September Fun

I am not creative at all, so finger painting is about as extensive of "arts and crafts" as we do at our house! It lasts about 5-10 minutes but the clean up is much longer but worth seeing how much fun they have!

Good picture- late summer visit with Greg's family. We enjoyed the first trip to Nashville with the kids last weekend, the kids loved seeing "Hadden and Spencer's house" and had lots of fun running around with them all weekend! They traveled much better on this shorter trip and slept good, although Kiley refused to go to bed until we did. She was sleeping in our room on her Dora air mattress and think she was afraid she was missing some of the party downstairs!

They are really starting to copy one another doing silly things to make me laugh all day! I have the best (and yes sometimes hardest) job!


This is the first real time the kids have been split up! Cason is going to MDO on Tuesdays and Kiley on Thursdays so I can have some much needed one on one time with each of them. This is the third week and so far it has been going pretty well! Kiley was very mad at me the first week and tried all things to get me not to leave her crying "my tummy hurts don't leave me mommy" and when I picked her up she would not look or talk to me until we got to the car. She then looked me in the eyes and said "you leaved me mommy" Last week the teacher told me Cason started asking "when mommy coming" and she would answer "after you eat your lunch" so finally he went and got his bag, took his lunch out and said "ready to eat lunch" and the teacher told him it was only 10:30! Smart guy thinking- ok, if mommy is coming after I eat, I will just eat now! Funny kids

Talking

Well we always said when Kiley starts talking, she isn't going to stop, and she sure runs that mouth all the time and is very loud!! Sometimes hard to tell exactly what she is saying but she does like to talk and boss us/mostly Cason around! Today I was telling Cason no to something, and she came up and said to him "big no no Cason" which is what I say to certain things! She has also started asking "why" to everything! Yesterday she asked "why" so much I finally said to her "because I am the mom and I said so, that's why" and started laughing thinking how I promised myself I was never going to say that as a mom!! She also freaks out if Cason is "touching" her, another thing I can remember yelling to my parents as a child! (mom Greg is touching/looking at me). My parents witnessed Kiley saying this Sunday night and I thought my dad was going to spit out his food from laughing so hard!

Cason still can have the quickest temper about things, but most of the time it is b/c we cannot figure out what he is saying or trying to tell us, he gets so frustrated! It also can be when he is hungry, very much like his daddy! We also see more and more similarities to his Pops with certain things, working and concentrating hard on a project and not giving up until it is done just right! He is such a sweet boy and loves telling us "please/thank you" all the time and also will come up and say "I uve (love) you mommy!" Paul puts him to bed and night and he sometimes will say "I uve you daddy" over and over again to try and get Paul to stay!

Cribs

So last week was a terrible week with Cason sleeping, he was staying up until 10-11 screaming then waking up in the middle of the night for several hours. He is great during the day, otherwise I would have taken him into the doctor thinking something was wrong, but kind-of leaned my lesson with Kiley! On Friday I put him down for a nap and went downstairs to the basement, and a few minutes later heard footsteps. I looked up the stairs and saw him standing there! I was shocked, and said "Cason what are you doing" and he said "hi mommy, no nap" then took me upstairs and showed me how he climbed out of his crib, turned off his sound machine, took one of his tall toys to stand on to turn on his bedroom light, looked at me again and said "no nap". I thought well, I guess he doesn't want to take a nap today!!

By Saturday we were exhausted and desperate, called my parents and told them their grand twins were coming over to give us a much needed break, which turned into Paul taking Cason's crib front off making it into a daybed. We both commented how quite the house was with just us in it! We could actually have an adult conversation without interruptions!

It is now Tuesday night, 3rd night of "big boy bed" and he is doing much better! He is not throwing tantrums anymore at bedtime (PTL!) and enjoys his 1 on 1 time with daddy in his bedroom at night playing with quite toys and reading books. Hopefully this will continue! He also misplaced "la" over the weekend and has not asked for it once, which is amazing for how attached he was to it!

As for KiKi...her crib went back up last week and she is doing better although she is queen at stalling and still clings to me when I try and put her in bed at night, she has even told me she has poppie! I tried to give her her pacie back last week when they were both screaming still at 10, she threw it at me so I guess she is over that trick!

One on One

Today I took Kiley to a friend's house and Cason spent the day with me running errands and going to a drs appointment. It was so much fun to have one on one time with him. He was a perfect little boy and didn't whine or complain once the whole day, even in the drs quite waiting room. He laid down on his stomach on the bench and colored and after awhile sat up, looked at me and said "all done mommy," and went to looked out the window until we were called back. I had many people comment to me what a cute and good little boy he is. It is amazing how different they are one on one and not having to compete with each other for everything! I took him to get a cookie/ice cream when we were finished, he was so much fun!!! I am looking forward to one on one time with them when school starts!

Pacie update

So 2 weeks ago, after all our summer travels were over and Kiley had slept in a big bed each trip, I got the great idea to convert her crib to a "big girl bed" (aka toddler day bed) in hopes of making it a reward for giving up her pacie at night. We made a big deal out of it telling her many times "you have a big girl bed now and big girls don't have pacies" Well the first night didn't go so well, as she started telling us "me KiKi baby, KiKi no like big girl bed" and Paul ended up giving her pacie to her- way to be strong daddy.

She loves her big girl bed at all times except when it is time to go to sleep. But I stuck to my guns and after the first or second night, I didn't give into her. It has been 2 weeks now and still not going well! It usually takes about 45 min-1hr of her crying and throwing a tantrum to get her to sleep rather it be nap time or bedtime. I have tried rocking, singing, reading, rubbing her back, spanking, threatening her, letting her pick out anything to sleep with, and anything else I can think of to get her to go to sleep. The only thing that has worked is daddy, for some reason when he goes in there he can get her to sleep! Guess he has the magic touch, which doesn't help me much for nap time! I even took her into the pediatrician's office on Friday thinking for sure she had an ear infection that that was why she didn't want to sleep, especially after asking her if her ears hurt and her saying "yes mommy ear huts". After explaining the situation and looking in her ears, he asked me if I was going to be mad if he told me her ears were completely clear!

After a friends advice, we took her to pick out "anything she wanted for her big girl bed and for giving up her pacie". Again, making a very big deal out of it. She picked out a Barbie pillow and carried it around all day, very excited about it, until nap time came. When we told her it was time to go up to her big girl bed with her new Barbie pillow, she threw it down, kicked it, and said "no like Barbie pillow, me no night night"........needless to say Cason is still in his crib!

4 months

Can't believe it has been since March since I have posted! Wow how time flies. We moved the home computer downstairs for Paul to use for work (some reason he insists he needs 2 screens...) so every time I think about posting he is on it!!

Summer has flown by and we have had so much fun. Our summer has consisted of many trips in May/June- Destin twice, lake once, family reunion and wedding. The kids did pretty well but glad to spend most of July at home! Our weekdays stay the same for the most part- bible study on Mondays, pool on Tuesdays, play group on Wed, usually zoo, store, ect.. on Thursdays and pool again on Fridays. We have enjoyed extending bedtime to 8:00 or 8:30 this summer and them sleeping in until 7:30-8:30. This am I had to wake Kiley up at 9:15! Lazy summer mornings with my two munchkins are the best! I am so blessed to be able to stay home with them!

Since my last post, the kids have turned two! I can't say it has been the "terrible twos" so far, it actually is a lot easier now that we can communicate more with them. They can (or try) to repeat everything we ask them too and really have to watch what we say now! Kiley is easier to understand and talks more (the girl--shocker) but Cason is trying hard. They have picked up names for each other- Kiley calls Cason "Bo Bo" and Cason calls her "Sissy"...Today I asked Cason what his name was and he told me "Bo Bo", I told him no, it was Cason and Kiley, who over head immediately said "no mommy, that's Bo Bo" Guess we need to work on that before they really think that their names are Bo Bo and Sissy!!

They also have figured out how to blame the other one for things, when I ask " Kiley I think you have stinky pants" knowing it is her, she says "no, Bo Bo does" and Cason blames her as well! No matter what it is, they always blame each other! "Ok guys, who spilled the water"...both say the other name! It is pretty funny most of the time. They have really started interacting and playing together pretty well just in the past few months. I like to spy on them to see what they are skimming up together or what they are saying to each other. Seems like if one of them is doing something they probably know is not right, the other one joins right in! The other day I watched as Kiley decided to take all my shells (from Cabo) that were in a dish on the porch, stand up on the couch on the porch and throw them one by one behind the couch. As soon as Cason saw her, he intermediately joined in the fun. I went out and said in a stern voice "Who started this" and Kiley said "Bo Bo did".....interesting

We had a great 4th of July packed with way too many activities, lake, 2 pool parties, cookout, and 2 different firework shows, which Kiley said the whole time "fireworks scare me Ki Ki" -we are still working on the pronouns...

What else has changed in 4 months...they have now become shy when walking into a big group of people, they used to run right in and now cling to us, especially Kiley, until they warm up. I wish they would cling to us in other places...like T mobile this morning or the post office! They both decided to run like manics and see how fast they can destroy the store! I still haven't figured out what to do in a situation like that, sometimes I can't leave right away and you can't spank them in the middle of the store now days. I usually get the candy out of the bag as quickly as possible and tell them they can't have any unless they sit down...sometimes this works but then I always think- I just gave them candy for bad behavior.....

Favorite toys- still the riding toys, they love riding as fast as they can around the house and playing bumper cars with each other. They also both love these dancing videos and most recently have become obsessed with the Auburn Tigers DVD. My sister bought this for them when I was pregnant and I thought it was a waste of money but gosh how I wish she was here now to see how much they absolutely love it! They also like playing with the train table and their activity table with colors, markers, paint, ect...which they have been really good with keeping it on the papers ( I will probably regret those words). Just last week, they both decided they now want to take a shower at night instead of a bath, which was really weird to us b/c before they were terrified of the shower. It is actually much easier to let them play in the shower and just reach in and wash them than to bend over the bath tube and worry about them drowning if you leave the room just for a second.

 Some how the pictures got posted all mixed up in the middle of my writing, oh well!  Pool party fun at the family reunion, Cason was so tired he fell asleep on Papa in the chair!

 Coloring with NiNi while everyone was playing cards in the kitchen, they love their one on one time!

 This is how Kiley watched the fireworks, saying "fireworks scare me KiKi" the whole time!

 My buddy cuddling with me when I got a 24 hr stomach bug this summer

 Following their favorite big boys on a hike at Oak Mountain with all the "old people" lacking behind!

 Another attempt at a "cousins" picture during the reunion. We love having Hadden and Spencer around who constantly entertain the kids!  They love their big cousins for sure!

 How Cason watched the fireworks- he liked them but was pretty warn out by the time they started at 9:15!

 One of the pool parties during the forth of July weekend- "pre party" for the fireworks.  Few days after Cason's hair got butchered!  4 weeks later  his bangs still aren't grown out!

 Fun times at the zoo!

 Father's Day pose, they are so cute and love their daddy and papa!

 Beach trip walking with Nana in Sandestin- one of the few times she was not carrying him!

 She sure is cute when she will actually sit and smile for the camera- a rare occasion!

 Waiting for Pops, are ride over to the beach!

 Learning how to play cards with the big kids- if Hadden is doing it, they will be right beside him!

 Great Grandma and all of her great grand kids!  Cason was not sitting still so I had to hold him up! Kiley is going to get a lot of attention with all these boys!  We need someone to have a girl now!!

They also have started telling us when they don't like something we make...."don't like it mommy" but I have been good about only making one thing for lunch/dinner and if they don't like it, they don't have to eat it. I was really excited to introduce peanut butter sandwiches a little after they turned two, but neither of them really cared for it! They will eat peanut butter crackers.  Kiley has also mimicked me in my dislike for bugs. If she sees a bug, she starts screaming "mommy help" and "shoo bug", I went in the attic to get a box and a dead roach was under it, I started screaming at the top of my lungs and when she saw it, she said "bug mommy, shoo that bug" and Cason went in and tried to pick it up...typical.  Another funny thing-  on one of our beach trips, NaNa (Paul's mom) taught the kids how to chant "party, party, party" when we were headed to one of Paul's many work parties.  Now, whenever we tell Cason to say that, he says "Nana parties, Nana parties"

Behavior- when people ask me which one the leader is, I always hesitate. Kiley is definitely the boss, but they both follow each other around pretty equally. I had a good college friend visit us (Tiffany) last month who told me not only was Kiley the boss of Cason, but she was the boss of the house! She is very good at telling me " no no mommy" and already tells me to go in the other room if I come in the room she is in and she doesn't want me in there...where is my sweet little baby girl?!?? She does not mind getting in trouble or sitting in time out, unless daddy puts her there. Cason is the opposite- he gets his feeling hurt very easily and hates getting in trouble, if you just raise your voice at him his lower lip starts quivering and the tantrum starts. He is definitely good at throwing the full blown on the floor screaming tantrums, this usually occurs at least once a day and he does not think anything about doing it in public!!

I left Paul with the kids for a long weekend this past weekend for the first time and they did great! Paul said they had a lot of fun but he had no idea how I kept the house picked up or got anything else done except watching the kids...he has much more appreciation now for a clean house!