Man Cold

When I saw this video I just about died laughing. I don't know why but it seems like girls handle colds better than guys do. At my house I seem to be immune to all the diseases that come in and out of the house but poor Matt seems to catch every little bug- and he doesn't handle it well. Maybe it's because I am exposed to it all day long, or perhaps because I find myself washing my hands every 10 minutes-expecially after wiping noses all day long.

Right now we are stocking up on vitamins and cold/flu medicine. We are also gargling salt water and flushing our sinuses with nasal flush rinse -which is my all time favorite "NOT"!!!!

So the next time your guy gets a nasty cold just rub his forehead and say "poor little bunny." I just can't wait!

Is it just me or do guys handle colds worse than girls?

Dare Devil

I think when Jake grows up he is going to be a professional stuntman. This is not the first post titled "Dare Devil". I mean what kind of a kid comes up with this kind of stuff on their own? Do all normal boys do this kind of stuff?

And yes of course I told him to get down because he was going to fall and did he listen? Let me just say he didn't get hurt too bad. Lesson learned because he didn't do it again:) Sometimes kids just have to learn it the hard way.

Finally some Peace and Quiet

I just wanted everyone to know that LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN!!!! It has been an emotional traumatizing and difficult week for both of us. I am so happy and relieved to say that Aiden has finally given up on his bottle. I can't believe that it took 6 hard days! And I did not give in ONCE. The only reason I didn't cave in during this time is just the thought of having to go threw that again made me want to go hid in a dark closet.

I know he hasn't forgotten about it because he still goes and sits under the drawer of where the bottles were kept. I think the biggest thing that helped was buying a sippy cup that he could suck on like a bottle. It took forever for him to accept it but now he is eating and not crying so that is WONDERFUL especially for me.

I forgot to mention in the previous posts that Aiden didn't want anything to do with me during that time. He only wanted Matt, and must of been really mad at me especially during the first 5 days. Now he has seemed to forgive me and LOVES me again.

After taking the bottle away he has decided that he doesn't want anything to do with his crib. Maybe its because he has spent the last 5 days screaming in the dark at the top of his lungs. Or maybe it was a painful reminder what was taken away from him. All I know is before the whole bottle thing he loved his crib and loved to sleep and NEVER cried-even when he wasn't tired. For one he learned how to climb out of it during his fits of rage and so one night I decided to let him sleep in Jakes bed. It worked like a charm. He cried at the door for like 2 minutes and then climbed up on his bed and fell asleep.

I think I have learned a hard lesson here. No bottles after 14 months!!!!

Day 4

When I came home from game night Aiden was still up and it was 12:00 a.m. He cried (I mean screamed) until 1:30 a.m. I think he spent the night sleeping on the floor because when I found him he wasn't in his crib. Poor baby.

Bottle Woes

I'm sure all my neighbors are concerned about Aiden's well being. Only because he has spent the last 3 days crying at the top of his lungs for his bottle.

Aiden is in love with his bottle. I have tried twice to get him off it and now that he is 2 he really should be off it.

The first 2 times I only let him have his bottle when he was in his crib. We have watering down his milk until it is just nasty water with a tiny bit of milk. I have tried giving him only water. But he doesn't care because then he just sucks air from the nipple and doesn't suck the liquid.

How is it going? Lets just say now I know why people get their babies off of bottles at early ages. I have weaned lots of daycare kids from the bottle but Aiden is by FAR the hardest kid I have every experienced.

The first day wasn't so bad. He definitely wanted it and let me know it. He only cried at night for about 45 minutes and then fell asleep. Not too bad.

The second day. He screamed for it all morning. No tears but a loud piercing "I want it and you better give it to me cuz I'm not going to quit screaming until I get it." By noon he was exhausting from all the screaming. I put him in time out twice and that just upset him more. To make matters worse he has completely boycotted every sippy cup, and refuses to eat food. So he is hungry and mad at the same time. BAD COMBINATION. Everything I give him just makes him more mad. Matt describes it as punch drunk mad.

We first saw this side of Aiden when he was 12 months old. Aiden fell and bit threw his bottom lip so Matt took him to the ER and in the waiting room Aiden kept grabbing his sippy cup and flinging it accost the room. Turns out that the sippy cup had orange juice and I took the stopper out so he could suck the juice because of the pulp clogged it. So Aiden is seeing RED, and orange juice is all over the room. Serves them right for making him wait for hours!

Back to the bottle.

So yesterday was the second day he had gone without his bottle. He cried a good portion of the day. I sent Aiden with Matt to young mens so that I could have a break from him. Turns out he was just fine with Matt and the second he gets home Aiden runs to the draw that had his bottles and started to FREAK OUT! PUNCH DRUNK MAD!!! I keep showing him that the bottles are gone and offer him a sippycup with chocolate milk, or juice and every time he grabs it and throws it. Then he sits down under the bottle drawer and cries. Then he brings me to the bottle drawer and again freaks out. Nothing soothes him. So by that time it is like 9 o'clock which is past his bed time so I put him in his crib and he starts to freak out. I read him a couple stories-he is mad and crying the entire time. I'm sure by now the neighbors are worried and any second we are going to get a phone call regarding why we are torturing him. Next I sing songs-still mad. By then my head is ringing so I kiss him goodnight and off goes the lights. -note: he normally never cries when I put him to bed.

The next 2 HOURS he screamed at the top of his lungs in his crib. He feel out of his crib once and I even took him on a car rid hopefully trying to get him asleep. Well I made it one block and turned around because he was screaming so loud I thought my head would explode. So I put him back in his crib and continues to act out of control. I let him cry for about 1/2 hour and then I rocked him until he fell asleep in my arms. Then when I put him in his crib he woke up and back to the screaming. By then I was so frustrated and wanted to cry but there is no way I was going to give in because I am not going to go threw this again!!!! He cried for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep.

Today is day three and this morning was also bad. He cried for about 2 hours. He would only take milk from a cup (but it couldn't have a top on it) so I had to follow behind him to clean up any spilled milk-which was a lot because he is still mad and spilled it when he walked. For nap time I gave him a treat and his sippy cup and he actually drank from it so I think we are making some progress. Tonight is game night so I will be gone when I put him down which is good because Matt seems to handle the crying better then I do. I think that after hearing him cry for like 3 days straight is just emotionally exhausting.

He seems much happier today and is even laughing! I am so glad because I don't know how much more I can take.

Out with the Old in with the New

Before Aiden was born I made a blanket. It was red and white made out of furry fleece and I made it so I could have a warm blanket during the winter for the couch. When Aiden was born he fell in love with it and decided to claim it as his own special blanket. The problem is it weighed like 20 pounds! So I cut it in half and took out the batting but it still was too heavy for him to carry. He gets so frustrated every time he tried to walk with it because it was too heavy for him to carry so it drags on the ground and gets very dirty. I tried buying him other really soft blankets but NO it was clear he wanted this old nasty blanket. Did I mention that it takes up the entire load to wash it. Did I mention it isn't soft anymore? And it always gets filthy because he drags it everywhere-because it is so heavy. So for his birthday I decided to trick him. I made a much smaller blanket out of the same red furry fleece but the back I used regular fleece. He had no interest when he opened it. In fact for the first few days he didn't want it and would cry for his old blanket-which disapeared into thin air. But now he has finally accepted it as his own and it is SO NICE. He expecially likes putting it on his head. And did I mention its small, and soft and it doesn't stink. Good bye nasty blanket.

Happy Birthday Aiden !

Typically for birthday cakes I slap some tasty frosting and poke it with a few candles and call it good. After seeing my sisters teenage muntin ninja turtle cake I decided that I should make a fun cake for my kids b-day. I made a construction cake just to see how the kids liked it. Jake kept saying "WOW." Aiden also got really exited when he first saw it and kept pointing to it. Then Jake tried playing with the trucks and I was forced to put it away. And of course when I took it away their were a few tears.



We had Matt's family over to celebrate his birthday and had a ton of fun. Whenever they come over my kids get all wound up and totally act like they are on a sugar high. They absolutely love them. I was taking this video of Matt playing with Aiden by swinging him back and Aiden has laughing really cute. Then my mother and sister in law starting to laugh like crazy and you will see why they were laughing. Just keep your eye on Jake's stick.

Video coming soon!