Spontaneous Naptime

Poppi has found his way to get Bear down for a nap. He puts on soccer and Bear will climb into the recliner and sit in between his legs. As the game goes on he will sink lower, and lower, and lower and then Poppi will kick out the bottom and a new nap place has been born!

Round 1 Goes To Bear

Okay. The score at this point is Bear 1 Parents 0.

Not worried, though. We're the parents...we're going to have many many wins when Bear's a teenager and wants to do things. I'm practicing it now..."Because I'm the parent and because I said so!"

We've been trying for the past two months to ween Bear off nursing at night as his method to go to sleep. We put a crib in the room next to the bed and adjusted it so that his mattress was level with our's. After the first three weeks like that, we lowered the mattresses and I had the pleasure of putting him to sleep since he couldn't nurse off of me. It worked great that way for some time. He'd wake up and fuss, I'd rub his back and talk to him, and he'd go back to sleep. He would, of course, still nurse throughout the night at selected times b/c he still did need to eat, but not the point where he would have to be in bed with us.

In the past two weeks, he's resisted our efforts to the point where he wouldn't go back to sleep and would really have a fit if I didn't pull him out of the crib and hand him to Abbie in order to nurse or at least to let him lie on my stomach and chest to go to sleep.

The little bugger has both mine and Abbie's stubborn streaks, I'm afraid.

Abbie's friend, Jamie, told her that he's going to be more stubborn than us and to keep trying, although most children should be weened between 18 months and 2 years. Bear's only 15 months...not quite in the range where we can let the little bird leave the nest. So last night, I raised his bed back up and went back to the original method we had where his crib was his bed, but Abbie could nurse him as needed just by rolling over onto his mattress.

We'll ween him eventually. But he's not eating his solid foods as well as we'd like, and its a fight we've decided we would rather fight later on.

The Aftermath of Our August Adventure

After our August Adventure we returned to Raleigh and the boys literally crashed. Coop got the sickest I have ever seen him. He had an extremely high fever and he had such horrible chest congestion I wasn't sure if he was having an asthma attack or not. Three times I had the keys out and we were going to the emergency room but then he would suddenly be up and walking around and not in distress. It was an extremely trying and scary day. I can't even count the tears all three of us shed. I ended up putting both the boys on the futon in the living room and that's where we stayed all day.

The following Monday Bear got sick . He woke up vomiting on me and was out of it for two days. I joke because when Cooper is sick he just wants to lay there with you but he is pretty quiet and sleeps it off. Bear is a whole new ball game. He wiggles, he worms and he does this pitiful little whine just to let you know how miserable he is. He is such a light sleeper as it is when he's sick it's even worse!

Thankfully they both made it through that ordeal. Just wait till I tell you about our beach trip!

August 2007 Adventure

Our dear family friend Al Santiago had just had his surgery for prostate cancer and took me up on an offer to cook him some food. So I packed up the boys and off to Grandma and Grandpa's we went! We had some nice weather and played out on the patio with Grandma and Grandpa.

Coop thought it was the funniest thing to try on Grandma's glasses. Good thing Grandpa was there to hold him up :-) On Saturday the day of furious cooking and running around began. I got a late start to Whole Foods and had to frantically call Katie to come over later. Katie, Bruce, and Emily came over to keep Coop and Bear occupied while I cooked. Of course I forgot chicken for the um chicken soup and spices so Bruce made two trips to the grocery store for me. I'm so thankful for Grandma Kathy's kitchen because it had everything I could need but I still had to figure out the oven and temperatures and it just all took so much longer than I could have imagined. Next thing I know Al is calling because he's going to be heading out soon and I need to get over there soon. Food is still cooking and Coop is now napping and my helpers have left. What to do? I pack everyone up sleeping and head over to Al's! About halfway there Bear will just not stop screaming so I pull over and he has exploded in his diaper. It's all over his outfit and I have no change of clothes and only one yes one baby wipe!! So we showed up at Al's with Bear in his diaper and Cooper still grumpy from being woken up by all of Bear's screaming. They take over his townhouse and make Al climb up and down his stairs (he's not supposed to be doing that!) so they can explore. Amazing how you take baby proofing for granted. I felt horrible because I really wanted to be there helping him and instead I felt like the food was probably going to taste horrible and the boys just weren't cooperating with our visit so we packed it up again. As we were packing up the most amazing thing happened. A butterfly just softly floated around Al then around me and then around a wind chime that my mom had given Al. I literally drove away in tears because as hard as the trip had been I knew mom had been there helping.
Sunday we packed up again and headed for a trip to visit with Chris. She had just had a surgery for cervical cancer and we wanted to check in on her and her family. The boys were great and I got to spend a little time with my friend. Just what the doctor ordered (for me at least). Then we headed home and believe it or not I think the boys have gotten used to traveling they do it so well now.

July 2007 Adventure (Really Long)

After Sully Bear’s birthday party we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with the Grandparents, Aunt Kat, and the boy's cousin Lauren.
Coop loved Grandma's recliner. Sadly this was his las time in the chair as it's now broken and gone! (Below) Sully trying to get in trouble with the painter's ladder.

Aunt Kat got to snuggle with Bear as he was clear he preferred her nap for a lap!

We were so excited to be invited to stay with Emily for a few days while Jim went back to work. (Katie and Bruce’s) Katie was being thoughtful and didn’t want the boys to drive all the way back to Raleigh and then turn around on Wednesday and have to drive the 6+ hours to upper Maryland. Katie borrowed her dad’s mini-van and came all the way out to Haymarket to pick me and the boys up. (Thank you Katie I know that was a ton of driving!!) She also had to save me and figure out how to collapse Lauren’s pack-n-play. She didn’t realize how much work she had to do. Did I mention she had to install the car seats too because I’d never had to do it?

The first night was a bit more difficult then I had anticipated. Getting Bear and Coop to go to sleep at the same time not so easy in a new place. I think they stayed up till about 10 when they normally go down at 8 but they were just way too excited. The next day Katie and I had big plans to go to Burke Lake and take the kids on a train ride. We had to make a stop at Wal-Mart. With three kids, two mom’s and a mini-van it took a lot longer than you would have thought! Then we headed out to Burke Lake and no joke by the time we got there all three kids were dead asleep.

So we drove around Burke Lake with me joking Katie about how I thought us staying with her was supposed to eliminate time in the car! It all worked out though because as we drove in there was a big fat sign saying the train was out of order so we drove around and found a playground and waited for them to wake up. They must have felt us staring at them willing them to wake up because finally Coop and Emily woke up and we took them out to the playground where they shared the tunnel and went down the slide. Then Emmy wanted to go on a super secret path on a super secret mission to the lake so she lead the way with Katie and Coop in tow as I waited for Bear to wake up. Bear and I met them down by the lake where we threw sticks in the water and Coop kept saying, “Wow.” Then we took another super secret path while Katie and I sang the Backyardigan’s song “Secret Agent’. Yes, it was a clue that we may like that show more than the kids. Back at the house Katie had lots of fun games for the kids to play. They pulled out the parachute, blew bubbles, played video games and drove Emily's little car.

Later I got to watch all three kids by myself while Katie ran out for a minute. Katie had me all scared because Emmy had never really stayed with anyone but the grandparents without having a fit. She didn’t want to share her train at first but then she did and she was so proud! She came up to me and told me how she had shared her train and she was, "Very brave." Then we had to find her treasure for the pirate ship and that meant we had to find the map. I tore the place apart looking for this map. Not sure why I thought it was a good idea because I had no idea what it even looked like. Then I came across the treasure and Emmy was willing to pretend she had found the map to get to the treasure but I didn’t move on fast enough because then she decided she needed to have the map again. All the while the boys were playing and tearing apart the play room but I didn’t care as long as Emmy didn’t cry! Luckily Katie came home found the map (in the backpack where it was supposed to be- go figure) and saved the day. I realized that while I would love to have a girl (even have the name picked out) I can barely handle two kids let alone three!!

The next leg of our trip was to head to Maryland (last exit before Delaware) to visit with Logan (Jamie and Andy). We got set up and enjoyed Logan’s awesome playground and pool. We thought the boys might be tired from our travels but they had a whole new room of toys to destroy and a train set. The boys were in heaven. The next day we had a wonderful pajama day where we got to play and relax and do some FreedomRocks work. Every time the dog, Max, would come in Bear would pull tufts of his hair out and just squeal in total delight. He was so excited about the dog it was really cute. (Luckily Andy came home and took the boys outside to play in the sandbox, they were going a little stir crazy by the afternoon.) I found the difference between the girls playing and the boys playing so fascinating. Logan was super helpful letting us know if the boys were getting into something they shouldn't be or if they needed help but he didn't care much if he had their attention or not. The independent play was so different then when it's with girls.

The next day we packed up again and made the trek to Gordonsville, VA to visit with Carly and Cason (Chris & Kevin). Again we thought man the boys are going to be so exhausted and annoyed with all the driving, but they showed up and saw a whole new playground and new toys to play with. Not only that but there were cats to chase. (Poor, poor cats.) Cooper learned to ride a little scooter, Sully enjoyed the trampoline and found a new favorite nap place in Cason’s swing on the porch. The next day the boys delighted in the pool. Cooper was brave and wanted to go down the slide. The first time he slid into Jim’s arms and happily went to do it again into my arms.

Unfortunately all thirty pounds of him came a little to fast for me and he went right into the water. (Oh my god- want to talk about guilt.) He was fine, not even a tear, but man I felt so bad! Carly and I got some good snuggle time in. She let me read her three books to her before bed even though I couldn’t sing I feel like I got an A for effort! Who else but a little 4 year old girl can get two grown men to play Barbie twister???

After all our traveling Jim wanted to wake up in our own bed on Sunday and have a day to get ready for the work week. So we packed up again and headed home Saturday afternoon.

We have the most amazing family and friends and were so blessed to be able to do a visit like we did. We have super amazing boys! They were so easy to travel with and it was just so wonderful to spend time with my dear girlfriends and to have our kids hang out.

We’ve decided to make that an annual trek!!

Sully’s 1st Monihan Birthday Party

We made the trek to NOVA to celebrate Sully Bear turning one! It was an amazing get together of friends and family. Some of mom’s friends came and made it even more special as her presence was just really felt. The boys flitted around as they love to do and basked in all the love and affection showered on them. We had a bubble machine, took the birthday quiz, and opened a gazillion presents. Then the boys went right upstairs and fell asleep utterly exhausted. Our only lesson learned is going forward we can only serve foods that the boys can eat. Cooper has gotten very good at reaching onto the serving table and they both broke out pretty bad after the party. We are thinking of making little signs to pin on their backs that say, “Don’t feed the boys.”

It was a wonderful birthday party. We are very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to help us celebrate!! Thanks to everyone who came out and was a part of Sully's special day!

Highchair Hijinks

You can't tell in the picture but Cooper was actually feeding Bear his food! He will try to eat it himself and then I tell him it's for Bear and he will turn and give it to Bear with this huge grin.

The reason Bear can't be put in his highchair without being strapped in!

Where's Bear?

Day At The Zoo

Mud Puddle

Day At The Park With Auntie Susan