Jumparoo and New Hair Do

Boy, you forget how much space all the baby toys take up. Man alive, everywhere you look in our house, there's a bouncy seat, a swing, jungle gym mat and now, the newest toy...a "Jumparoo". Its the modern version of the "johnny jump-up". We got it out today. It use to be Adriana's, and it dawned on me today that Adriana started using the Jumparoo around 3 months old, so we got it out today to see if he would like it. And he did. He didn't know what to think about it, but I think he liked the new activity. Of course Adriana wanted to get in it, but she enjoyed watching Paxton using it. Here are some pictures...




Holding Hands (I think Paxton was more or
less digging his claws into Adriana's hands, but
it was cute anyway).

Yesterday I took Adriana to her first haircut at a real salon. Its a salon geared towards kids, and it was really neat. I didn't know how she would react to having a stranger cut her hair, because my mom has always cut it, but she did really good. It was a cute little place and the stylist was really nice and good with Adriana. Adriana got to pick her chair, which she chose to sit in an airplane, then she got to pick a sucker while they cut her hair. We were wanting quite a bit of length cut off, so her hair would curl better and not look like a crazy child. I really like how it turned out. Here's her new do...

Before

During...

After...(Even though you can't really tell, but

it does look a lot better)

Zoe needing some Lovin'

I took these pictures tonight, thought it was too cute. Poor Zoe went from our little baby, to the back burner, throughout the years (not intentionally). She longs to be loved, but sometimes we just don't have the time to give her what she wants. Tonight, Ryan pulled out the rocker that is normally in Paxton's Room, so he could rock him to sleep, and Zoe just jumped up there and just kept climbing higher and higher. She made herself at home on his other shoulder. She will make us love her, if it kills her!

She went from laying on Ryan's shoulder,

to laying on her brother....

Rough Times at the Naylors

I think the title says it all for how I feel. This last week has been very trying. Its times like this, that makes you not like being a parent. I love my kids with all my heart, but when they aren't sleeping, and they cry, throw fits, hit you for no reason, scream, and are just moody, it makes you not like this parenting gig too much. I know it will pass, I just hope it passes QUICKLY!
Adriana is still having a very hard time with this no passy thing. She won't take her naps, she's mad at me all the time, it takes her a long time to fall asleep at night and worst of all, she is waking up, every night, screaming at the top of her lungs. It hasn't been pleasant for any of us. I know she is so sad and so upset, but I never thought it would be this bad. On the other hand, for some reason she has wanted to hold Paxton a lot this week. Before this week she had only held him 2 times. She is loving it and just wanting to be more of a help when it comes to him (for the most part, she did throw a camera at his face this week, but we won't bring that up!). Here are some pictures of her eagerness wanting to hold Paxton, you can tell by the look on his face, that he is not too thrilled.




Ryan's work as been REALLY slow this winter, the worst winter yet. This has added to stress in our house, because if he doesn't find work, we don't get an income. He has been coming home early almost everyday for the last 2 weeks or so. I hate that he isn't finding work, but on the plus side, I've needed him home, especially this last week.
When we moved, I was very pregnant and very worn out from the move. I slacked off in a few of the rooms, one being our spare room/office, the garage and our laundry room. I never wanted to go this long without doing some much needed organization, but between juggling 2 kids, the holidays and all the fun that daily life brings, I just never got the chance. For some reason, I got a fire lit under my rear this last week and decided to tackle to laundry room. I had started on it, but every time I went to work on it, a child would arise from their nap and it sat half done for a few days. I finally got a chance to do it today, because Ryan got off early, so he was able to deal with the kids and I could finish my project. I still want to organize a few things in the cabinets and pantry, but I got things cleaned up for sure, and am pleased with how it turned out. I'm also excited because I was able to use a shelf and baskets that we weren't using to help get things straighted up.


Before--whew, what a mess!


After---Ahhh, much better!


My baskets. I put stuff that took up so much space
in my cabinets, but could easily be thrown into
these baskets for easy access. I put lunch boxes
in one, cleaning rags in another and travel mugs
in the last one.


Our calendar, bill paying station and bulletin
board to help us keep track of Adriana's
school calendar.


A personal touch


And my new mat that I bought to go in front of
the washer and dryer, since I spend half my life
these days doing laundry. At least now, its not
a cold, hard floor, but a nice soft mat.

My next project is to work in the office. I want to set it up as my scrapbook room/office, so I need to get down there and get some organization done.

On another note, I had a good birthday. We didn't do anything special or anything, but it was nice. Ryan took care of the kids, so I could take a nap, and these days that's as good as gold! Ryan got me video editing software that I had asked for. My college degree is in Communications, with an emphasis in video/audio production. I use to put videos together all the time, and really enjoyed it, and really miss it. I'm looking forward to using it and making some videos of Adriana and Paxton.

Sorry I may seem kind of down. Don't make any calls or anything, I'm not depressed, just anxious to get this whole fussy stage passed us. It can really wear on me, and I don't have a high tolerance for it. I'll try to be more upbeat next time....

Pictures

We had the kids pictures taken this last week. For some reason, getting their pictures done, always stresses me out. It would stress me out with getting just Adriana's done, but now I have two kids to get ready, pick out outfits and get to smile. Its something that I dreaded, but in the end am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I know these pictures are small, but you can click on the link below to view all the pictures. Adriana has picked up a silly looking smile this last week or so, so that's about all she did. We did, however, trick her and get some good smiles from her. These were also the first pictures I got of them together (professionally anyway). Adriana didn't really want anything to do with being with Paxton, so we had to work with what we got. Here are the pictures.

http://www.picturepeople.com/sso/publishconfirm.sso?data=jOMGi1zwk5Pk6h54P2OJk7j%2f3I5h%2fg7MzDW%2f0zmveQAH9BPI4rWLqkz6m%2bpZmdJmlV2Q9EtGz%2fLXjz%2fAtv56Ww%3d%3d

A Birthday weekend

Well tomorrow is my last birthday for my 20's. Its kind of sad, and I don't know why really. I guess you always hear the 30 is the beginning of the end, but I know its not, and I know the closer we move to the big 3-0 it doesn't seem as old as it use to.
I have an interesting family story about my birthday. I share my birthday with 2 other family members. First of all, I was born on my Grandma Veltrops birthday. Second, me and my cousin, Jessie, were born the same day, same year. So Grandma Veltrop, got 2 granddaughters on the same day. With a family full of grandsons, she was excited to get 2 grand daughters on her birthday. When we were younger, the 3 of us would get together for the weekend and celebrate. It was always such a fun time. As we have grown older and moved away, its been harder to see each other on our shared day, but I wanted to wish them both, a wonderful Birthday, fulled with much love and happiness.
Also tomorrow, my baby turns 3 months old. That is so hard to believe. Adriana turned 3 years old, and Paxton turns 3 months old. Now, if only I was turning 23 ....:)

A new Day

Note: I was going to post a picture of Adriana on here, but don't know where the child has put my camera, and I'm too tired to hunt for it now.

Today, our baby turned 3 years old. Wow, where on Earth has the time gone? It doesn't seem possible that my baby, is now getting to be such a big girl. She is really starting to come into her own. Her imagination is taking shape, and its fun to see her play by herself and see how she interacts with baby dolls and other toys. Her vocabulary seems to grow everyday, along with her sassyness. She is still a sweet, kind hearted little girl, but knows how to push the buttons on her parents, especially her mom.
This last month has seemed to be filled with so many new things for her. For one thing, we just started letting her sleep without a pull up on. This was a big step for me. Mainly, because I didn't want to be up in the middle of the night changing sheets. I also wanted to get Paxton to the point of sleeping through the night, that way I wouldn't be up with both kids all night long. I have to say, we are going on 2 weeks of no diapers during nap time or bed time and she has only had one accident. I am very proud of her!
I would guess our major new battle, that I just decided yesterday to wage war with, is taking her passy away from her. I know, I know, she is too old to still have her pacifier, and for that I feel like a bad mom. I feel almost embarrassed that my kid is turning 3 and just now getting off her passy, but this has been a HUGE thing for me to finally do. I have talked for months about taking it away from her and have come up with excuse after excuse on why she should still have it. Well, I can't take it now, we're going to be moving, or Paxton is coming and that will be a huge change for her, just any little thing I thought of not to do it, I did. I didn't want to cause my baby so much pain. This child's passy is her WORLD, and I mean that with my whole heart. ANYTIME she gets upset, hurt (both physically or emotionally), or needs to go to bed, her passy was her go to. She would take that thing over me and Ryan any day.
I don't know what it was, but for some reason, that's all I could think about and dream about 2 nights ago. How I always said I would have her off of it by the age of 3, and well, today is her birthday, so yesterday, I told her the passy fairy came and got it. That's a whole different story in itself, but let me just say, I haven't seen her this sad, since the night we brought Paxton home from the hospital. For all you faithful readers out there, you can remember what a devastation that was to her, this is just as bad, if not worse. I know that this will pass, I'm just praying that it will pass QUICKLY! It wears on me and its hard for me to be patient with a screaming child in the middle of the night. I'm sad for her, but know this is for the best.
Well, I feel like it is midnight and its only a little after 10pm. I am tired and need my sleep. Both kids are staying over at my parents tonight. I am worried sick that Adriana will have a melt down in the middle of the night, and/or Paxton will wake up, for some reason, and not settle back down. I hope they both do good tonight....for my parents sake!

Adriana's Birthday Party

Well its come and gone. All the blood, sweat, and tears. Worries, time and planning that I poured into a 2 hour party, is over. It was a fun party, and I have to say, I'm quite pleased with how it all turned out. We had a little different of a party. Most kids, it seems, are having their party at Chuck E. Cheese, or places that have bouncy houses and slides, those are fun and exciting, but they are also costly. We were on a tighter budget this year, so we had to get creative. Thankfully the subdivision my parents live in, have really nice clubhouse, that was free to use. I was a little nervous to use it, since none of us had ever seen the inside of it. I was thoroughly impressed. They let us have it the night before so we could set up and decorate. It was my parents and me that set up that night. Friday night, was also the same night my in-laws came into town, so I missed out on spending time with them because of setting up. Anyway, it turned out good.
I decided to have a "craft" party. I had the kids pick out a gift bag and color it and put stickers on it and decorate it however they wanted. These were their goody bags. After getting their bags they made their way to the 3 craft stations I had set up. One of them was a beading table. They got to make their own necklace or bracelet. Next, they got to decorate a visor hat. They could choose from many foam stickers, markers and stickers to decorate them. The last station was making a picture frame to hang on the refrigerator. They again got to pick all the details and have their own creations come to life. I think the kids had a good time doing these projects. I wanted something they could take home and enjoy and take pride in, because they did it themselves. After crafts, we sang to Adriana and ate the little finger foods I had to munch on. After everyone was done eating, Adriana got to open her gifts. She had a blast and truly enjoyed everything she got. We then let all the kids play with all the balloons. It was crazy, but they all had fun.
All in all, it was a good, fun party and I think Adriana truly enjoyed herself. Here pictures of her big party...



Pictures of the clubhouse before we decorated.
Since it was a "Toy Story" themed party, I had
the movie play in the background on the big screen.


The food table.


The gift table. (don't worry, the child got a lot
more gifts than are pictured).


The cake table. To help save a few bucks, I
made the cake and cupcakes.


Adriana dying to have a cupcake.


Buzz and Woody next to the cake. I wanted them
to be cake toppers, but they were too big. She
loves playing with her new Buzz and Woody.


Kids at the visor table, decorating their hats.


Decorating the bags to put their goodies in.





Adriana opening her gifts, she loved them all!


The balloon madness. It was so much fun!


One of many attempts to get a group picture.
You can guess how well that went. Lets just say
not all the kids are in the shot, but it was the best
one I had.


After the madness, we are still a family.

Adriana, we love you so much and hope you had a great time. You are forever our baby!

Valentine's Party

Today, Adriana had a special Valentine's Day party at school. I must have missed the memo on it being PJ day, but she looked cute anyway in her heart tights, pink shirt and Valentines "pretty" for her hair. I don't think any of them in her class fully understood what was going on, but they had fun. I went to school early to go to the party they had and the exchanging of the V-Day cards. It was so funny, as soon as I walked in a little kid came up to me and asked me if I had a baby in my belly. Well, not anymore but thanks for letting me know that I still look like I do, Got to love kids' honesty.

Although it was chaotic, it was fun to watch them all enjoy themselves. Adriana was surprised and excited to see me there. Here are some pictures of the party.

Side note: I thought it was funny, as soon as I pulled out the camera, I had kids lined up to have their pictures taken. They all must be hams at that age, glad to know that Adriana is "normal".

Adriana excited to see me at school.

Adriana and Miss Nikki. She is so good at being

animated when reading stories, singing songs

and being so good with the kids.

Adriana and Miss Laura. Miss Laura use to

watch Adriana when she was a baby in the

nursery and is so sweet with Adriana.

All the kids and their boxes, ready for the

candy and cards.

Adriana and her Valentines Box, not the best

but it works for last minute.

Finn, Adriana, Danika, and Erin. Finn is the one

who asked me if I was pregnant.

Adriana and some of her friends.

I'm still super busy this week working on Adriana's party. We'll have lots of pictures and write about next week. Hope everyone is having a good week.