Happy Birthday Connor! The big 5!

My baby boy turned 5 this month! As everyone knows and always says, it goes by so fast! We celebrated Connor's birthday with family and friends at our house (as requested by Connor). We had coloring pages from Connor's favorite show, Dinosaur Train, and trains and dinosaur toys out for play. The kids ran wild throughout the entire house, the adults visited, and Connor was happy that he had a nice birthday.

Thank you to all of our friends and family for making it a special day for Connor and for the great gifts!

It's January...Big Boy Changes are in order!

January in some ways was such a blur with all the year-end work commitments which is why I am severely delinquent on my blog updates. However, it was also a big month for our oldest, Connor. We had been telling him for months that when he turns 5 in January that things would be changing.

First change...BIGGER BOY BED! In preparation for the boys' new little sister, we have been telling them that when Connor turns 5 he will make the transition to the top bunk of the loft bed in Brady's room. Connor was super excited and immediately caught on to the fact that it was now the "Boy's Room" and would refer to it as "our room" to Brady. For Brady, it took a little more getting used to and a lot of questions about why Connor keeps calling it our room. The final transition of clothes and toys finally clicked with Brady. Connor has done great - he climbs up the ladder to bed and sleeps just fine. The only complaints I hear is that "the other wants to talk to me when I am trying to go to sleep". They are both guilty of that charge. Hey - that is what makes sharing a room with your sibling so much fun!

Second change...booster seats and movement to the 3rd row of Mommy's SUV. Need to make room for a future baby carrier in the 2nd row (and Connor was outgrowing his car seat)! Knowing that we had to move BOTH boys at the same time to prevent arguments and hurt feelings, we made a big deal about daddy getting the booster seats in position for them one weekend. The boys have since made the 3rd row their own space taking full advantage of the cup holders, trays, and middle seat for toys. They still need assistance getting the seat belts fastened, but as soon as you get to your destination they are ready to exit the vehicle (which is nice for me). As an added bonus, I can sometimes barely hear them and their conversations.

Happy New Year...new round of Sicknesses

After spending the last couple weeks with family for holiday celebrations, we decided that a peaceful evening at home for New Year's Eve was the best thing for all of us. The boys were ready to be home for an evening where they weren't being rushed to bed without their nightly activities of shows or Wii. So, we spent the evening relaxing with the boys and playing the Wii. After they went to bed, we opted to watch a movie which actually went past midnight. Yeah - we made it past midnight!

That evening, Connor awoke in the middle of the night with the stomach flu. This lasted through Friday evening. Saturday morning, Brady woke up with the same thing and lasted most of that day. They didn't have a fever, seemed to still have their normal energy level, but nothing settled with them. That evening, around 11pm, it hit me! I had it the worst, which I can only assume was due to the pregnancy. I was sick about every 30 minutes and couldn't even keep down water. All day Sunday, I had no energy, the body aches, nausea, and ended up developing a fever. Chris joined me that day with the body aches, lack of energy and fever, but never did get the stomach part. Connor and Brady were on their own for the day - good thing they know how to be somewhat self-sufficient.

As you can guess, we spent the entire weekend at home. We did get all of our Christmas decorations down, but that was about it! That Monday, the boys all returned to work and school while I spent one more day resting and making sure this had passed. Since then, we have all been back to normal (other than the normal pregnancy stuff). We all received our flu and H1N1 shots, so I can only assume that was some mild version that we all had to suffer through. I am hopeful it is behind us (and I won't finish the rest of this statement for fear of a jinx).