Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We have certainly kept ourselves busy today as we celebrated St. Patrick's' Day and the color green. :) It started with Green Eggs that were well received by our Little egg lovers. Then we watched the Veggie Tales video about St. Patrick. I highly recommend it. :) Next up was our painting project with the color green! Naturally bath time followed. ;) The boys wore green and pulled different Shenanigans. And we even squeezed in some brownie making with green sprinkles on top. Barker has informed me that brownies are his favorite! He also told me that Daddy doesn't like chocolate but he does like ham salad. I suppose that's a good substitute...  Oh and after the kids went to bed, this Momma topped the homemade brownies with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum. So, it was a tiring day, but a good one. I love having something to celebrate. :) Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

I Love February

In Florida, February was easily my favorite month. It was warm (but not hot), breezy, sunny and just perfect outside weather. Also, it reminded me of early summer in the Midwest. =)

Moving to Indiana I anticipated our first winter back in ACTUAL winter would be rough. But I have to say, I'm still enjoying it!

In all honesty, we haven't gotten too much snow and ice, just a couple weeks in early December. I have missed the sun a couple times, but never enough to regret our decision to move back. As January was ending I actually got a little sad that we hadn't seen more snow! But, I know that Indiana can get dumped on in February, so I was hopeful. ;)

Last week there was rumor we would get a little snow, but when it actually started falling and STICKING on Wednesday, I was excited! Knowing it wouldn't last long (just two days later they expected it to get back to the 50's again) I suited up the kids and we went out in the snow. =)

My best attempt at a pic of them in their snow pants

It was actually a pretty warm snow. Perfect for play and silliness.

We even attempted a snowman! haha

Then, a few days later, it was warm, in the 60's and I got to run outside!!

It was seriously beautiful outside and just the perfect temp to be running and enjoying the sunny day with a slight breeze. There were so many kids and bikes and lots of laughter. I felt like I was running through a suburban movie set. Seriously, it was perfect.
(And after playing outside, the boys took 2.5hr naps!!)

We even got in a little family walk on Sunday as it started to cool back down again.

A little fresh air before nap time today. ☀️👨‍👩‍👦‍👦#indianalife #ilovefebruary #familytime

A post shared by sharalynnh (@sharalynnh) on Feb 12, 2017 at 10:10am PST

So it may seem silly, but now I love February in Indiana too. I'm loving that the unpredictable weather can give us something as magical as snow and something that soothing a warm sunny day for play, all in the same week.
I know I've complained about the weather not being able to make up its mind in the past, but I'm actually pretty into the unpredictably of it! For February at least. Come Spring, I want more warm days for running and playing outside. ;)

Fun Friday: Valentine's Fun!

This morning I wasn't feeling very motivated to get much done today. But then it occurred to me that we're 3 days into February and I'd like to get some use out of ours Valentine's decorations. I brought up the few items we had and Barker was very excited. It didn't seem to make a big difference in our big house though. Then I remembered we hadn't done an art project this week and I still had a bag of valentine stickers and paper, so we decided to make our own decorations! Both boys seemed to enjoy the project.  Barker liked counting hearts and then became obsessed with the glue stick. Beckett drew a little on the paper but had more fun digging in the crayons and spilling them all over.  (Yes, I let him stay in his sleeper all day.) Then it was time to hang up our decorations! Barker helped me decide where to hang them. It was a fun and silly morning. Then (after nap time) we made the valentine cookies I got earlier this week! Of course, Barker couldn't wait and was eager to help. And Beckett woke up just as they finished baking.  Yummy! What is even more amazing is that Barker helped me clean up! (His shadow was there too ;)) So I am now ending the day with a decorated house and clean dishes.  Happy Friday to me!

Sleep- My New Wonder Drug

I forced myself to get to bed at a decent time last night and woohoo, I'm feeling productive today!

I was able to think more clearly with the kiddos in the morning and had waaay more patience with them. In turn, they played nicely together all morning! 

I'm feeling productive (making calls, setting up appointments, going on a play date, working on laundry and a splash of dishes).

And you know what else is awesome about sleep? It works well on toddlers and babies too! Barker (for the first time in maybe a week) actually feel asleep at nap time instead of wondering around his room and sneaking out to the hallway! I'm predicting he'll be able to follow directions much easier this evening.

All this to say, I love sleep. I think I'll try to continue this trend... 

#morningperson 

Meh Days

Today is a day where I am having a hard time feeling motivated to get anything done. Every time I've actually managed to get myself to the kitchen to clean, I've been interrupted by someone. (Usually a cute little boy, sometimes a dog.) So, today I think it's okay that my main accomplishments are feeding the children, putting some picture frames out where the Christmas stuff was, and putting some currains on the rod that Brett hung last week. Brett is cooking tonight, and for now, neither kid is crying. I also just survived two days of a sick 3yr old (stomach issues) and an active 1yr old, so I think it's okay. I'll be productive tomorrow. Oops, the 1yr old is crying for a snack. Gotta go! Happy New Year.

Trick-or-Treat Practice

Today we started playing "Trick-or-Treat."

Barker thinks it's just a fun game, but in reality, it's accomplishing so much!

1. He gets used to wearing a mask
(because toddlers don't like to keep hats, masks, sunglasses etc on their heads for too long)

2. He becomes comfortable and familiar with the concept of Trick-or-Treating
(He is typically pretty shy)

3. He practices good manners and is taught what is expected from him

I often try to prepare Barker for new situations, but there are also many times I don't even think about what is completely new to him because to me, it seems normal.  How can I expect Barker to follow directions in a new setting when everything is new and overwhelming to him?

Back when Barker was an infant, I read an article about practicing opening presents and saying thank you whenever Christmas and birthdays are coming up. Basically, teaching your child to be grateful and thankful and not make faces if they don't like whatever is in the package. Now that Barker is just shy of 3, I can actually execute this idea!

First, I peaked his interest by putting masks on his stuffed animals. (And Little Brother)

Then we got out his new bucket. (Thank you McDonald's!)

Next, I set up the closet door like a house. I told Barker to knock on the door and say, "trick-or-treat" then I would give him pretend candy. After receiving the candy, he would say, "thank you," and I'd close the door.

At first he just stood there. So I prompted to get him to talk to me a little. He also thought it was super fun to pretend Legos are candy and to put them in the bucket.

Next, I let Barker be the person at the door and I was the trick-or-treater. This is where he really had fun. He liked answering the door and putting candy in my bucket. Then, I started acting whiney, mean or demanding. I taught him to say, "no candy for you" if I was not nice. Naturally, that then became his favorite part. haha

So there you go, we practiced our manners and discovered what trick-or-treating is all about. Barker has a new favorite game, and hopefully he won't be too shy as he goes out on the 31st.

Now, let's keep our fingers crossed that he is happy to be Gekko that day! Lately, he has started to choose Catboy over Gekko, but the costume is already ordered! lol We'll practice dressing up once it arrives...

Sleeping Through the Night

With baby number 1 people started asking me if he was sleeping through the night when he was just 4 weeks old. It became one of the most asked questions when people would see him. Even strangers would ask about how he was sleeping.

In the end I didn't let it bother me too much. But, I wondered, what does sleeping through the night even look like for a one month old? Is my infant supposed to be sleeping 12 hours already even though I'm nursing?

Getting my little one to sleep through the night became this momentous task and finally, by 9 months I got him to sleep through the night. It took some work, but we got there.
Naturally, it ended shortly after he turned one and he's never been the best sleeper. He is now almost 3 and still wakes up almost every night. (Not necessarily crying, but he just doesn't want to be alone.)




When baby number 2 came along, people asked different questions. I actually can't remember anyone asking me if he was sleeping through the night etc.

I did get a lot of strangers mentioning how I had my hands full when they saw me wearing an infant and holding the hand of a 2 year old, but that was mainly it.
(I just want to formally apologize here for any time I may have said that to someone over the course of my life. Personally, I love big families and kids close in age, so whenever I said it, I was coming from a place of "your heart must be overflowing" and thinking "I hope my hands are just as full one day." But after hearing it so many times, I totally understand how annoying it can get! It also feels a bit judgy.)

Anyway, I didn't put much pressure on sleeping through the night for baby 2. I guess I was just used to getting up anyway and nursing the baby back to sleep was easy compared to trying to get our toddler to sleep in his own bed or not wake up at 5:30am.

Beckett (babe #2) has also been a rather inconsistent sleeper too. He slept through the night a few times when he was 5 months old, but it never stuck. So, I just figured he must be going through growth spurts and teething and didn't worry too much about it. I knew he's get there eventually.

With #1 he woke up at the same times every night so I knew it was out of habit. #2 is all over the place so it's hard to know if he really needs to nurse or not. Especially because I know he has had to go through transitions like moving. Plus, I'd rather nurse him to help him sleep that give Tylenol when he's teething.

Anyway, all this to say... This week I decided it was finally time to really work on getting Beckett to sleep through the night. He is 11 months now so...he really shouldn't need to wake up at night.

Sunday night I went to bed ready to let him cry it out and push him to sleep then...nothing happened. He slept through the night all on his own! Not a peep!
Monday- same thing.
Tuesday- not a peep...

Now he has gone 5 nights in a row without waking up! Seriously! Apparently all I had to do was decide it was time and he just did it!

Whatever the case, I am thanking God for answering my prayers and enjoying this new sleeping through the night transition. (Also praying he'll keep it up!)

Sweet Dreams!