Trials of growing up!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I got flowers from Jon and the kids, it was so sweet and made my day! We had cupcakes and Chick-Fil-A as treats. For Juliet’s friends we made friendship bracelets, which took a long time but it was time together.


When Juliet breezed through her twos with no issues, I thought “great, we missed the terrible twos!” Wrong, it just waited till the threes. Don’t get me wrong, she is still a sweet and loving little girl, she is just pushing limits she hasn’t before. “No” is a new found love word, “I don’t want to ___” is a common phrase, bedtime and bath times are a nightmare. We had to have a talk about listening in class and had to look for our listening ears because apparently we misplaced them, but alas they were found and haven’t had that problem since. Just typical things you go through growing up, I can hear my mom laughing now.

Juliet loves Puggles, she now knows 3 bible verses and the words to every kid song they sing. I love listening to her sing bible school songs that I grew up with and we can sing together. I even told Ms. Maryanna in church on Sunday that she is making a difference with her during song time. It makes me feel good to let people know that the hard work they do is evident in my child’s life. Mama and I took her to a Valentine’s tea party at On A Whim in Liberty, she had a blast. Check out her painting on Flickr.  That child loves art, reading stories and being a princess, which was what they did. She also wants her own umbrella when it rains, I am so glad Maya’s mom gave them as party favors. 

Nate is 7 months old. He is a little guy with a big attitude already. We are at that stage where everything goes in his mouth, I mean everything. He loves wipe bags because they make a lot of noise. He also mimics you. If you frown he cries, if you smile he will smile and laugh. He also likes to be close to Juliet, wants to grab her hands and hair. She hates it, wants to move away from him. I have to remind her that he will not hurt her, just loves her. He is trying so hard to be mobile, but goes backwards instead of forward. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. If you walk past him he holds up his hands for you to pick him up and follows you with his eyes if you walk past him.  His grin is infectious, it melts your heart. It helps to see it on nights like we have had lately where he is up every half hour.

Here's a funny for you, I put my 19.5 lb son in Baby Gap 3-6 month overalls today!  They are the biggest 3-6 month clothes I have ever seen!!

He is testing us

Nate is testing us, he has not had a bottle at all today.  I don't know what the deal is.  He would not drink for mom yesterday either.  It is really stressing me out because he needs the formula.  I have a call into the doctor, we will see what he says tomorrow...

Kiddos

I ordered myself this really nice, soft and warm blanket from Pottery Barn for a Christmas gift, well it has now been confiscated by my 3 year old.  Doesn't help that she has one almost just like it in pink, why does she have to take mine!!  Haha!  It's pretty funny when you step back and look at it, she is so happy wrapped in that blanket it is precious, and yes there is a picture.
We were practicing her letters in the tub tonight, she can write M,N,g,c,H,T,t,e,E,O,o,l,a,i, and a few more I have missed.  This is without having me write them and her trace them.  We are working on the J because she writes it backwards as a L and her u, well it needs help, but hey, this is pretty good for 3.
This weekends song was I'm in the Lord's army and This little light of mine, they must have sang it at Puggles, because that is all she wanted to sing this week. 
We have been fighting Nate at night trying to get him to sleep on his tummy because of his flat head, well he just hates it.  Most kids love when they get to sleep on their bellies, not Nate, he wants to be on his back with his hands superman over his head.  It is the way he is comfortable and happy... well too bad little man! 
He is a pro at sitting up and will try to get himself back up if he falls, he just hasn't figured it out yet.  He hasn't tried to crawl yet but pushes himself up on his hands and watches one of his friends in class very closely on how to try.  He can turn circles on the floor and in his bed, it makes him mad when he gets turned sideways in the bed. He is also a professional roller now and will go all the way across the room!
I have two happy children who are a mess!  This is short and sweet, but hey, it's something!!
Laura

Different diaper cakes!

I found this here: http://www.sweetaprils.com/2011/08/diaper-motorcycle-tutorial-diy-how-to.html  Loved it!

Motorcycle Diaper Cake Tutorial {DIY-How to Make a Diaper Motorcycle}

I finally decided to share a tutorial on how to make this beautiful diaper motorcycle (Diaper cake). I hope you enjoy it! This would be the greatest baby shower gift ever! I promise you that :) Email me if you have any questions!

**This tutorial is for personal use only. Make as many as you want for yourself or to give as a gift. Instructions and pictures are not to be copied or duplicated. Please do not sell diaper motorcycles made from this tutorial. You can place my link on your blog/website if you would like to share this tutorial. Thank you! {wink}**

Materials: 34 diapers Pampers Swaddlers Size 1 (17 for each tire), 8" cake pan, 2 rubber bands, 2 receiving blankets, 2 bibs, 1 chain link toy, a pair of socks or mittens, a baby bottle, 1 washcloth, scissors, pins, a stuffed animal, and decorative ribbon.

Make sure the gab between each diaper is even. See above picture #5? They are not even.

Pic #6: With one hand on top of the diaper, use the other hand to start pulling each diaper to the right until they all are even. Pic #7 is looking better...but pic #8 is perfect!

For pic #13: wrap each tire with ribbon of your choice. Place a pink to secure ribbon. The pin will at be the bottom of the tire. Do the same for the other tire. PLEASE NOTICE THAT THE FOLLOWING PICTURES DON'T HAVE THE RIBBON AROUND THE TIRES BECAUSE I FORGOT!!! I WAS TOO EXCITED! But make sure the ribbon is around the tires for the rest of the instructions. :)

Pic #14: Fold first receiving blanket in half...and roll it up like in pic #15 

Pic #16: If you want you can secure the end of the rolled up blanket with a pin just until you place the blanket through the tire opening.  

Picture #20: PLEASE note that we are working on the BACK tire.

For pic #24: Pull both ends of the blanket (following the arrows) to make sure the 2 tires are tight and the blanket too. Not too tight but firm. This will hold your entire motorcycle! Remember we are still working on the back tire.

For pic #25 place a pin in the inside of the tire opening securing the 2 blankets against the diapers. Make sure the pin is all the way in! then tuck in the remaining of the 2 ends of the blanket in the opining of the tire. You can see the finished back tire on Pic# 29.

Pic #26 shows the front tire first.

We are going to work on the handle now...Pic #28: roll up the second blanket...

Pic #29: Place the rolled up blanket through the opening of the FRONT tire.

Pic #35: If you would like you can roll up the wash cloth around the baby bottle.

To make the handle bars more stable follow instructions on pic #37 and #38

Pic #39: Put tissue paper inside the sock or mittens...it just looks better!

Pic #42: Place the other bib on top of the back tire.