The sleeping situation solved...

For many months, longer than we can remember or are willing to admit, we have been battling with Claire about bedtime. She did not want to go to bed when the boys did and she definitely would not go in her crib. We found our options were to either rock her to sleep for hours on end, which she still sometimes woke up from, or just let her "hang out" until we were ready to go to bed. In most cases, by then she was ready to crash. As you can imagine, we created a bedtime monster...and then to make matters worse, she started going to bed with us instead of her own bed because we were more desperate for sleep than she was!

After our spring break vacation week, we decided it was time to re-train the bedtime monster. After several failed attempts at SuperNanny solutions and stuck body parts in the gate at her door, we stumbled into an alternative solution.

Night 1: Brady upset by Claire being upset led to Daddy laying down with both of them in Brady's bed. They both went to sleep shortly after.

Day 2: Chris and I remembered that we did not have these bedtime battles with the boys when they transitioned to the big kid bed. Perhaps, the bottom bunk bed is magical!!

Night 2: Musical bed game began!! We asked Brady to go sleep in our bed, so that we could give Claire his bed temporarily. Claire only required a parent to lay down with her for about 10-15 minutes. After a couple hours, the music started back up for the kids to be moved to their proper bed.

Night 3-8: Musical beds is a nightly game with great success! Chris and I gained our evenings back!!

Night 9 forward: The game has changed. Brady has now decided that he will sleep on the top bunk with his brother and Claire can use his bed. For 3 nights now, they are all going to bed in the same bedroom at the same time and sleeping through the entire night.

Chris and I love the new sleeping situation! I have also officially concluded that Brady's bed is indeed a magic bed! As an added note, I find it quite interesting that here we are motivated to find a 4 bedroom home so that they each have their own bedroom and they have all piled in one room together! It's really sweet now, but I am sure it will change as they get older!

Connor's Girlfriend

Apparently for Connor, time does make the heart grow fonder. Last summer, Connor and another girl from summer school "claimed" each other as girlfriend and boyfriend. It was very cute to hear the reports from Brady and friends at school about the reported hand-holdings and several of the boys were on a hunt for their own girlfriend. At one point, there was even wedding plans being developed (for 20 years from now of course).  At the end of the summer, they had to part ways for the new school year and did not see each other again until December. During that time, Connor reported that she was still his girlfriend to Brady and apparently classmates.  When he finally saw her after a few months went by, he was very quick to remind her of their relationship.  Young love...so cute!

Over the last few months, they have had the opportunity to see each other more often during some fun activities and also for ice skating lessons. They are so cute together...I enjoy watching them grow up together and I hope they will be friends for a long time.

Reunion time...breakfast with Santa

How sweet that he chose this picture for his Christmas project!

Ice Skating fun!

Roller Skating Fun

IceMen Game

Claire's School Picture

When it comes to school pictures, I always purchase the smallest package because you never know what you are going to get.  School pictures usually fall in the category of driver's license and work ID pictures.  That has not been the case for Claire...another cute picture taken during school picture time!  I love it!!

Be Creative, but Specific

When it comes to chores, the boys aren't quite to the age where they are begging for chores for allowance money in return. They really only have one set chore right now as part of their role in the household and that is to gather one laundry hamper each on Friday night. Anything beyond that requires a creative pitch or issuance of a challenge. Apparently, it also includes being very specific...

One evening, I gave the boys an empty laundry basket and asked the boys to go on a scavenger hunt to collect towels for laundry and find out how many they could find. Next time, I need to be specific that the hunt was for DIRTY towels, not clean towels. Brady returned with a fully-loaded laundry basket of neatly folded, still stacked towels from the linen cabinet ready to collect his prize for the MOST towels collected.

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

Claire loves shoes...she will be found on a regular basis raiding the mudroom or someone's closet for the latest shoes to meet her fancy! She has tried out a pair of shoes from each family member with mommy's heels or Brady's boots being her favorite. It is so cute watching her march through the house with a "look at me" attitude!

Decisions, decisions

I can do this mommy without your help!

Runway model!

And we frequently find Brady like this...sporting one sock!  Why...we don't know!!

Icemen Game

In December, we had the opportunity to go to our first hockey game, played by our own Evansville IceMen in the D-Patrick suite at the Ford Center (thanks to my mom). The kids had such a great time that I put in a "special request" to my "contact at work" that I would love to go again in our suite.

In January, we were able to enjoy another great IceMen game along with some close friends (or should I say the boys close friends). The kids had a really good time enjoying each others company, the wonderful snacks, and the game. I love that we have a new family activity at a wonderful venue to add to our list!

Ice Skating Lessons

Chris and I like to allow the boys opportunities to try new activities; if nothing else to expose them to the activity so they aren't afraid. I remember the fear I had the first time I was asked to do something with my friends that I hadn't done before. Ice skating was the last activity that we decided to introduce to the boys. We had taken them ice-skating once and they seemed to enjoy it and Connor even became comfortable with working his way around the rink solo, so we thought that a 6 week lesson would be fun.

The lessons kicked off in mid-December with a break for the holidays and ended in late January. While the lessons weren't the typical ice-skating experience around the rink, it gave them the opportunity to learn the basics of navigating the ice. For 30 minutes, they worked their way from one side of the rink to the other learning how to skate frontwards, backwards, and squatting slightly. The first day also included a lesson on how to get up when you fall....I think I missed that lesson in my childhood based on my awkward attempt to recover when I fall!

Connor quickly became comfortable on the ice and the teachers did a great job of introducing more "advanced" basics to him throughout the lessons. Brady hit a discouraging patch in the middle, but came around during the last two lessons. He was out in the middle of the ice rink making an effort and really listening to the teachers.

While I would like to think this is a new experience we can have as a family, Connor and I may be the only two most interested in this as a family activity.

PineWood Derby - Congratulations Connor!

Connor participated in the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby in January. This was the 2nd derby that he participated in with the 1st one being the Space Derby last fall. The derby races are a great opportunity to work with Papa Ross and Daddy on converting his block of wood to a racing machine!  Check out his cool car that won him an overall 3rd place and had the occasional wins of 1st and 2nd during the individual races.  In addition, Connor received the award for Judge's favorite.  Congratulations Connor...way to go!!

Roller Skating Play Date

Photo courtesy of Allison Mooney

The boys have a group of friends that they know from Montessori and/or summer school, also known as the Vectren kids since all of the moms work together. Throughout the year, we try to schedule a play date with the kids that usually involves some physical activity and some stretch beyond their comfort zone (in other words, we try to make them old-fashioned kids). The latest suggested activity was roller-skating on New Years Day.

The kids had their first experience at roller-skating during summer school and the adults had fond memories of roller-skating back in middle school. I lived in Alabama during my middle school days in a small town that revolved around the skate rink schedule...I was there with my friends every weekend and every school holiday. So, what better way to kick off the new year than to spend an afternoon burning off some holiday calories and enjoying some quality time with my boys.

Apparently, not much has changed about the skating experience since my middle school years. You start off obtaining the easily recognizable rental skates, scuffed brown with orange wheels, that may have to be exchanged more than once for the proper fit and takes 15 minutes to lace up (or more if you are helping your child this time around). You then make your entrance in one of the many openings into the circular rink that never changes direction, listening to the various songs overhead picking out the songs that you know from the songs you don't, and watching the fellow skaters come and go from the rink or around the rink. The experience did not disappoint in bringing back memories with some of the songs played from my childhood and providing the opportunity to participate in the hokey pokey, chicken dance, and YMCA song.

The new experience this time around was the opportunity to create new memories with my two boys. After the prior week's ice skating date, I didn't have high hopes for success but I did have a new plan. Shortly after entering the rink, both boys immediately went into complaint mode. I was not accepting the complaints and instead followed my fellow parents leads in letting the kids hang out on the sidelines while we skated. For Connor, that was just the motivation he needed to get out there and keep trying. In no time, he was skating with the rest of us doing his own laps around the rink, taking the occasional break to skate with me, and taking the occasional fall. I never did witness the hand-holding with his "girlfriend" that was rumored during summer school, but I was able to get a picture of them together.

As for Brady, he never did muster up the courage to try or to join us and preferred to hang out on the sidelines. For awhile, he would express his dissatisfaction and desire to leave as I skated quickly by. After awhile, he gave up and I offered him the opportunity to hang out on the sidelines with a soda and a promise that daddy was coming to pick him up early.

We had a great time skating that afternoon and visiting with friends. While it may be awhile before Brady is willing to give it a go, Connor is definitely interested in returning and I am certainly open to the alternative workout opportunity.

Claire's Rough Week

Early Sunday morning, a week before Christmas, Claire woke up with a high fever and very out of sorts. We made sure she received lots of rest on Sunday in hopes that it was just a 24 hour bug. On Monday, she was still spiking high fevers, had a bad cough, and was acting delirious from the fever. We took her to the doctor and ruled out flu, strep, and ears. They said it was just a viral infection.

Fast forward a couple more days and mommy was having Deja Vu to Christmas 2006 when I spent a week home with Brady who was diagnosed with RSV. Claire was still spiking fevers and taking lengthy naps, so we took Claire back to the doctor for more tests...poor baby got a chest x-ray, blood cultures, and doctor pokes/prods. All came back negative pointing to a viral infection still.

We are now on Day 5 and Claire seems to be showing some signs of improvement. Fever is gone, but you can tell she still doesn't feel good. Good thing I was on vacation this week to take care of my baby girl or it would have been a rough week trying to juggle schedules. On a positive note, it has been somewhat relaxing having a cuddly baby in my arms the last few days...good opportunity to read and watch movies which I wouldn't have stopped to do otherwise. Hopefully, another day or two of rest and then Claire will be all better for the Christmas festivities.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Seaton Family! Hope everyone has a great Christmas with family and friends! Remember the fun times for 2011 and the fun times ahead as it goes by so fast!!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Chris only gets to share the same age with me for a little over a month...that's right, he is now a year older than me! To celebrate, we kicked off the weekend with a Friday night visit to his dad's house and then we hung out at his mom's house on Sunday for a birthday celebration that evening. I know there was some puny kids and a chaotic holiday party mixed in there, but I hope he had a great birthday weekend!

Self portrait...had to throw this one in!