good schedule until about 5 months, so I don't remember if we dealt a ton with the 45 minute nap, or just rolled with it.  But I have read a lot about it and I like what Carrie has to say.  She has a great point about staying consistent.  I know when Ben had a hard time sleeping I would change something, and if it didn't work right away I would change something else.  That doesn't work!  The scientist in me knows to change one thing at a time so you know what is causing the effect you see!  I think the hardest thing can be giving a technique a real chance to work before jumping to the next idea.  Carrie has some great points in her post.

Today we also have Emily from Journey of Parenthood.  She has written out a really great post about infant sleep in general.  I know as a new mom I was surprised by how much sleep babies really need!  I mean, I knew they slept a lot, but it is really a lot!  (Ben rivaled Dagger for a while, and Dagger is a champion sleeper!)  I think one of the most helpful things I learned with Babywise is to have a wake time to start your day.  Emily talks about that as one of her first points.  Every day is not going to go according to plan with a baby, but the knowledge that at least each day will start the same gave me a lot of comfort.  It is hard to get too wildly off schedule when you always start at the same time, and it gave me a feeling of control that I really needed during a hectic time of life.  The rest of the post is full of great tips, and I know I'll be referring back to it when the twins are here!

One more day of sleep tips tomorrow!  I know I am loving having all this helpful info and will be going back over it in the coming months.  Then after this week we return to the regular Ben hi-jinks that fill up the blog most of the time.  :)

-Kim

Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Tuesday: Shea at The Moses Home

Tuesday: Stephanie at Giving It Grace

Wednesday: Brooke at Apffel a Day

Wednesday: Kimberly at Team Cartwright

Thursday: Carrie at Wiley Adventures

Thursday: Emily at The Journey of Parenthood

Friday: Claire at My Devising

Friday: Elaine at Faithfully Infertile

BFBN Week: Maintaining sleep schedules on vacation

I am one of those annoying mothers that insists on keeping up a schedule when on vacation.  I know, this is frustrating to a lot of people.  I understand it means limiting activities at times, but trust me, it is worth it. Here is a list of reason why I insist on a schedule, even on vacation.

1) Children's sleep needs don't change on vacation.  This is sad but true.  I wish my son suddenly could go without a nap for a week every once in a while so we could get out and have a lot of fun.  But this isn't the case.  Just because we are doing something different, it doesn't mean he can skip important hours of rest.  If anything it means he needs more rest!  We are in a new, exciting situation.  There is more stimulation and less down time.  Kids need sleep just as much if not more during these times.  Busier days and more activities up the need for sleep, so I make sure my son gets it.

2)  Sleep helps attitude.  Think about it, when you are tired out, you get cranky, even on vacation.  The same thing applies to kids.  Often on vacation we are eating new foods, going new places, trying new things.  This can be scary and stressful to little kids.  Being well rested helps us combat that.  It is way easier to deal with a potentially scary situation with a full sleep tank.  I have found one of the biggest reason my son has tantrums is that he is tired.  By getting enough sleep we can try to avoid this.

3)  It's vacation for Mom and Dad too.  This might sound harsh, but it's true!  Yes, I want to make sure my son has a great time on vacation.  And yes, I know that when you become a parent you sacrifice certain things.  But parents matter too.  We are allowed to have a nice vacation as well.  Our vacations pretty much consist of going to visit family.  Lucky for us, we really like our family.  Having Ben nap and get to bed on time means we get to actually sit down and visit with the people we don't get to see very often.  We have game nights, watch movies, and get to relax with people we care about, away from the to-do lists of home.  It also gives Pat and I a moment to reconnect, away from the normal grind.

Now, despite all these reasons I know vacation is a special time.  If there is a specific activity we want to do, or a special reason to stay up late, we adjust the schedule.  I'm not crazy, I know the point is to have fun and take a break from the regular routine.  I just also know what Ben can handle.  He still needs at least one nap a day.  He still needs a lot of nighttime sleep.  He needs morning quiet time at least once every couple of days.  Because of that, we plan to follow his routine most of the time.    We don't ignore his personal hygiene while on vacation, why would we ignore his sleep hygiene?  It just makes sense.

Be sure to check out all the other posts on sleep this week!

-Kim

Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Tuesday: Shea at The Moses Home

Tuesday: Stephanie at Giving It Grace

Wednesday: Brooke at Apffel a Day

Wednesday: Kimberly at Team Cartwright

Thursday: Carrie at Wiley Adventures

Thursday: Emily at The Journey of Parenthood

Friday: Claire at My Devising

Friday: Elaine at Faithfully Infertile

BFBN Week: Wednesday

Halfway through BFBN week on sleep!  Today there are two posters again.  Brooke at apffeladay is talking about not feeling guilty for scheduling sleep.  I think this is so important.  In the world today, moms receive so many messages about how basically we are doing everything wrong.  Sleep can be a hot button topic, but I don't think it should be.  We all need sleep, and there is nothing wrong with trying to give your child the best sleep they can  have.  Check out her blog to read a really great post.

The other poster is me!  I'll be talking about maintaining a sleep schedule while on vacation.  As we are traveling to visit family soon, this is an important one to me.

Be sure to check back tomorrow and Friday for more great posts on sleep.  And check out my post too!

-Kim

Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Tuesday: Shea at The Moses Home

Tuesday: Stephanie at Giving It Grace

Wednesday: Brooke at Apffel a Day

Wednesday: Kimberly at Team Cartwright

Thursday: Carrie at Wiley Adventures

Thursday: Emily at The Journey of Parenthood

Friday: Claire at My Devising

Friday: Elaine at Faithfully Infertile

BFBN Blog week: Tuesday

Today we have two posts on different aspects of sleep.  I love sleep.  I love when my baby sleeps.  And I know I will love when these new babies sleep.

Shea from The Moses Home is blogging about the importance of the first nap in the day.  I know I had a hard time with this with Ben for a bit.  Since we went to work every day, he kind of got a mini nap in the car, but not quite a full one.  It was important that I spend some time really working to give him a chance to get the sleep he needs.  I'll be re-reading this one as the twins get closer to arriving.  With two babies and a toddler, I will be on a sleep mission!

The second poster is Stephanie from Giving it Grace.  She's blogging about the importance of having a sleep routine.  This is something we have been doing with Ben forever.  And I have to say, it doesn't have to be a long involved routine!  Sure, most nights we have a little fun and take our time.  But if we need to we can shorten it way down by just hitting the key points.  I think it really helps Ben transition to sleep time and know we are serious about it being time to sleep.  Stephanie gives some great ideas for starting a routine.

I hope these posts help some people out.  Sleep is so important, yet it is so easy to not prioritize it.  Tomorrow I'll be highlighting another post, and I will have my own on keeping a sleep routine while on vacation.  Hooray Sleep!

-Kim

Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Tuesday: Shea at The Moses Home

Tuesday: Stephanie at Giving It Grace

Wednesday: Brooke at Apffel a Day

Wednesday: Kimberly at Team Cartwright

Thursday: Carrie at Wiley Adventures

Thursday: Emily at The Journey of Parenthood

Friday: Claire at My Devising

Friday: Elaine at Faithfully Infertile

BFBN Blog week: Monday

It's another BFBN post!  This week the whole group is dedicated to sharing each others tips on sleep.  I know I value my own sleep.  (Don't we all?)  And I think Ben's sleep is super important.  I am looking forward to reading what everyone has to say on what can seem like such a simple topic.  But when we don't have sleep, everything else is life gets harder.

All week I'll be highlighting different posts for you to check out.

Today Valerie is posting at http://www.babywisemom.com/ about how an emphasis on sleep extends beyond the baby years.  She has some really good points about how good sleep effects us all, no matter how old we are.

Check out her blog for some good information, and check back all week for more links to post from these lovely ladies.

Monday: Valerie at Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Tuesday: Shea at The Moses Home

Tuesday: Stephanie at Giving It Grace

Wednesday: Brooke at Apffel a Day

Wednesday: Kimberly at Team Cartwright

Thursday: Carrie at Wiley Adventures

Thursday: Emily at The Journey of Parenthood

Friday: Claire at My Devising

Friday: Elaine at Faithfully Infertile

-Kim

I wish

I was this cool.  I love that he wears his sunglasses now.

Looking good, Ben!

-Kim

Fun Mom

Last week, there were a couple of evenings where Pat had to tutor all evening.  That left Ben and me on our own.  The weather was lovely, and we had some time.  So I decided to take a spur of the moment visit to the river to hang out after work.  We didn't have a ton of time to spend before getting home for dinner.  But it was a nice little outing where Ben and I got to hang out and have some fun.  It wasn't anything thrilling.  We just walked around by the river and basically threw rocks into the water.  But Ben seemed really happy with our midweek field trip, and I was happy seeing him have fun.  

Every once in a while I'm a fun mom. ;)

So many rocks to throw!

Pick a good one :)

Such a cutie!

My sweet boy!

I love fun bonding moments with my little man.  It's great to get to do things outside of our normal routine.  I know the time will come when Ben doesn't want to hang out with his mommy, so I am enjoying every chance we get!

-Kim

Eating cherries with Daddy

Ben adores fruit.  This past weekend he learned the fine art of eating cherries from Pat.  Pat was eating them, and Ben wanted to sit and have some too.  So the two of them shared a sweet moment of enjoying some cherries.

Step 1- Pull off the stem.

Step 2- Pull out the seed

Step 3- Eat!

Yummy!

It was such a sweet, simple moment.  It is a joy to be your mom, Ben!

-Kim

Lazy parents kiddie pool

This past weekend was a busy one.  On the 4th we celebrated with Meo and Omi, plus some of their friends.  That was also the day we announced the babies to them and most of the family.  Sunday, after all the excitement, we were kind of tired and just laying low.  We knew Ben was wanting to play outside, but the thought of getting out his pool and filling it up with water was just too much.  Instead, we thought we would pull out the hose.  He likes that.  We also have a big bucket.  So what did we do?  Filled up the bucket and let Ben go to town.  Yep- the lazy parents kiddie pool.

Fortunately for us- Ben loved it.  He enjoyed running around the yard and getting all wet.  The only downside was that since he wasn't just in a pool, he got pieces of grass on his feet.  Well, anyone with a toddler knows this can be tragic.  Luckily he didn't let it get him down too much.

It went over pretty well.  This weekend we are hoping to take Ben to the real pool, but it is nice to know he is still happy with the simple version.  After the water play and a nap, we did Ben's Big Brother photo shoot.  He is such a cutie!

This kid had a fun day!

-Kim

Big News

He's been Batman, Superman, and Captain America.  This February, Ben takes on his biggest mission yet- Big Brother!

We have already announced on Facebook, but now it is blog confirmed, Ben is becoming a big brother!  And not just to one little sibling, but two!  Yes, we were very surprised to learn late last week that it appears that we are expecting twins.  We did not see that coming, but luckily for us we have Aunt Lindsay to guide us through preparing for twins.  I am so grateful that we have our own expert in the family.  Thank you in advance for all your wisdom, Aunt Lindsay!

We are very excited for this new addition to our family.  The new little ones are due in early February.  There will be a lot of big changes around here to get ready, but we are excited for the challenges ahead.  Despite what I think is the normal freaking out over the idea of two babies at once, we are embracing the excitement and joy that two babies will bring.  I am sure they will bring more happiness and love than we can imagine now.

I think Ben is going to be an amazing big brother, and I am so excited to be going on this journey with him.  You are wonderful, Ben!

-Kim

Bigger little pool

Last year Gramma and Grampa got Ben a pool to swim at home.  This year we finally got around to setting it up.  And yes of course, Ben loved it.  We are only pulling it out when we can use it both weekend days.  The thing is quite big and takes a lot of water to fill up.  This means it is a lot of water to dump out to put away.  But Ben had a blast.  He gets in and doesn't want to get out.  He doesn't want to just play alone, he keeps pointing at Pat and me until we get in the pool too.  

I managed to get some pictures when Pat was in with him.  I don't trust myself to have the camera too close to the water.  Get used to these swimming pictures, I'll be taking them every weekend for the foreseeable future. :)

-Kim