Hellobee Boards

@snowjewelz: yeah, I would do the weekend before!

Heh, now I'm back to probably doing a joint party for both; it's just too time/energy/money consuming!

What's everyone up to! We've gotten into a pretty good routine, K is no longer tired/cranky after preschool and sleeps by 8pm so it's amazing! Her favorite activity now is pretending to be her teacher and boss us "kids" around!

Not a lot going on here. DD still has minimal interest in potty training. So just trying to ride that out.

Party planning has started for us, we're having it on December 9th, just family and a few close friends with kids the same age. I ordered the invitations yesterday. Can't believe how quickly it is approaching.

@Adira: yes to cleaning out toys before her birthday and Christmas. I feel like we are bursting with things now, can't imagine how it will feel after. The problem is DD notices the second something is gone, should be fun.

@Adira: I got rid of one broken toy last week, I told her we were getting rid of it, but she still freaked out. So now every morning she goes out to the living room and takes inventory of everything. So it will be a very painful, but necessary, thing to clean out toys. I'm thinking of maybe doing it after her birthday but before Christmas - she'll be somewhat distracted by new things

No date set for E's party since we won't do anything big, just family and have to work around Thanksgiving. (Last year we just hosted Thanksgiving dinner and did E's bday after that).
I am planning on a dinosaur theme though.

E has been a bit of trouble lately just b/c he loves his sister SOOO much, lol. He's constantly trying to hold her, pick her up now, squeeze on her, poor girl.

We moved bedtime up to 8:30 (from 9) because E takes soooo long to fall asleep at night! Almost an hour most nights. If we're in bed before he's sleeping, then he comes to our bed and it's a fight to get him back in his own.

@snowjewelz: Do you have a theme in mind for the girls yet?

@snowjewelz: you could do frozen for DD1 and winter one-derland for DD2. Lots of snow flakes would coordinate nicely with a frozen theme.

@snowjewelz: That's great that K1 is doing so well with preschool and the new routine - and a relatively easy bedtime makes everything so much better.

@Adira: @catgirl: I just purged a ton of stuff last week with the two big kids' birthdays and Christmas coming up. I decided we had to involve them in the purge because M at least would definitely notice. I chose some things that were non-negotiables and let them make some choices. Not the most fun thing ever but so nice to be rid of some things.

@MrsF: @josina: I have the opposite problem! K2 grabs and pulls K1 and pretty much latches onto her or uses her to pull up

@faithfertility: E's favorite is "but moooom, you NEVER let me xyz" in a total teenager exasperated voice. i usually just say, playfully, "you're right! and we're not starting now!" and then change the subject or ask her another question. and yes, i say that for things where she is being totally ridiculous too (like we "never" let her eat mango for a snack or something that we probably did just the day before. ha).

@adira: @mrsf: i tend to do the purge while they are at school. but then i have to deal with questions later about where something went! usually it's months after it's been gone but yeah, when i do stuff that they would definitely notice immediately, then i just line something up and say they have to pick 3 to keep (stuffed animals or whatever).

not sure what we're doing for E's birthday. it's 11/22, so we will probably have family here for thanksgiving on the actual day. she keeps talking about having a party at the gymnastics place (like K did in april when she turned 5), but i'm thinking more like family friends coming over for pizza

@FaithFertility: I just try, keyword try to not get riled up about it and causally move on, lol. K is suuuuper bossy. Honestly, now with two, sometimes I think I let her get away with too much!

We have 3rd birthdays coming up!!!

On that note, I want to send a little something to Sandy in remembrance of Ava...I’ll send an email I think I have everyone.

@winniebee: I'm so behind on birthday planning!
We will celebrate with my family on Thanksgiving since we're hosting, and DH's family on the 26th (E's birthday). Dinosaur theme.

@Adira: Good luck with potty training! E was super easy but we basically let him hang out outside naked a couple times to figure it out. Peeing outside made it fun.

@snowjewelz: hahaha

@Adira: we ended up potty training this past week - it was very unexpected! DD had zero interest in using the potty a few weeks ago, in fact she would generally cry when we would encourage her to try. But a couple of weeks ago out the the blue she wanted to start using it before her bath. Then last week she started asking to go during the day. After a couple of days of dry diapers (other than nap/night) we switched to underwear. So far so good, all pee in the potty and no accidents. She won't poop in the potty yet, she asks for a diaper. But we are just going with it for now.

As far as her birthday party we are having it December 9th; invitations have gone out, I've started decorations but have a lot more to go, just working on the menu now. Mostly family and just a couple of our friends who have LOs the same age.

@catgirl: This is what I'm waiting/hoping for!!

@Adira: Awesome progress! Maybe he'll be fully trained by his birthday (or birthday party)? How's planning going? E's is next week and I've done almost nothing besides pin some ideas and the invitation/sign designed.

So we made some progress with potty training over the weekend. After refusing to using the potty in the morning and having an accident, I broke out the bribes! I offered him a couple skippers (basically m&ms, but peanut/tree nut-free) every time he peed or pooped on the potty. And we had ZERO accidents after that for the rest of the weekend!

@josina: Fun! But very low- key. None of the in-laws were able to make it, so it was just us, my parents, and my brother. Which the kids loved because they like smaller gatherings. Logan boycotted breakfast and lunch and waited all morning until he could get into his cake, haha. Which he LOVED. And Xander was obsessed with all of Logan's new toys and games, haha.

And crazily enough Logan didn't go potty ALL MORNING. I thought for sure he was holding it because people were over, but he didn't even pee in his nap diaper and then peed on the potty after he woke up!

@MrsF: Definitely! We had fun! And I know my parents liked being able to get all the kids' undivided attention.