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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Picture for Grandma.
Okay, guys. We're going to take a picture for G-Ma.
Cub, sweetie, you look constipated. Naomi, don't stick your tongue out.
No, you aren't really constipated, I just said you LOOK constipated. In a loving way. Naomi, TONGUE.
Hahaha constipated that's funny. Naomi, please don't scoot down.
GUYS. FOCUS.
Naomi. LOOK AT THE CAMERA.
THAT'LL WORK *click*.
Aaaaand, done.
Have a lovely day.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Bye, Bye, Paci.
So, last week we took away Nomi's paci and a sweet friend of mine asked if I could write about how it all went down, so, here you go!
Firstly, let me say that Naomi is our first paci baby. Cub sucked his thumb from one month old and stopped several months ago when his sleepy toy, Nigh-Nigh, was left at my parents' house and we realized he wouldn't suck his thumb if Nigh-Nigh wasn't around. So, as far as we know, he stopped. And Nigh-Nigh is now stashed on the top shelf of our coat closet, unbeknownst to Cub.
DON'T TELL.
We realized Naomi was going to be a pacifier baby from pretty early on. She had no interest in her fingers but boy, she loved that paci. Let me go ahead and say that people have very strong opinions when it comes to the objects on which your babies choose to suck. When Cub was a thumb sucker, we got several eye rolls and glares and comments about how his teeth would be ruined and his thumb would fall off (not really that, but, you get the idea). When Nomi took a paci, people bemoaned how they would have to hunt around for pacifiers in their baby's crib in the middle of the night to get them to be quiet.
And all of the comments led me to conclude that my kids would be just fine.
So, take heart, I've had a thumb-sucker and a paci baby and look! We're all okay here.
Naomi was mostly allowed to have her paci during sleepy times and in the car. Around Christmas, before Lydia was born, we took the paci away in the car. She wasn't too happy about it at first but we simply told her the paci was at home and that was that. She was grumpy for a few days, but got over it and learned how to be quiet and content without it (the purpose for which she had it in the first place).
As for taking it away during sleepy times, the thought hit me a few weeks ago that our little Nomi was on the brink of several transitions: Taking away the paci, moving to a big girl bed, and, eventually, potty training. She's turning two next month as well, and I just had a feeling in my gut that it was time to get going and start making some of these transitions happen. So, I hunkered down to her level and our conversation went something like this:
Me: "Naomi! Did you know pacis are for babies and that big girls don't use pacis?"
Naomi: "No."
Me: "Well, it's true! Do you want to be a baby and use a paci or do you want to be a BIG GIRL and only sleep with your BLANKET?"
Naomi: "I want to be a baby."
Also known as: I SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOUR PLAN, MOM.
So, I smiled, got up, took her paci, grabbed some scissors, clipped off the end of the rubber tip, and casually handed it back to her. She put it in her mouth and immediately looked up at me with the most confused look. Clipping the tip made the sucking part impossible, so that in order for it to stay in her mouth, she had to just bite down and hold it in there. Which, therefore, makes the paci LAME.
I kissed her head, put her to bed, and closed the door.
I gave her the broken paci again at nap time the next day and she stared at it as I again closed the door, sweetly saying, "Good night, big girl!"
And then the next night I just didn't give it to her. I broke up her bedtime routine a little and just kind of casually put her in bed, put some laundry away in her room, turned off her light, put Cub to bed, came back in and patted her head ... and then ran out the door and stood in the hallway, wincing and waiting for her to fuss. She didn't. She sang to herself and went to sleep. Several nights went by, actually, before she asked for her paci, which I thought was funny! It was like she suddenly realized it wasn't coming back, and we had one night of her crying when we put her to bed, saying, "PACI! PACI!" We held her and kissed her and put her back to bed, and she went to sleep. She hasn't asked for it since.
And ... that's kind of it.
In summation, I think the fact that she has a blanket she sleeps with helped in the transition. She still had something familiar to comfort her in the absence of her paci. And I think that doing transitions sooner than later is usually (not always, but usually) a good idea, because they aren't old enough to totally understand the entire concept of what is happening. She won't remember ever using her paci and that's probably a good thing. And, truly, I probably would have taken it away sooner, except that her new baby sister had a pacifier and it just didn't seem fair at the time to take hers away. Honestly, I'm not sure if it would have made much of a difference, but the addition of a new baby is a transition all its own, so I wanted to keep the changes to a minimum for a while.
We also moved her to her big girl bed last night and she did well.
So, I will end with this: You will get a lot of advice on when to do transitions with your kids. Just trust your gut. When Naomi was able to speak to me and show her will a little more (being disobedient or defiant), I knew she was a big girl and the paci needed to go. It was just a feeling I had. So, trust your gut above all else--no matter what books say, what a nursery worker says, what your neighbor says, what your family says, what your Mom's club says ... just make the move when you feel it's right. For us, that usually means the earlier the better, so they won't really remember them. And, repeat this in your head:
Transitions are always harder on Mom than they are on the kids.
They'll be fine.
Have a lovely day!
Firstly, let me say that Naomi is our first paci baby. Cub sucked his thumb from one month old and stopped several months ago when his sleepy toy, Nigh-Nigh, was left at my parents' house and we realized he wouldn't suck his thumb if Nigh-Nigh wasn't around. So, as far as we know, he stopped. And Nigh-Nigh is now stashed on the top shelf of our coat closet, unbeknownst to Cub.
DON'T TELL.
We realized Naomi was going to be a pacifier baby from pretty early on. She had no interest in her fingers but boy, she loved that paci. Let me go ahead and say that people have very strong opinions when it comes to the objects on which your babies choose to suck. When Cub was a thumb sucker, we got several eye rolls and glares and comments about how his teeth would be ruined and his thumb would fall off (not really that, but, you get the idea). When Nomi took a paci, people bemoaned how they would have to hunt around for pacifiers in their baby's crib in the middle of the night to get them to be quiet.
And all of the comments led me to conclude that my kids would be just fine.
So, take heart, I've had a thumb-sucker and a paci baby and look! We're all okay here.
Naomi was mostly allowed to have her paci during sleepy times and in the car. Around Christmas, before Lydia was born, we took the paci away in the car. She wasn't too happy about it at first but we simply told her the paci was at home and that was that. She was grumpy for a few days, but got over it and learned how to be quiet and content without it (the purpose for which she had it in the first place).
As for taking it away during sleepy times, the thought hit me a few weeks ago that our little Nomi was on the brink of several transitions: Taking away the paci, moving to a big girl bed, and, eventually, potty training. She's turning two next month as well, and I just had a feeling in my gut that it was time to get going and start making some of these transitions happen. So, I hunkered down to her level and our conversation went something like this:
Me: "Naomi! Did you know pacis are for babies and that big girls don't use pacis?"
Naomi: "No."
Me: "Well, it's true! Do you want to be a baby and use a paci or do you want to be a BIG GIRL and only sleep with your BLANKET?"
Naomi: "I want to be a baby."
Also known as: I SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOUR PLAN, MOM.
So, I smiled, got up, took her paci, grabbed some scissors, clipped off the end of the rubber tip, and casually handed it back to her. She put it in her mouth and immediately looked up at me with the most confused look. Clipping the tip made the sucking part impossible, so that in order for it to stay in her mouth, she had to just bite down and hold it in there. Which, therefore, makes the paci LAME.
I kissed her head, put her to bed, and closed the door.
I gave her the broken paci again at nap time the next day and she stared at it as I again closed the door, sweetly saying, "Good night, big girl!"
And then the next night I just didn't give it to her. I broke up her bedtime routine a little and just kind of casually put her in bed, put some laundry away in her room, turned off her light, put Cub to bed, came back in and patted her head ... and then ran out the door and stood in the hallway, wincing and waiting for her to fuss. She didn't. She sang to herself and went to sleep. Several nights went by, actually, before she asked for her paci, which I thought was funny! It was like she suddenly realized it wasn't coming back, and we had one night of her crying when we put her to bed, saying, "PACI! PACI!" We held her and kissed her and put her back to bed, and she went to sleep. She hasn't asked for it since.
And ... that's kind of it.
In summation, I think the fact that she has a blanket she sleeps with helped in the transition. She still had something familiar to comfort her in the absence of her paci. And I think that doing transitions sooner than later is usually (not always, but usually) a good idea, because they aren't old enough to totally understand the entire concept of what is happening. She won't remember ever using her paci and that's probably a good thing. And, truly, I probably would have taken it away sooner, except that her new baby sister had a pacifier and it just didn't seem fair at the time to take hers away. Honestly, I'm not sure if it would have made much of a difference, but the addition of a new baby is a transition all its own, so I wanted to keep the changes to a minimum for a while.
We also moved her to her big girl bed last night and she did well.
So, I will end with this: You will get a lot of advice on when to do transitions with your kids. Just trust your gut. When Naomi was able to speak to me and show her will a little more (being disobedient or defiant), I knew she was a big girl and the paci needed to go. It was just a feeling I had. So, trust your gut above all else--no matter what books say, what a nursery worker says, what your neighbor says, what your family says, what your Mom's club says ... just make the move when you feel it's right. For us, that usually means the earlier the better, so they won't really remember them. And, repeat this in your head:
Transitions are always harder on Mom than they are on the kids.
They'll be fine.
Have a lovely day!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Mom's Day Off.
This past weekend, I received one of the best birthday presents ever.
A day off.
My parents came into town early Saturday morning, swooped up the kids, and sent me out the door to enjoy a full kid-free day to do whatever I wanted. If you've read my blog for a while or if you know me in person, you know I enjoy my kids and that my love for them really goes without saying. But, I can't think of a Mom who wouldn't love just one day with her best friend to do the girly things that can be tricky with three towheads, well, in tow!
I hopped in my hubby's truck (I didn't even take the minivan!) and picked up my bestie. Our first stop? Starbucks, of course!
Only this time, instead of going through the drive-thru with kids' music blaring over the speakers and little birdies in the back asking for a "bite? bite? BITE?", we actually parked and went inside.
WENT INSIDE.
And enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and some breakfast. With no time schedule. We just ... ate. And talked. At our leisure. Lee-sher. Leh-sher.
We then got back in the truck with our drinks and headed to the closest city to go to the mall. We walked in and I got the first things on my list (I know, OF COURSE I came to the mall with a list ... but it was for fun girly things, like Aveda liquid gel and melon lip gloss from The Body Shop). We then ventured to Forever 21, the loud-music insanely-packed-with-(CHEAP)-clothes store, and began to immediately grab piles of clothes and try them on. We spent a good amount of time in there, before we both hit our walls and decided it was time for some nourishment.
Hallelujah, Cheesecake Factory.
Caramel chicken, Godiva cheesecake.
We felt much better after that.
Then, after pumping in the truck (let's be honest--with nursing babies, a Mom's Day Off can't be TRULY kid-free, ha ha!), we headed back to the mall to finish our girly list. We got threaded, and then got our makeup done at Sephora.
I have never in my life had my make-up done. It was great.
We finished up a few last shopping stops (which, for me, meant just a tad more caffeine ...)
...before heading back to town for a quick spray-tan, and then home.
It was glorious.
We had such a blast, doing all things girly, with just the two of us. I think it's safe to say we both felt rejuvenated at the end of it. Sometimes, in the midst of being a Mom and a Wife, it's nice to just spend a day as a Friend.
(One of my purchases. It tapers. New thing for me.)
Have a lovely weekend, friends!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Pacis, Running, and Twenties, Oh My!
I have some blog posts in the works, but none of them are complete, so here is a nice random (read: obnoxious) post about random things. Woot!
-We took Naomi's paci away last week. I firstly attempted to use reason with her, which would be to explain why we were doing it (babies use pacis! Not big girls!) but I quickly realized she'd rather just be a baby if that were the case. So, I just took it away. She fussed a few times before naps and one time before bed (she only had it during sleepy times) and then she was fine. Note: I am always more terrified of transitions than my children are.
-Am I allowed to end a sentence with "are"?
-I am trying new makeup called "Too Faced" from Sephora and I LOVE IT. Seeing how I am in my last year before turning 30, it's time to step up my makeup game. Meaning, I should maybe learn how to use it. So I did and you will see a post about that coming soon. I know you are giddy with anticipation. Ha ha.
-Speaking of turning 30, I turned 29 last Sunday. This prompted me to start a little bucket list for myself before I turn 30. Oddly enough, the prospect of turning 30 does not intimidate me. I'm kind of excited about it, actually. But, it might be fun to maximize this last year in my twenties.
-Because, really, my twenties have been busy. In my twenties, I ...
-got engaged
-graduated college
-got married
-traveled to some fun places
-worked for three years
-had a baby
-had another baby
-sold our house and bought another one
- and had yet another baby
Major moments, kind of in a nutshell. In this last year of my twenties, I would also like to:
-Run a half-marathon
That's the only thing on my list right now. It's kind of a huge thing, though, because I'm not a runner. But I'm going to try. I have an awesome support system, who I am trying to persuade to push me through the finish line in a wheelbarrow. So far, they are not convinced. :)
-My Little Big (Naomi) turns two next month. TWO. I am in denial.
-My Big Big (Cub) has screening for school next month. SCREENING. I'm in denial.
-My Little Little (Lydia) is starting to roll over. ROLL OVER. I'm in denial.
Lots of denial over here, folks! :)
That's all I've got. Hooray for lame mid-week posts! :)
Have a lovely Hump Day.
-We took Naomi's paci away last week. I firstly attempted to use reason with her, which would be to explain why we were doing it (babies use pacis! Not big girls!) but I quickly realized she'd rather just be a baby if that were the case. So, I just took it away. She fussed a few times before naps and one time before bed (she only had it during sleepy times) and then she was fine. Note: I am always more terrified of transitions than my children are.
-Am I allowed to end a sentence with "are"?
-I am trying new makeup called "Too Faced" from Sephora and I LOVE IT. Seeing how I am in my last year before turning 30, it's time to step up my makeup game. Meaning, I should maybe learn how to use it. So I did and you will see a post about that coming soon. I know you are giddy with anticipation. Ha ha.
-Speaking of turning 30, I turned 29 last Sunday. This prompted me to start a little bucket list for myself before I turn 30. Oddly enough, the prospect of turning 30 does not intimidate me. I'm kind of excited about it, actually. But, it might be fun to maximize this last year in my twenties.
-Because, really, my twenties have been busy. In my twenties, I ...
-got engaged
-graduated college
-got married
-traveled to some fun places
-worked for three years
-had a baby
-had another baby
-sold our house and bought another one
- and had yet another baby
Major moments, kind of in a nutshell. In this last year of my twenties, I would also like to:
-Run a half-marathon
That's the only thing on my list right now. It's kind of a huge thing, though, because I'm not a runner. But I'm going to try. I have an awesome support system, who I am trying to persuade to push me through the finish line in a wheelbarrow. So far, they are not convinced. :)
-My Little Big (Naomi) turns two next month. TWO. I am in denial.
-My Big Big (Cub) has screening for school next month. SCREENING. I'm in denial.
-My Little Little (Lydia) is starting to roll over. ROLL OVER. I'm in denial.
Lots of denial over here, folks! :)
That's all I've got. Hooray for lame mid-week posts! :)
Have a lovely Hump Day.
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