How To Pitch A Fit

Yesterday Kathryn pitched a fit and for whatever reason I took a few pictures of her while she was fussing. I thought they were funny and cute and wanted to share them with everyone. One day when she complains about her little boy or girl (or twins!) pitching a fit, I'll show her these pictures to prove that every parent has to deal with tantrums at some point. And then, to make her realize it's not that bad, I'll show her a video of her, Owen and Sullivan all pitching a fit at the same time. Just kidding...kind of.

How to Pitch a Fit

Step 1
Decide that your upset or mad about something. For example, decide that you want to watch the Wiggles and then get really mad when your Mommy says "you can't honey, the DVD player is broken," even though you and your brother are the ones who broke it.



Step 2
Throw yourself backwards. This really gets the ball rolling.



Step 3
If you're on a piece of furniture, slide off of it and onto the floor. If you're already on the floor, just start rolling around and screaming.



Step 4
Now bring on the serious tears!



Step 5
Put on a pouty face and look as sad as possible. This is where you really need to make them feel sorry for you.



Step 6
If you haven't gotten the attention you were looking for, stand up and start whining softly and incessantly.



Step 7
"Wait...what was this all about?" Instantly forget your troubles once you find something special, like lip gloss.



She's cute even when she pitches a fit!

What's Up Doc?

Yesterday I took Kathryn and Owen to the doctor for their two year well-baby visits. Determined to hear the doctor during these visits, I did something new; I took them one at a time. My Mom is in town to help and it was wonderful to get to talk to the doctor about one baby, ask questions and actually hear the answers. I've taken all three babies to the doctor the last five or six times we've had to go and, while doable, it's not ideal. We discussed potty-training, tantrums, teething, verbal skills, motor skills, diet, thumb-sucking, exercise, and favorite activities; you name it, we discussed it. At their 18-month visit they were terrified of the doctor and screamed the entire time he examined them, but yesterday they didn't shed one tear. O and K were brave and totally cooperative - I was extremely proud of them. Both babies are doing great and their next well-baby visit will be at three years. Of course I'm sure we'll have to head back to the doc for something before then, but one well-baby visit a year from now on for my little twinkies? Crazy!

Owen at two years:
28 pounds - 50th percentile (he fell into the 25th percentile at 18 months)
35 inches long - 75th percentile (he fell into the 50th percentile at 18 months)
Owen experienced a growth spurt recently which explains why all of his pants look so short on him now.

Kathryn at two years:
32 pounds - 95th percentile for weight
36 inches long - 90th percentile for height
Kathryn is one tall girl! She's staying true to her growth pattern, but has also experienced a growth spurt in the last few months. Her pants and tops look much shorter on her now; maybe they'll last another month or two until it warms up!

Sarah v. Washing Machine

I'm proud of myself. I put a new pump on our washing machine today! Long story short, our old pump had a crack in it and was leaking. Bruce tried to put a sealant on it last weekend when he was here, but it didn't hold. He ordered the pump on Sunday and it got here today. I watched him disassemble and reassemble the washing machine before he left and he asked me if I would feel comfortable fixing it when the parts got here. It didn't look too hard, so I said "sure." The hardest part about the whole thing was getting the cover on and off. As you'll see in the pictures, a washing machine is pretty straight forward. There are a couple of hoses, a "tub," a pump, etc. Anyway, I'm running a load of laundry as we speak and I'm excited about that. We obviously need clean clothes, but the thought of hauling everyone to a laundry mat for a couple of hours just wore me out. Thanks Bruce for encouraging me to do this and for ordering the pump. Even when you're not here, you're taking care of us!

The cover/front of the washing machine is off. This is what the "inside" of a washing machine looks like.

The old pump - still connected to the hoses.

Old pump on the left, new pump on the right.

New pump on, hoses connected, clips reattached.

The cover is now back on. The back of the washing machine and the electrical panel is connected to the front/cover by those two little brass clips. That was the hardest part - trying to keep everything flush/aligned so I could pop those clips into place.

Ready to go! The top panel just folds over and clips into the cover.


While I was working on the washing machine, the image of Rosie the Riveter kept popping up in my head. So ladies, just remember...we can do it!

Sullivan's First Steps

This little angel took her first steps today! We are so proud of our little girl! I sat in the floor and held my arms out, encouraging Sullivan to go for it. She took three big steps, giggling and laughing the whole way, and then fell into my arms. Her smile said it all; she knew she had just done something very special. Way to go sweet Sullivan...I'll never forget today.

Playing in her brother and sister's cozy coupe for the first time.

She's saying "boo" in this picture.

I loved this one.

Our beautiful little baby.

It Worked!

The alarm clock idea worked! Owen did get up around midnight, but I walked him right back to bed and told him wait for the alarm to beep before getting out of bed again. Kathryn woke up at 5:30 and I went in and told her it wasn't time to get up yet and if she waited for the alarm to beep, she would get three m&m's. She fussed for another minute or so after I walked out, but then she went back to sleep. When the alarm went off at 6:20, I went in and got K out of her crib. She was saying "Buggy hear it...beep, beep!" Owen slept right through the alarm and came out on his own 10 minutes later. I made a big deal about them being such big boys and girls, high-fived each of them and passed out some m&m's. I know they each woke up once before it was technically time to get up, but we're getting there. It was nice to wake up before them and have a few minutes to have my coffee, feed Sullivan and get my head in the game. It's amazing what a little candy bribe can do!

Toddler Bed Update

On Saturday we turned Owen's bed into a toddler bed. We kicked around the idea of buying crib tents - tents that fit on top of the crib to keep little ones from jumping out. But the cheapest price we found was around $40; multiply that by two and that's $80 on something that may or may not do the trick. No thanks! Bruce and I decided that we would just convert Owen's crib. We held our breath as Kathryn asked to have her crib "fixed" too and breathed a collective sigh of relief when she seemed satisfied with the answer that only Owen's crib was "broken." We'll see how long that lasts. Now Owen's bed is the cool new hang out for all three kiddos - everyone loves to crawl in and out of his bed and throw his pillows, blankets and toys out.

In my opinion, he's done great! We have obviously never done this before, but I was expecting it to be more traumatic for him. When we put him down for his first nap in his new bed he slept 1 1/2 hours, which is about normal. The first night, he slept until 5:30 I think and then woke up screaming because he had somehow managed to get himself stuck UNDER his bed. I have no idea how he did that, but he did and Bruce had to pick the crib up to get him out. Last night he came to our room at 4:30, but didn't object when I walked him to his bed and tucked him in. He woke up again at 5:00 and Bruce walked him back and tucked him in again; after that, he slept until 6:45. To me, it seems like he just doesn't know what time it is, so tonight I plan on setting an alarm clock for him. I'll set it for 6:15 - about the time they both get up. I figure saying "wait for the alarm to beep before getting out of bed" may be easier for a two year old to understand than "don't get out of bed until morning." Each morning and after each nap he gets two m&m's for staying in his bed. Like I said, I think he's doing really well and we're super proud of our little man. Way to go Owie!

This was the best weekend! We loved having Bruce here and were sad to see him leave, but he'll be home soon. The kids were excited to see him walk through the door on Friday night and this was the first time they acted like they understood he had been gone for a while. As soon as he walked in, K started kissing him and tried to feed him some of her dinner. Owen took his dinner and went to sit right next to his Daddy at the big table. It was precious! Sullivan just stared at him for a few seconds and then gave him the biggest grin ever. Later that night she kept reaching for him and wanted him to hold her. No doubt about it...these kids missed their Daddy! And I missed him too! Things are just better with Bruce around.

Coming up...
This week we have O and K's two year well-baby visits and my Mom is coming this weekend. I've signed up for a 10k in March and I've been training for that. As a practice/warm-up race, I'm running in my first 5k in a couple of weeks. (It was something I was going to do during Bruce's second deployment, but once I found out I was pregnant, I thought it best to put that goal on hold.) I'm almost done planning Sullivan's first birthday party and we'll be heading to Huntsville in a few weeks to celebrate with the rest of the fam. Lots of fun stuff coming up, I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Check back soon!

Owen and all of his sleeping buddies.

Like I said, Owen's bed is the place to be now. Did you notice they're all holding hands?

So Far Today...

So far today I've swept, mopped, folded a load of laundry, made breakfast, cleaned up breakfast, made a snack, cleaned up snack, changed eight or nine diapers (three of them being dirty!), cleaned my counter tops, cleaned my coffee pot (it was long overdue), and unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher. I still need to dust, vacuum, clean our room, clean both bathrooms and make lunch. It's 11:30 and I need a nap! It really is true...a mother's work is never done. I always tell the babies that if they want to skip nap and let me take a nap while they clean, I'll be happy to trade roles for a couple of hours. They've yet to take me up on it.

This Week

Some weeks we hold steady around here and other weeks are weeks of big change. Well this is one of those weeks. For the last three mornings in a row Owen has climbed out of his crib; this morning at 6:15 he came and got in bed with me. He even went so far as to turn on the light in his room before he walked out which Kathryn just loved. Not. Since my husband isn't here, I was slightly alarmed to feel someone getting in the bed. Ha! Once I woke up enough to realize it was Owen, I thought "how sweet!" I think we're going to go ahead and make the move to toddler beds this weekend.

This is something Bruce and I have gone back and forth on for several months now. (For all the parents-to-be out there, you do not realize now just how much time you will spend thinking about sleep and poop once you become parents. But you will!) Do we do it now? After we move? Before or after we start potty training? I knew I wanted to introduce one big change at a time this year and I didn't want to move to a new house, have them in a brand new bedroom and go "okay, here's your new big kid bed!" Even before Bruce left for his trip I asked him if we should convert the cribs to beds. My line of thinking was he (he is a very light sleeper!) wouldn't be disturbed during the first week or two of transition and when he got back, they would be settled. He wasn't ready for that, but I just knew the time was approaching. Isn't it strange how mothers really can sense this stuff? Anyway, it's time to say good-bye to the cribs and, even though that makes me sad (and nervous!), I think Owen and Kathryn are ready. They are wonderful sleepers and enjoy going to bed at night...I hope they will still love to sleep 11 hours each night even if they can get up and walk around their room or out of their room. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a smooth transition!

Also happening this week, Sullivan and I have started the weaning process. We've dropped from four sessions a day to three. My plan is to drop one session a week until her birthday. But I have also considered nursing her until she's 13 months old for that added protection during the last month of cold and flu season. Bruce doesn't buy that and thinks I'm just not ready for us to quit. Well, I'll be honest - it's both. Sullivan got RSV and pneumonia at the end of March last year, so I know just because it's warmer out (especially down here) doesn't mean germs aren't flying around like crazy. Between all three little ones, we've only had two colds around here since the beginning of fall and I know breastfeeding played a big part in keeping Sullivan well. Also, once I wean her that's all there will be. No more nursing, no more babies; we will have three toddlers in our house and maybe I'm not ready for that! Ultimately I'll follow Sullivan's cues; she's becoming more and more distracted these days when she nurses and she's eating tons of table food now too. It's still easy to get her to nurse three times a day though and I think we're both happy with where we are at. Yay for making it to one year though!! Our original goal was three months!!

I guess that's it for now. I'll try to get a few pics up this weekend. We got a fabulous new camera from my parents at Christmas and I've been slacking lately on the picture taking. Until next time...

A White Christmas

I know I'm late getting these up, but it's been a little busy around here. With Bruce gone for several weeks, I haven't had much time to blog. I'm trying to stay one step ahead of the kids and, as you might imagine, I'm not getting much down time/me time. But here are our Christmas pictures. We had a white Christmas in Huntsville! Can you believe it? It's a big deal to get snow on Christmas, but an even bigger deal to get snow on Christmas in Alabama. I don't know that that will ever happen again! It was beautiful and we probably got about three inches. What a perfect Christmas!

Sullivan was napping on Christmas when we took the kids out to play, so I took her out a couple of days later to take some picturs with her. Her first snow!

I love that juicy little face!

Mommy and her babies on Christmas morning

Making snow angels just like Special Agent Oso!


My little snow angels.

It started to really stick about the time we were done opening presents.

I loved this picture...look how they were all lined up! So cute. I don't know what Daddy was showing them, but they were all interested. Bless my Mom's heart, her poor tree. I don't know if you can tell, but she had a lot of "help" this year decorating (and undecorating!) her tree. But being the good Grandmother she is, she didn't care.

Owie and Sullivan opening presents together.

Uncle Joey and Sullivan...Sullivan adores her Uncle Joe-Joe!

The kids took their time opening gifts and played with each toy/present for a while before moving on.

Sullivan and I were the first ones up that morning. Here she is checking out all of the goodies Santa left for her and her brother and sister.

Here are a few shots I snapped at Grandmama and Alton's on Christmas Day. I didn't take that many this year and now I wish I had. I didn't get any posed pictures of the whole fam. With the exception of the few I took with the kids before bed (which were cute of them, terrible of me!), I didn't take a single one at my Mom's Christmas dinner later that night. Bad mommy! I'll just have to make up for it next year. So many presents...the babies are so loved and lucky!

Great-Grandmama and Sullivan

Uncle Scott and Aunt Maegen watching the little ones tear into their Christmas presents.

Bruce and Aunt Pam

Bug enjoying a Christmas cookie.

First Words

Sullivan is talking! Her first words are: Dada, uh-oh, wa-wa, Owie (I think this was actually her first word, but she was so young I didn't think it was possible that she was actually talking about her big bro!) and I think she's now saying rock-rock and out. Sullivan will say rock-rock when she's sitting in the little rocking chairs and will say out when we tell Charlie to get out of the kids' room or when we ask her if she wants out of her highchair. She just started saying these within the last day or two, so I'm still trying to see if she really knows what it means, but I think she does. All I know is if she has this much to say at almost 11 months old, she's bound to be a talker like her big sister. I have a feeling poor Owie and Bruce are going to have a hard time getting a word in for a long time to come! We are so proud of you Sullivan!

Better, More, and Less in 2011

Happy New Year everyone and welcome 2011! I hope 2010 was a great year for you and that your year will be filled with sweet moments, laughter, love, good health and good times. My new year's resolutions can be summed up with these three words...better, more, less.

This year I will:

*Be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend

*Do more for others, pray more, read my Bible more, listen more, love more, challenge myself more and have more patience. I would also like to clean more (sometimes finding time for this can be a challenge!) and be more organized.

*Worry less.

One of my favorite sayings is "today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday." So true! This will be a big year of change for us. We will move mid to late summer (I think), but we don't know where yet. I'll be going back to work at some point and the babies will have someone else taking care of them during the day. Bruce will be flying a new plane, taking trips again and deploying again. Then there is of course the worry that comes with being a mommy. A mother is always thinking and worrying about her children's health, safety and well-being. As you can see with so much up in the air and so much change, there is the potential for me to worry all year long! But I'm not going to - I'm going to turn it all over to God and take comfort in the fact that He is in control.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Happy New Year again everyone! I promise I'll get Christmas pictures up soon.