Hellobee Boards

@photojane: I was just coming to ask you how the party went. I missed the pics last night. It looks so great!! When is her actual birthday?

I was thinking about getting a pinata so the kids, just family, had something to do besides running around outside. I might print some coloring pages as well. But you might have just convinced me to get it.

Side note, where did you get the red buckets for the Al's Toy Barn pic? They would be perfect for R's Mickey party. I can add the white dots to look like his pants.

I really need to get to crafting. I think we are doing her party March 7th now.

@Adira: That's the best!!!

@photojane: Looks so fun! I love all the details and Sadie looks so happy!

Pinata is a great idea!

We've had two good nights of sleep again. Pete's cough is back in full force and we are back on a nebulizer 3x/day. I have such mom guilt because it turns out that the nebulizer I'd been using this winter is broken and he hasn't been getting any medicine! My husband stayed home with yesterday and pointed it out to me. We bought a new working nebulizer last night and he is finally sounding better this morning. Mom of the year here!

@Smurfette: Thanks! I know he's fine but I can't believe I've been making him sit with that mask on and no medicine coming out! (head smack) Ah, well. You live, you learn.

Hope R's green snot doesn't mean she's about to get sick!

Winter feels ten times longer as a parent. Is it spring yet?

@photojane: What an awesome looking party! I love all the details! Looks like she had a lot of fun.

@QueensBee: Ooops, don't feel too bad about it, these things happen. Glad you had a couple good nights sleep.

@Smurfette: Hopefully it is not a sign that she is getting sick.

I can't believe these kids are turning 2! Yikes!

We are finally getting consistent better sleep (I hope I didn't just jinx it). He is sleeping until almost 6 most days. Sometimes he wakes up between 4-5am, but if we just go in and tell him it is still night time and to lay back down he goes back to sleep.

@ALV91711: yeah they have a class party next Friday. I did them for her class last year. I was the only parent that did them since it was the infant room. Last year I did bubbles. This year I am doing glow sticks.

@ALV91711: Valentines Day is not something that is a big thing here. Maybe the ladies will get some flowers/chocolates from their SO but then that's it. Glad to hear that sleep is improving for you guys too!

@QueensBee: Dude yeah, I'm so over winter! Although B loves playing in the snow and the days are getting considerably longer already. But it's been really cold and windy so I haven't taken J out much. Definitely looking forward to getting out of the house more soon!

B has a really stuffy and runny nose again and a cough as do I. I really hope we can spare J this time. She really doesn't have to have two colds under her belt before she's even a month old.

@Adira: In the past I have found them at Party City and Michael's for $1. So I am hoping I can find them this weekend. My neighbor said she saw them at the $1 section at Target as well.
@Pumuckl: Hope he feels better soon and no one else gets it.

@ALV91711: Wow, happy that sleep is improving for you! Ours is slightly better but we still have him in bed with us for a few nights each week.

I think our daycare is also expecting Valentine cards although they are not mandatory. Pete loves to paint so we've been watercoloring a few cards each night. Hopefully we'll have enough ready by next Friday! I plan to glue a little pop up heart onto each one and a short note on the back.

@Pumuckl: I hope you're feeling better soon! Only a few more weeks until spring...

@Adira: are you just giving the boys valentines? R has 6 others in her class. I just ordered 100 glow stick bracelets for $9 on Amazon. I will keep the extra for summer time and bath time fun.

@Adira: I would just do the class he is in. I am sure the teacher would write the names out for you.
We have parent/teacher conferences in the Spring. We had one in September.

@Adira: yeah they are in the middle of the day. It sucks. I have to take a half day to talk to the teachers for 20-30 mins.
Her teachers said that she spelled her name for them, with prompts. They said she recongnizes a lot of letters. She counts too. She does none of this at home for us!! I can't even get her to identify colors.

We almost had a successful potty trip today. Isaac told me he had to go to the bathroom. So I took him upstairs and put him on his potty. He didn't pee but told me he was all done. So I told him to go to his room for a diaper. I went to his room and he went into the spare room and peed on the floor. I was happy that he did recognize the need to pee, even if he did go in the wrong place.

@QueensBee: cute invitations!!

I was cheap this year and sent family an invite on FB. Her party is Mar 7th now. I have to get crafting and planning.

Sunday DH took the monitor during nap time and I went into our room to nap. I woke up an hour and half later and heard her happily playing. DH said she napped 30 mins and woke up cause she pooped. By the time he got her, she stuck her hand in her diaper, so it was over her shirt, face, and hands. I am so glad he had to deal with that!

@QueensBee: Those are ADORABLE!

How early are you guys sending out invites? I probably need to get on that soon.

@Smurfette: 4 weeks sounds about right. I'll stick them in the mail next month, then!

They're all made and ready to go, though. I'm doing postcards, to save on some cash. I would just text everyone, but with elderly family and the like, we have to do something tangible

We're doing chocolate chip cookies. lemon bars, funfetti sandwich cookies, and an iced shortbread cookie. And ice cream! I'm tempted to add some sort of oatmeal cookie, too, but I have such a tendency to overdo it, I'm holding back!

@Smurfette: Thanks! Gotta love Etsy

@Smurfette: Her pic with the pigtails is adorable. I can't believe only a month until she is 2.

@blackbird: All the treats for your party sound delicious!

The 2 year old attitude is really starting to shine through these last few days. It is exhausting. Everything is mine and pushing things away, slapping the table or wall when he's mad, crying, whining, you name it. I think part of it has to do with tiredness but I don't know how to get him more sleep. He's getting about 11 at night and apparently a 2 hour nap at daycare. Tonight we put him to bed at 6:30, since he won't sleep in but will still usually get up at the same time if he goes to bed early.

How are all the others doing with their attitudes?

@ALV91711: I actually think Pete has become a little more reasonable recently. I feel like I can reason with him more now that his language skills are better. It has me thinking that maybe the worst is behind us? Ha, I am probably naive and overly optimistic!

He still throws a big fit when he has to get dressed for school each morning, and there's definitely no reasoning with him for that. But I think our mornings are just too rushed and he needs more time to transition.

I forgot to turn the volume on the monitor last night, so we woke up to our alarms at 5am and Pete was sound asleep. I think we may have inadvertently made him "cry it out" since we can't hear him cry without the monitor. I am curious if he will be better sleeper tonight since sleep has been rough around here since ohhh... September!

@Adira: So sweet that Xander is protective of his little bro! You are going to have so much fun watching their relationship grow this year!!!

@ALV91711: Our daycare requested that no one send in sweets with the Valentines and I was happy about that! They made heart shaped pancakes for the class party and the teachers handed out some healthy banana/oat cookies, which felt like the right amount of treats. He got one pencil and one thing of playdough in his valentine bag but mostly just cards.

Sleep has been on and off. He slept through the night in his crib three nights in a row (bliss!), but was in bed with us at 2am last night. However, we lost his last pacifier yesterday so he went to bed without his "bup bup" (his word for paci) for the first time since he was a newborn. Since he did okay without the pacifier, we are going to try to see if we can quit it cold turkey this weekend. He hasn't had it all morning but DH has been trying to put him down for a nap for about an hour now with no success. Not sure how napping will go without his beloved bup bup!