I'm going to pack better lunches

Hayes started a 'preschool' this week. It's for 2 year olds, so they can't be learning much. But our pediatrician said it might help Hayes get along with others. In other words, it might teach him not to cold cock punch a kid in the face for no reason, or push over a boy who's just minding his own business, or pull a girls hair who's just sitting quietly etc. These have been common activities Hayes has pulled while at play dates, play grounds etc. He's independent, strong willed, defiant and we are trying to learn how to channel it. This pre school might help him learn to obey authority better, and develop social skills that don't result in immediate punishment or removal from the party.
His first day went a little rough. Several altercations, I guess. Lost of shoving, violence etc. for no reason. My concern was that he would get kicked out in his first week. The teachers were very nice, but you have to do what's best for ALL the kids. And if all the kids are getting bullied for no reason, someone might have to go.
Today was day 2. I prayed for a better report and I got it! There were still issues of unprovoked violence on Hayes' part, but overall, not as many. When I hear my child ONLY attacked another child a couple times, this is a GOOD THING!
However, I think I may need to pack Hayes a better lunch. When I was a kid, my mom packed the worst lunches. Well, at least from a kids standpoint. They were super healthy and dry and bland. Everything was from the health food store, or Aldi's. Which isn't fun or cool. NO ONE ever wanted to trade their oreo's or doritos for my rotten banana or whole wheat pretzels that were probably stale. Now that I'm a mom though, I caught myself doing the same healthy lunch for my two year old. WELL turns out, the other children had the 'good' lunches. With some cookies.
So today while the teachers had their backs turned, and before they could stop him, Hayes made a run for it. Did a lap around the table of little kids and stole their cookies right out from under them. Had someone's chocolate milk (I, of course packed him water) in his mouth before anyone could get to him. Kids were crying, but it was too late. Oooh Hayes, I think it's safe to say he's not making any friends in there yet:) But man, is that pretty freakin' funny!!

Honest Abe

Do you remember the story of Abe Lincoln when he walked like miles in the snow (I don't know history well) to return like a few cents that the store owner had given him extra by accident? Well, he did. And that's where he got the name honest Abe. That's one of the few academic things I remember from my school days.
Today, I went to the bank. I was taking out a bit of cash. She handed me my cash in an envelope, sent a sucker through for Hayes, and we went on home. When I got home, I noticed she gave me more cash than I asked for, but didn't debit that extra from my account. So, I called the bank and told them of their mistake. Now, before you go thinking how honest I am and what a good person I am, know that I did this partly because it's the 'right thing to do'. But if I'm being 100% honest, partly because I thought maybe something good would happen or I expected the bank to pat me on the back, spread the word on what a wonderful customer I am, and THEN just let me keep the $100 anyways for being honest!
Haha, I actually love better how they handled it. They asked me drive all the way back to the bank and return the money. Meaning, pack up your two car-seat riding children, into the rain, and drive back to the bank. And then give them the money back.
One of those moments where I checked myself. I had to realize that if we decide to do the right thing for the wrong reasons, we may as well have done the wrong thing. ;)

How to get a baby to sleep through the night

Both of my children have slept through the night (for the most part) by 6-8 weeks. Lots of people ask how I do it. Here's some tips in case I forget or am not around to help out my little Bria when she gives me some grand babies! These are tips from the NEWBORN STAGE(first couple weeks). If the baby is older, I have many tips for that too. But remember, I'm no doctor. Or actually, even expert for that matter. So only treat me like one if this works for you;)

1 Feed them every 2 hours from 8am-6pm.

Starting at 8 am, wake the baby if she is sleeping. Wake her and feed her. Even if she 'falls asleep at the wheel', try and tickle her, take off her shirt to rest against you etc to get her to wake and at least get a little feeding. Don't force it though.

2 Starting at 5:30, give her a sponge bath. Docs say don't bathe every day, I do. They will start to pick up a pattern. Also, they sleep ALL day and are barely active. This will wake them up and wear them out one last time before the night. Rub 'em down with some baby oil so their skin doesn't get dried out.

3 Give them one last feeding. In the room they are going to sleep in, with the lights down, sing a song..one that can always be sung at bedtime. I think they will start to associate it with bedtime eventually.

4 Let them sleep on their tummy if they want. Again, docs say NO. But when I was a baby they said NEVER put a baby on your back. I think our bodies rest best when they are most comfortable. For me, and turns out my babies, it's on their tummies. Not all babies LIKE tummy sleeping though.

5 When you get up for night feedings, try and keep the lights low, room quiet. Change their diaper FIRST. This will wake them up a bit, but it's better now than right after they've eaten and fallen asleep again. Otherwise you wake them up all over and it can be difficult to get them to settle again.

6 Introduce a paci or get them to self sooth on their thumb. Again, only if they don't settle easy on their own. Do this if they are fussy and can't fall back asleep at night. Get them used to it, so when you lay them down without the comfort of your body, at least they will still have something they like.

--Things to try to get a baby to shut up when you know she's tired. And you know that if her diaper is changed, full tummy, she's not sick or uncomfortable. That means all her needs are met, so she's probably crabby because she needs SLEEP. Rock her, shush her, bounce up and down, hold her over your arm on her tummy, run water in the sink, walk her in a baby wrap and DON'T transfer her to the bed/resting place until she's been in a deep phase of sleep for awhile. REM sleep.

Baby food jars

Oh Hayes, if you ONLY knew how MAD your dad was today when he had to plunge the toilet numerous times, make a trip to the Home Depot, tear the toilet completely off so he could fix it, OR if you only knew how much disgusting human waste I had to bleach off of our bathroom floor, or the bathroom mats I threw away, or the Juicy Couture (It was a gift from being in a wedding) velore suit I had to throw out because of the sewer mess...Well, if you only knew what this all entailed, maybe you wouldn't have thrown..not one, but THREE small glass baby food jars down the toilet. But then again maybe you would have?

Running

My daddy was a great runner. He jogged in the snow, in the heat, in the sand or wherever he could. He always kept himself in great shape. Him and mom did a lot of 5k's growing up. Mom would just walk, and barely beat the 10k runners. In fact, she said she saw them coming up on her while she was getting close to the finish line. So she decided to start running herself, and cross the line as if she was one of the first 10k runners to finish:) Adam and I did the Wenona 5k with mom and dad one year. I would say I was about 9 and Adam around 11...his very 'husky' days. It was an extremely hot, humid day. I'm pretty sure we were just doing a 1 mile 'fun run' for the kids. But it really didn't matter, because Adam ended up in the Ambulance they had sitting there for such an occasion. He got heat exhaustion, or at least faked heat exhaustion to get out of the heat and into the only air conditioned room anywhere for miles. I, for one, was not upset at all. Or even worried. See, I remember thinking he was faking. And I would typically call him out on it. But this time, I let it ride because I got to stop running and sit in the ambulance with him:)

I took up running again after my dad died. Steph, Abby, Sarah and I would get dropped off at 116, and run back to the house, giving the illusion that we had run all the way to 116 and were now running back (when really we had just done the way back), all timed perfectly of course to when most of the boys would be driving home from football practice. Running came kind of surprisingly easy to me? And I remember feeling regret that I hadn't done it more, or tried it with my dad while he was alive.

This year Brittany got me to sign up for a 5k and I'm happy to say that I completed it. Barely. In fact, CJ was waiting with the kids at the finish line, with Brit who had already been finished for 5 minutes. He was getting worried. He told me later that he thought I gave up and was crawling around looking for a pay phone or that he should start driving to go find me. Sheesh, it only took me 36 minutes! And when Brit spotted me in the distance, CJ didn't believe it was me. He said I 'looked terrible, and sick''.

Well, that had to have been true because that's exactly how I felt. I still don't know which mile was the worst? I figured the first would be easiest. But then I saw the sign that said 'mile 1', and I couldn't believe it. I remember feeling like I had been running for at least an hour and was already sick of the songs on my ipod. Then I just kept waiting for a water station so I could use it as an excuse to walk (as to not spill the water, duh). But that water station didn't come for like 2 more years! AND the water was warm and was like drinking sand because I needed more! But I couldn't just hang out at the water station.

Then mile 2 I thought about my dad. I kept looking up into the sky for him. And I have to say the temperature was perfect, and the sky was so blue. I was just looking up and running and wondering if he was running. Wondering what it would be like to run with him someday. Sounds beautiful and inspiring, but it only lasted like 3 minutes until that feeling of barfing came back. Then by the 3rd mile I was just completely pissed off. I just was mad at myself that I allowed myself to be stuck in this stupid race for the next mile. Mile that was taking forever. My ipod songs weren't distracting me enough. Nothing was motivating me. I thought 'oh, maybe I'll envision the kids at the finish line waiting for their mommy to come leaping across'. That didn't work because then I got depressed thinking that this was the first time I had been away and alone from them in a long time and I was wasting it on this stupid race.

Anyways, I finished the race. And I sped up towards the finish line, looked over at my family and acted like I was going to throw up. I thought it would be funny to make a barf sound. Well, I pissed my pants when I did that. No joke, pee came out as I was crossing the line. Then I picked up Bria and wanted people to see how little she was so that maybe people would be thinking 'wow, did she JUST have that baby? What a woman she must be!''

Bria 4 months

Bria, you were 4 months old yesterday! And I forgot to take a picture with one of my crappy homeade signs. But I am writing this, and I will post a picture too.

You have to be the sweetest baby, ever. You wake up smiling, you go to be smiling. You don't know a stranger, and your favorite place is in someones arms. You are starting to laugh at your big brother. AND he has made big strides with you! He now asks for you a few times a day "BEE-AH". And he is the first to let me know if you are making noise and up from your nap. He held you for about 4 seconds this weekend. That was the first time! After the 4 seconds, he started to say 'No, No...' It was sweet while it lasted though.

You are still sleeping 12 hours straight at night, with exception to last night when you woke up about 6 times. You have a little runny nose and you wake up every time you roll over onto your back. But we just roll you back on your tummy, and you take your little fist and put it in your mouth and start sucking. You are really starting to like tummy time too!

Last week, your daddy checked on you before he came up to bed. Then he came in our bedroom and said the sweetest things. He looked at me and said "I love her so much. Does she do anything wrong? I don't know, I just want to buy her everything she ever wants!" We love you, Bria!

Spoke too soon..

Hayes, add to these last 7 days:

-You pulled the 5ft coat hanger down on top of you and were trapped under it.

-You did a face plant into concrete while pushing a toy truck. You cried for less than 30 seconds. Today, when I was tickling you and you were laughing really hard, I saw your teeth. Your front, top, 'most popular tooth' is split almost in half and looks like it's about to fall out. It's Sunday, and tomorrow's a holiday. So we have a message into the dentist....