Princess Hannah

Sam found Hannah's hair stuff and decided to give her a bow and a headband - then he said "Look mommy! Hannah is a princess!"   =)

Hannah's first art

I know this is hard to see but I gave Hannah a black crayon and some paper and let her draw - she actually got some marks on the paper before she tried to eat the crayon - haha

The Target Diet

Have you ever been on a Target Diet? It’s one of the hardest ones out there – I haven’t tried it before but I am starting tomorrow – gonna stick it out for 28 29 days (leap year) and see what kind of results I have. What is the Target diet?  Its simple – you don’t go to Target. Yep, that’s it!  I am staying out of Target for 1 month – YIKES!!!  This is going to be hard for me… and Sam!  Sam loves going to Target with me – we have lunch, walk around, act silly…. Yeah its gonna suck!  Will be interesting to see if I have extra money at the end of the month…..  Wish me luck =)

Life with a Toddler




Painters tape on the table

 

Someone is turning ONE!

My little peanut is turning 1 in a little over a month - which means the party planning begins!

I had bought a tutu at Target (because every little girl needs a tutu) but I didnt LOVE it - so then I looked at Etsy but didnt want to spend $25 on one when I could make one for $8 - so I bought the tulle and elastic and went to work

I decided to do 4 rows of pink then 2 rows of white and in between the white I did some bright pink ribbon - it was so easy but it took FOREVER!!  Now I know why the tutu's on Etsy were $25!!  Anyway - it turned out sooo cute and Mark was impressed with my mad craftiness =)

Then I made her hat - also pretty easy to do and once again turned out cute

So, there is your sneak peek at my party planning for Hannah Bannana - hope to see you there!

Is anyone listening?

Now that I have a toddler I have learned that there is a big difference between listening and hearing – I can tell Sam 100 times to pick up his toys or it's time for bed and he just stares in space….NOT listening….However he hears EVERYTHING!How do I know?  He loves to use the phrases we always use on him such as:

When Sam is trying to get my attention he says “Look me in the eyes mommy”  --Yeah , mark and I tell him that all the time

When Sam asks me a question and I say “uh-huh”  Sam says “Don’t say uh-huh use words”

If Sam asks for something and we don’t answer right away he says “Are you listening? Do you understand me?”

Ahh... toddlers!

Conversations with Sam

I dropped Sam off at school today and as I was walking out the door….

Sam:  Mom, mom!
Me: Yes?
Sam: Be careful out there!
Me: (smiling)  ok, I will!  See you later!
Sam: Mom, don’t drive in the snow
Me: (laughing) ok buddy, I wont!
Sam: Ummm, maybe you should have a turkey sandwich for lunch
Me: (what?? Laughing)  Ok that sounds like a great idea!
Sam: Yeah that is a great idea
Me: Ok bye
Sam: You forgot my kiss
Me: oops  (big kiss)
Then Sam waves goodbye to me ♥ 

 -------------------

After I put Sam to bed …..

Me:  Ok, goodnight Sam, I love you
Sam: No!  Don’t say “I love you” say “I love you Sam”
Me:  I love you Sam…. Was that better?
Sam:  Yes
Me: Do you love me?
Sam: Nah, but I like you!

Guess I will take what I can get – lol

Oops!

Dear Sam,

I am sorry.
I was cutting your hair like I always do and then I decided to just trim a little.bit.more and then it happened….. gasp!... oh crap!   You had no idea and happily got in the shower when I was done.  I do feel really bad.  Several people have asked me if you cut it yourself…but I am honest and tell them “nope it was me”….sigh.  What is it that they say “The difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is 2 weeks”  - so just 10 more days and you will look fabulous again! Again, my apologies. You’re still super handsome in my book =)

Love,
Mom

Finally some snow!

Besides that freak snow storm in October we havent had any snow... until now!  It was going to miss us but then the storm moved just enough for us to get about 3 inches - Sam of course was thrilled and wanted to go outside right away! He watched daddy shovel then he decided to shovel the yard =)

Then a freak blizzard hit us.....

or maybe it was just the snow blower..... lol

We turned Sam into a snowman

Then Sam did a little sledding in the back yard - which he loved too!



Projects

When Hannah naps on the weekends I use that time to do special projects with Sam - here are a few we have done in the past and one from today - he loves them and as soon as Hannah goes to bed he asks me if we can do a project =)

The first one was going to be a discovery bag for Hannah but it didnt work out so I just squirted the shaving cream on a cookie tray and Sam had a blast playing in it!

 

 This time we did make a discovery bag for Hannah - we went around the house and looked for fun things - pretty ribbon, confetti, pom pom balls, shiny green bag filler and a few other things - it turned out great and Hannah loved it

This project was from today - Bird seed hearts

First I made some hearts on cardboard then cut them out

Sam covered them in peanut butter then added the bird seed

Then we took them outside and hung them up

 



Home with daddy

cant get this pic to turn the right way....

Life with a Toddler

tantrum anyone?

One thousand one hundred ninety-one days

Sam's eczema has gotten really bad - its mainly on  his butt - so every night when I put his diaper on for bed he cries cuz its itchy and then he asked if he could go w/o a diaper - so I said yes and crossed my fingers hoping for the best (meaning he wouldnt pee in the bed).  He woke up the next day dry - YAY!!  After a few days his eczema looked better too - double yay!!  He has been 100% diaper free (24 hours a day) now for over 2 weeks and still no accidents - so his last diaper was on Dec 27 - which means 1191 days in diapers or 3 years, 3 months, 5 day.  Just like when we daytime PT him in June I was sooo nervous to take the leap but once again I let him take the lead and decide when was the right time and once again he did great!  Way to go Sam!

Flashback Friday

I came across this picture on my computer and got a good laugh - I think it was around June and Sam would NOT leave Hannah alone so we had to put a barrier around her - LOL

Helping Out

Sam wanted to help feed Hannah - I guess I should have put a bib on her =)

Life with a Toddler

sam rearranged my pantry

The days are long the years are short

I am sure by now everyone knows what a high needs little guy I have – since birth he has kept me on my toes and with the arrival of his new sister things got even more challenging….2 kids 1 mommy doesn’t always mix well. 

I try to take things “event” at a time – let me deal with this one issue first – although on a daily basis there could be 10 issues – its exhausting – but don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t give it up for the world.  He has his good moments – I get a surprise kiss or a hug – he tells me he loves me the best – walks over to piper and rubs her little old head – brings Hannah her nonni when she cries – those are the things that let me “somewhat” forget the “other” things…..

I see other kids his age who are just so well behaved and I am like really? Is that normal for a kid to sit there all nice and quiet??”  LOL  Meanwhile my little guy is running around like crazy – creating chaos wherever he goes – sometimes I wonder why God picked me to be Sam’s mom – what was he thinking?? 

 Most of the time I feel like I cant handle him by myself and it makes me sad – but also thankful for Mark who does a great job with him! Anyway I came across this video and sat down to watch it once the kids were in bed and I cried….alot…. I felt relieved….I felt like I wasn’t alone anymore….I felt like my kid was “normal”…. And its so nice to hear at the end of the video that at some point all those crazy toddlers turned into pretty awesome kids!  Yes!  A light at the end of the dark (and sometiems scary) tunnel!

Now I must say I have already seen one HUGE change and it has been wonderful….fabulous….stress relieving…..supercalifragiliscious…. oh ok you get what I mean…. Sam started daycare at 5 months and those early months I think he was too young to cry at drop off but once he moved into a new room at 12 months the separation anxiety started and it never.stopped.ever.ever…. until about a month ago.  Yep, Sam cried, held on to my leg for dear life while the teacher pulled him away from me every day.  At first I felt bad for Sam but then it got old and exhausting on me – I knew his teachers and I knew he loved school (when I picked him up he didn’t want to go home!)  but drop-offs were a nightmare.  Sure we would have a random “ok” drop off but then the next day back to his screaming and crying….. then out of the blue the first week of December I dropped him off and when I left he walked me to the door and then shut it – then waved goodbuy and blew me a kiss… then walked back to the table to eat his breakfast….. OMG!!!!  It was heaven – I didn’t want to jinx myself but I thought – is this it?  Is it over?  Almost 3 years of tears and with the click of a switch its over?  Its been a month almost and I am happy to report drop off’s are still going perfectly!  It is sooo nice to kiss him goodbuy and leave with no tears in sight!

So after watching the video I have so much more hope that “this too shall pass” and am trying to enjoy my little guy every day… the good and the not so good!

Hannah loves her big brother!

10 months old

Since I started doing these monthly pictures this was the hardest one!  She kept pulling the sticker off every time I put it on - I had to call Zac to help me distract her!

Hanging with Daddy

Happy Birthday Mark

Happy Birthday Mark!  Sam wanted to make daddy some cupcakes  - he did a great job mixing all the ingredients

He loved licking the mixer - didnt we all do that as a kid? =)

Helping Daddy blow out his candle