Tuesday, October 21, 2014

FIRST TOOTH {OSCAR DEAN}


He cut his first tooth on October 18th. (bottom right - in the middle)
I love how he just wants to be close to me. When I sit by him on the floor he grins, grabs on to whatever he can and gives big, slobbery, open-mouthed kisses. 
His hair is getting longer and he rubs his head when I nurse him.
He's getting pretty good at sitting. 
I've started to sleep train him (if you can call it that). Instead of rocking/feeding him to sleep, I lay him down before he's totally sleeping and tell him it's time to go night night. Cover him with a blanket, walk out the door and he fusses for a minute, sometimes less. It seems to be working. 
He loves peek-a-boo and "This Little Piggy". Sometimes he even "sings along" when you sing to him. 

10,000 HOURS

A theory by Malcolm Gladwell claims that it takes 10,000 hours at a task to become an expert. Donald has been busy putting in 10,000 hours of coding. :) I've been been pondering motherhood. A quick calculation figures that I've had about 44,000 hours at this task. Figure in all of the hours for each child and it's about 70,000. That's not very many compared to most mamas, but according to the theory, I should be an expert x's 7....or 4 depending on how you look at it. I'm not an expert. Not even close. I don't think I ever will be. 

Just yesterday, we were in town running some errands and I had told the girls before we left that we could go to the park if they behaved themselves. We hadn't even left the house and they were already acting like class A brats. It didn't look too good. The whole trip was pretty much the same and I gave them several warnings about not going to the park if they continued their horribly embarrassing behavior. We grabbed some lunch and then it was time to make a decision. I had told them that they needed to behave in order to get a trip to the park. They didn't behave. They really needed the fresh air and exercise but if I took them to the park, I wouldn't be standing true to what I told them before we left. My mistake was that I put stipulations on going to the park. I really wanted to take them to the park. I was torn.

In the end, we went straight home. 
Win for realizing my mistake. 
Win for being consistent. 
Win for the long naps both girls took.
Lose for not going to the park.
Sometimes the hardest choice is the best one. 

I'll never be an expert mama but I'll do my best to be a good one. :)

Friday, October 17, 2014

ALL OF HER DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE

I finally made her an Elsa dress. Her life is complete :)

PROBABLY THE FIRST OF MANY

We've been trying to work on Ava's obedience, respect and overall attitude. Let me tell you...sometimes it's an uphill battle. The latest was when I was trying to explain to her why not to do something and she said, "blah blah blah." I imagine there was steam coming out of my ears. Lucky for her, we were in the car and there wasn't really much I could do. There is one thing that will straighten her up almost immediately....soap. The squirt kind. I don't remember what she said but something flipped the switch and on a whim, I hauled her into the bathroom and gave her mouth a little washing. It was barely a drop, mind you, but it did the trick. She wrote this note to Donald after she hid the soap and told him not to tell. 

THERE ARE NO WORDS

OSCAR DEAN {6 MONTHS}


  • 22 lbs (95%)
  • 27 3/4  inches (90%)
  • head 17 3/4 inches (90%)
  • 12-18 month clothes
  • size 4 diapers but they're getting small
Oscar is starting to get up on all fours! He'll be crawling soon!
He can pretty much sit on his own but still topples over. :)
So much for sleeping through the night....
We moved him into his own bedroom. Maybe that will help.
He becoming attached to me. He cries with I leave the room or if I walk by him. 
Nursing is hilarious. If he's distracted his little head pops up and he looks all round. 
Loving his solids but having a hard time getting rid of them if you know what I mean. :)
He's close to cutting his first tooth on the bottom! Could be why he's fussy!
Went to his first convention: Texarkana, TX
He loves people. Loves to smile and giggle at anyone who will talk to him. 

Thursday, October 16, 2014

TEXARKANA & A VISIT FROM LARAE

LaRae came to see us! She brought the girls HUGE unicorns in her suitcase. She sure knew how to win them over! 
We decided to change things up a bit this year and go to Texarkana Convention. It was wonderful. We thought we would stay in a tent so that Donald could help me with the kids. We got there and started setting up and couldn't find the rain fly! Donald took the tent down and I was helping him pack it up....I looked in the car and there was the rain fly. Donald said that it was a sign and that he was done with tents. We packed it up and returned it. I ended up staying with LaRae and the kids in the nursery. It was a good thing. We had air conditioning and a roof over our heads when it poured on Friday night! It was Oscar's first convention. 
A thought from convention: "Little things don't stay little."
LaRae
Oscar turned 6 months.
Ava made fast friends.
Jaina loved the swings.
We drove out of our way to Arkansas just to say we'd been there. :)