Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Sibling harmony
This year has been so much fun. The older the boys get, the more their relationship with each other and their sister grows. When I put the boys down for their naps or bedtime it's so fun to stand outside their door and listen to them laugh and talk to each other. I remember when they were young and I wished our house had 4 bedrooms so I could keep them separate to prevent them from waking each other up, I'm so glad we kept them together! They can sleep through anything and now it's impossible to imagine them not sharing a room. It's also become easier in some ways (more difficult in others) to take all three of them out on extended outings. For example today we trekked down to Whitefish Bay to try out a new music class "Music Together". The instructor was nice to enough to let us try before we buy to see if the class would work for us since I have three kids and only one parent. We had a blast and were still able to go out for smoothies together after the class. I can't brag about Sofia enough. Not only is she a ton of fun, but she is such a big helper to me with her brothers. For example, Sully needs to be snuggled for a good twenty minutes after he wakes up from his afternoon nap. Last week Everett needed a diaper change during this time so I asked Sofia to cuddle Sully. She quickly ran to the floor and sat down and I put Sully on her lap and they just snuggled and giggled while I changed Ev. My kids make my heart melt every single day. Everett watches her like a hawk and has started hugging younger children wherever he goes. Sofia can sometimes be a bit bossy with the boys and in turn Everett has started telling Sully what to do. Sullivan has such unique personality that he just laughs and does some crazy dance or a somersault. He seriously keeps us laughing or chasing him around all day long. Their 18 month post is in the works but I'm waiting on their well child exam so I can find out how big they are. It may be a while because Tim is in the process of an insurance change at work. Twins are a ton of work but it it's so amazing to see their bond develop and Tim and I always say that we are so grateful that our kids will have each other throughout their lives. It's amazing to think that all three of them will be in the same school together for most of their education. On a side note, I've been awful about taking pictures lately. Probably because at this age it's really tough to capture the kids on camera. They are so busy and so much fun! I will certainly miss these days and this season of life.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Winter fun
With my new teaching position this year I find I have less time for things like blogging. During nap time I try to clean part of the house, prep dinner, and take some time for myself and at night I enjoy spending some time with my hubby. Anyways, we've been doing our best to enjoy this cold season of the year. We have taken the kids sledding a couple of times and despite Sully getting a nasty scrape on his cheek during our last trip, the kids really love sledding. Our town has an ice rink downtown but every time it's finished the weather warms up and the ice melts. It has finally been cold for a solid two weeks and we look forward to checking out the ice rink this weekend.
This is the time of year we always think about what memberships we want to renew and what gives us the most bang for our buck. Most of these places you only have to go to two times to make a membership worth the cost. Here is my list of our family's favorite memberships for the year...
-Betty Brinn Children's Museum: Awesome children's museum. Our outings there usually last two hours or so and we've been several times but there is still so much to explore. The kids love it. It's only difficult when I go myself or for a play date because I have a hard time keeping the kids in one area so I can supervise them.
-Feith Family YMCA: We've been members since we moved to Port and the Y seriously deserves it's own blog post. All five of us love it here. Sofia attends a preschool program that meets twice a week for 1.5 hours. She has been involved with swimming lessons, gymnastics, art classes, etc. We love coming here as a family to go swimming or just run around in the gym when the weather is gross outside. I also am a member of the TrY club and have met so many amazing people through our group workouts.
-Milwaukee County Zoo: This is probably our favorite membership, especially in the summer. We even go throughout the fall, winter and spring because there are plenty of indoor areas to explore.
The one place we didn't get a membership for last year was our community pool, Pirates Hollow. I regretted it because a membership is only $50 and we probably spent that with the amount of times we went with family and friends.
I try to stay creative and explore a lot of different places during the winter so my kids and I don't get bored. We go to the library at least once a week for story hour and even if we go twice per week the kids are still excited about the train table and Sofia loves to check out new books. If it's at least 35 degrees I'll take the kids on walks or hikes around our area. Otherwise, we spend time reading or doing arts and crafts projects balanced with a heavy dose of dance parties. I love to hear what other people do for fun during winter.
This is the time of year we always think about what memberships we want to renew and what gives us the most bang for our buck. Most of these places you only have to go to two times to make a membership worth the cost. Here is my list of our family's favorite memberships for the year...
-Betty Brinn Children's Museum: Awesome children's museum. Our outings there usually last two hours or so and we've been several times but there is still so much to explore. The kids love it. It's only difficult when I go myself or for a play date because I have a hard time keeping the kids in one area so I can supervise them.
-Feith Family YMCA: We've been members since we moved to Port and the Y seriously deserves it's own blog post. All five of us love it here. Sofia attends a preschool program that meets twice a week for 1.5 hours. She has been involved with swimming lessons, gymnastics, art classes, etc. We love coming here as a family to go swimming or just run around in the gym when the weather is gross outside. I also am a member of the TrY club and have met so many amazing people through our group workouts.
-Milwaukee County Zoo: This is probably our favorite membership, especially in the summer. We even go throughout the fall, winter and spring because there are plenty of indoor areas to explore.
The one place we didn't get a membership for last year was our community pool, Pirates Hollow. I regretted it because a membership is only $50 and we probably spent that with the amount of times we went with family and friends.
I try to stay creative and explore a lot of different places during the winter so my kids and I don't get bored. We go to the library at least once a week for story hour and even if we go twice per week the kids are still excited about the train table and Sofia loves to check out new books. If it's at least 35 degrees I'll take the kids on walks or hikes around our area. Otherwise, we spend time reading or doing arts and crafts projects balanced with a heavy dose of dance parties. I love to hear what other people do for fun during winter.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Potty Trained!
Sofia is officially potty trained! She has shown signs of being ready for a couple of months but I wanted to make sure we chose the right time to officially get out of diapers. I waited until the day after Christmas because our family events had finally calmed down and I was off of work for a week (I work in the mornings which is a pretty important time of day for potty training). For a couple of months before Sofia would go into the bathroom when she had a diaper with poop and she would take it off and try to put the poop in the toilet (since that's what we usually do). I always helped her wipe, and I still do even now that she's potty trained.
Anyways, the day after Christmas we talked about her underwear and going pee and poop in the potty. Sofia said she wanted to do that so we put undies on straight away in the morning. About 20 minutes after breakfast I told her we were going to go read some books on the potty. She loves to read so she quickly ran to the bathroom and I helped her pull her undies down the first time or two. After a couple of minutes of reading she peed in the potty. Every time she peed or pooped in the potty for the first week I went absolutely crazy (jumping up, clapping, high fives, the whole nine yards). We called several family members and made sure that Sofia knew how proud everyone was of her. For the first day of potty training I didn't put pants on her, it was a little cold so I put baby legs on, but I wanted to make sure she could get to the toilet as quickly and easily as possible. She had three accidents that day (only pee) but went in the potty several times. The next day she only had one accident and Tim brought home a giant balloon for her to celebrate. The next day she didn't have any accidents and her Grandma Rainey took her to pick out new undies.
A lot of people use little toilets but Sofia had no interest in a little toilet. She went straight the big toilet with a toddler seat on it. We just keep a step stool near the toilet. Sofia is usually pretty good about remembering all of the steps in the process, but sometimes needs a reminder about washing hands. I'll admit that my biggest fear about potty training was not being able to run errands without worrying about accidents. I keep a little travel potty seat in the car but generally if Sofia goes potty before we leave the house she can hold it for a long time (3 hours). She really does not want to go potty at stores etc. Frankly, I don't blame her. I do keep a spare pair of undies, socks and pants in the diaper bag just in case.
It's been about two weeks since we started and she is completely independent in the potty department, except for wiping with poops. She could probably do it but we want to make sure she stays clean. We do keep her in a pull up or cloth diaper at night and I always ask her what she prefers for her nap time. She goes back and forth between a pull up or just undies for nap time. Even when she only wears undies she wakes up dry. I just make sure to get her to the bathroom within 10 minutes of her waking up.
So I guess we got lucky with having a very easy potty training experience. But honestly I don't think it was luck at all. There is always pressure from people to have your child hit the next milestone or to potty train but I think you have to trust your instinct as a parent and you'll know when your child is ready. In August Tim and I tried to potty train her when she was obviously not ready. It was only one day but it was frustrating for everyone and we made the mistake of listening to others instead of trusting our instincts.
It's kind of nice only having two diapers to change, and I know Sofia enjoys being able to wear underwear like all of her friends. Most of all she likes feeling older and more independent. We are very proud of her but it's sort of bittersweet to see how quickly our sweet baby girl has turned into a little girl.
Anyways, the day after Christmas we talked about her underwear and going pee and poop in the potty. Sofia said she wanted to do that so we put undies on straight away in the morning. About 20 minutes after breakfast I told her we were going to go read some books on the potty. She loves to read so she quickly ran to the bathroom and I helped her pull her undies down the first time or two. After a couple of minutes of reading she peed in the potty. Every time she peed or pooped in the potty for the first week I went absolutely crazy (jumping up, clapping, high fives, the whole nine yards). We called several family members and made sure that Sofia knew how proud everyone was of her. For the first day of potty training I didn't put pants on her, it was a little cold so I put baby legs on, but I wanted to make sure she could get to the toilet as quickly and easily as possible. She had three accidents that day (only pee) but went in the potty several times. The next day she only had one accident and Tim brought home a giant balloon for her to celebrate. The next day she didn't have any accidents and her Grandma Rainey took her to pick out new undies.
A lot of people use little toilets but Sofia had no interest in a little toilet. She went straight the big toilet with a toddler seat on it. We just keep a step stool near the toilet. Sofia is usually pretty good about remembering all of the steps in the process, but sometimes needs a reminder about washing hands. I'll admit that my biggest fear about potty training was not being able to run errands without worrying about accidents. I keep a little travel potty seat in the car but generally if Sofia goes potty before we leave the house she can hold it for a long time (3 hours). She really does not want to go potty at stores etc. Frankly, I don't blame her. I do keep a spare pair of undies, socks and pants in the diaper bag just in case.
It's been about two weeks since we started and she is completely independent in the potty department, except for wiping with poops. She could probably do it but we want to make sure she stays clean. We do keep her in a pull up or cloth diaper at night and I always ask her what she prefers for her nap time. She goes back and forth between a pull up or just undies for nap time. Even when she only wears undies she wakes up dry. I just make sure to get her to the bathroom within 10 minutes of her waking up.
So I guess we got lucky with having a very easy potty training experience. But honestly I don't think it was luck at all. There is always pressure from people to have your child hit the next milestone or to potty train but I think you have to trust your instinct as a parent and you'll know when your child is ready. In August Tim and I tried to potty train her when she was obviously not ready. It was only one day but it was frustrating for everyone and we made the mistake of listening to others instead of trusting our instincts.
It's kind of nice only having two diapers to change, and I know Sofia enjoys being able to wear underwear like all of her friends. Most of all she likes feeling older and more independent. We are very proud of her but it's sort of bittersweet to see how quickly our sweet baby girl has turned into a little girl.
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