22 1/2 months

Just a quick update on Wyatt. This post was meant for 22 months but since we are a few weeks late we’ll do 22 1/2. Wyatt is becoming such a big boy these days. He's talking up a storm and within the last month has really started using more sentences vs. single words. He shocked us a few weeks ago when out of nowhere he said “I see dada, I see” when wanting to look at the picture Gavin and Ryan were looking at. That was the first time he’d ever really put a sentence together. He’s definitely not as clear as Gavin was when he speaks though so sometimes we have a hard time understanding what he’s trying to say and get a giggle out of him because several of his words definitely sound like “bad” words so it throws us for a loop at first.

He is also very interested in using the potty and wants to try and go especially at night to be like his brother. I know we are a long ways off being fully potty trained but he has peed in the potty a few times and even pooped in the big potty last night. This gives me hope that he will be easier and quicker to potty train than Gavin was. Also, within the last month or two he has gotten about 6 teeth. All but one of his teeth are either in or poking through which means we will want to try and start weaning him of the paci soon. He completely adores it so I think it’s going to be much harder than it was for Gavin.

He still adores Gavin and wants to do everything with him and be just like him. You can hear him saying Brother Brother all the time because he wants Gavin to come over and play with him or look at what he’s doing. He has picked up some bad habits though like hitting and pushing so we are working with both of them on showing frustration in other ways. Wyatt is so cute though because even if Gavin happens to push him or something that causes him to go to time-out Wyatt wants to be right by his side sitting in time out with him.  Let's hope they stay best friends forever :).

O' Christmas Tree

We headed out to Reindeer Lane Tree Farm to pick out our Christmas tree this year and boy did we pick the right day!  It was in the high 60's today and honestly we probably didn't even need jackets.  The boys had fun running through the tree farm and it took a little while but we finally settled on a good one.

The boys had fun playing with stumps nearby while daddy did all the hard labor of cutting it down.  We now know next year to also check out the trunk of your chosen tree before deciding it's the one.  This one had a crazy trunk that took quite awhile to saw through and even ended us with a broken saw. 

The boys loved getting to eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate while we waited for them to bundle our tree up and they even got to sit on Santa's lap.  I wasn't quite sure how this would go but Gavin walked right up there and smiled like he was having the time of his life.  Wyatt started crying as soon as we set him up there but then i had Gavin hold his hand and he stopped crying but I think he was still wondering what in the world was going on lol.  Below is our final picture. 

We got home and got the tree in and decorated while Wyatt was napping and Gavin was having quiet time and surprised them with the finished product when they were done.  We wrapped up the beautiful day with some playing outside, a walk around the neighborhood and then a stop at Sheridan's for some yummy ice cream before bedtime.

Elf on the Shelf

We decided to try Elf on the Shelf for the first time this year. I found a cute idea on pinterest where you wrap up all your Christmas books and each night the kids get to pick a book to unwrap and read so I thought we would try this out and have our first book be Elf on the Shelf. I explained the plan to Gavin and let him and Wyatt open the first present last night and then we read the book to the them.

Wyatt wasn’t really paying attention but I think Gavin got the message. Then we had them look around to see if Santa sent an elf to our house and it took a while but they finally found him.

Next step was to name the elf and Gavin immediately said Ralph. I was really shocked because typically when we ask him to name something he either throws out something that is not a name or says Spiderman so I think we were both thrown for a loop when he came up with that one. We’ll see how much Gavin gets into it this year but he did have fun looking for Ralph’s new spot this morning.

Thanksgiving

So this post is a little late considering that it is officially December but better late than never right! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and have so much to be thankful for. For the first time ever we actually spent thanksgiving in Kansas City and Ryan’s family came down to celebrate. It was fun to get to host everyone at our house and the weather was amazing! Jenny helped me cook so the only big thing I was really in charge of was the turkey which we kind of failed at lol. Of course you shouldn’t expect much for your first time right :). For some reason our turkey took much longer than expected to cook so it wasn’t even ready for lunch which was a bummer but we had plenty for turkey sandwiches at dinner. Next time we know better to have it done early than late. The boys loved getting to play with their cousins and we got to spend quite a bit of time outside on Thursday since it was so nice and got some good pictures. We even got a picture of Ryan’s parents with all the grandkids which might have been a first ever.

Friday we played indoors and then headed down to the plaza to walk around and see all the lights which the kids loved. Saturday morning we had coffee and donuts with Derek and Jenny before they headed back up to Iowa and we had some chill time before my family headed down on Sunday. My cousin organized a fun outing to the Chiefs game so my aunt Renae and cousin Rachel headed up from Oklahoma, my cousin Megan and husband headed down from Des Moines and then both my sisters came down as well. My parents got stuck with watching all the kids :). It was wonderful football weather for being the end of November and although the Chiefs didn’t win we had a great time catching up with everyone. It has been way too long since I’ve seen those girls. Overall it was a wonderful weekend and we were sad to see it end.

Gavin - growing up so fast!

It’s amazing how much Gavin has grown up in the last few weeks. He just amazes me every day and makes me realize that he’s not a little boy anymore. One example is bedtime. The normal routine is that I go in there and tell a story or two and then it’s daddy’s time and he’s kind of a push over so he usually gets 3-4 short stories from him plus some back rubs which can equal a pretty long bedtime routine. Well the other day he got in trouble and was told no stories for bedtime. He of course cried and after a minute I went in there and we had a quick chat and I told him he needed to go to sleep. Shockingly after I left all was quiet and he put himself to sleep. The next day he was really proud of himself and told me that he went to sleep with no more crying after I left. When it came time for bedtime that night he told us he wanted to go to bed all by himself like a big boy and without any stories he walked in his room shut the door and went to bed. I was shocked! Now this hasn’t happened every night but a couple of nights since then which just shows how much he is growing up and wanting to make decisions on his own.


The other example is with drop offs at school. It has definitely gotten much better and quicker but every day I walk in to his room with him, help him hang up his coat and then we go over to the table for breakfast. Depending on the type of mood he’s in he either tells me to go right away or wants me to linger for a few minutes until he’s ready and he’s always wanted/needed us to walk him in. Well the other day when we were driving home from school out of nowhere he asked me why he can’t just tell me bye at the door and hang up his coat all by himself like all his friends (very interesting that’s he’s been paying attention to how the other kids get dropped off and wants to do the same). So I told him we could try that the next day and I could just give him a kiss at the door and he said ‘no they don’t give kisses!’ so I settled for at least a hug and he complied. So I was curious how the next day’s drop off would go and sure enough he wanted to say bye right at the door. I couldn’t believe it especially since his normal teacher wasn’t there which can sometimes make him a little uneasy. I lingered/peeked through the window to watch him to make sure he didn’t have a last minute change of heart but sure enough he took his coat off and walked over to the table all by himself! It makes me a little sad to think he doesn’t need me as much anymore but I love seeing him also be so independent and proud of what he can accomplish on his own and if he keeps this up it sure will be nice on those day’s that we’re in a rush and I don’t have tons of time to linger by his side :).

The other super cute thing that I love lately is when we are dropping off at school we always take Wyatt first and have to walk down this long hallway to get to his room. Wyatt always wants to do everything just like Gavin so he wants to walk instead of being carried but can be kind of slow sometimes and just linger. The other day Gavin asked Wyatt if he wanted to hold hands and walk together and they were so cute. Wyatt was loving it and giggling the whole time which made Gavin giggle and so now they walk hand in hand everyday down to Wyatt’s classroom. It is seriously the cutest thing ever and so fun to see those moments of bonding.

Time change

So usually I’m excited for the fall back because we get an extra hour of sleep but oh my that is not the case when you have little ones.  Of course Wyatt had to be the kid that got up an extra hour earlier so I started Sunday up at 5 am and it turned into the longest day ever lol.  Ryan and I seriously couldn’t believe it that we had both kids fed and bathed and were downstairs playing thinking it was about bedtime and looked at the clock to see that it was only 5:45. 

Our family has also had some tummy trouble the last few days.  Gavin stayed home from school on Friday because he didn’t feel well and poor Wyatt now has an awful diaper rash.  I just feel so bad because he screams in pain every time you change him :(.  If he starts fussing in the middle of the night we usually let him be and he’ll go back to sleep but because of his rash I feel like I need to rush in there and check his diaper.  Well he woke up crying around 12 and ended up needing a diaper change, poor guy!  Luckily he went back to sleep pretty quick after some cuddle time but then of course he woke up again this morning around 5:45.  He usually sleeps until almost 7 but I figured he probably needed changed again.  I got up and put in my contacts and then was heading over to his room and didn’t hear him crying anymore so I was going to peek in and see if he maybe fell back asleep but when I opened the door he made me laugh because he was standing in bed and just looked at me and said “poop!”.  I’m hoping we can get Wyatt back on his normal schedule soon.  Gavin on the other hand is loving this extra sleeping time and taking full advantage!!

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!  The boys had so much fun this year.  We started the festivities with trunk or treat at my work and both boys enjoyed getting to do some fun activities and Gavin really got the hand of trick or treating.  Then they had a fun Halloween parade/party at school.  We carved pumpkins at our house Monday night and then went trick or treating up and down our street on Halloween.  Luckily the weather was actually pretty nice on Wednesday and Gavin loved running from house to house but thankfully by the time we started making our way back towards our house he was ready to retire.  They each got to eat one piece of candy and both choose suckers and then we had some yummy popcorn before baths and bedtime. 

Trunk or Treat:

Carving Pumpkins

Trick or Treating.  Thank goodness for iphones since my camera battery died right before we went out!