sooooo....i've been busy over here at the lucy household raising babies and such. it's a great gig. it really is exactly what i want to be doing, but i've little time or energy to blog by the end of the day. but i really don't want to quit. i have used this as a "baby book" for a year and a half now so i want to keep going. which means some posts will be the long, catch up kind.
anyway, first of all (and i say this with my fingers crossed while knocking on my wooden side table over here) sarah kate's bedtime avoidance issues are no longer. let's hope they are extinct and not endangered. we don't need those episodes to be few and far between - we need them to be dead. a couple of things have happened that contributed to our relapse in peaceful bedtime routines. first, sarah kate went through an AWFUL (and i do mean awful) time during the first week of school. i thought she was either a)becoming bipolar or b)entered into the terrible 3's with a bang and was going to be a miserable person until july 6, 2013 when she turned 4. i was concerned. i knew part of the problem was her new routine - took her a little while to adjust to the school schedule after coming off of a laid back summer schedule. but that excuse can only go so far so i knew it was time for an INTERVENTION! we've made a change in our parenting around these parts. we've really focused on positive reinforcement. i used it in my classroom and it worked. does it create perfect little robot children who act like angels 100% of the time? absolutely not. i don't want her to be perfect. if she were then i'd be bored. my job is to parent....and i'm a busy girl. so anyway, negative reinforcement still exists in our house. she still has to go to time out on occasion (although that really isn't effective for her). she still looses her dress up clothes from time to time (that is quite effective). but our main focus has shifted to praising her (over the top) for the things that she does right. i stole an idea from another blogger's blog - called "warm and fuzzies." if sarah kate does something really good (using good manners is the #1 expectation here) or if she brushes her teeth, says her prayers, goes to bed and STAYS in bed then she gets to put a "warm and fuzzy" in her jar. when the fuzzies reach the "fill" line then she gets a reward. she has reached the line 3 times since we started. first 2 times she chose frozen yogurt as her reward. the 3rd time (yesterday) she chose a spaceship bird feeder that she had been eying at michael's. like i said, she is not perfect (who is...i'm surely not) but she is learning! i also thought this system would be a good precursor to having a responsibility chart and eventually, earning an allowance.
i do think 3 is a difficult age and in order for me to enjoy my job i have to be the one in control over here...not my 3 year old.
and (again with fingers crossed and while knocking on wood) sarah kate continues to love her sister so much. she is so good with her.
in other news....
my mom came up last thursday and stayed through the weekend which was great and so helpful because trey left on friday for his golf trip. she kept the girls thursday night for trey and i to go out to dinner. it was our first date since hayes was born!
she kept hayes on saturday afternoon for me to take sarah kate to see finding nemo in 3D. we had such a great time! we got a big bag of popcorn and really enjoyed our time as a twosome - just like "old times." =)
sk's letter of the week was "c" this week. instead of getting creative she just wore a cow dress to school on wednesday and then we went to starbucks for a cake pop. and she took "crunchy crunchy carrots" as she likes to call them to school with her lunch. next!
on sunday sarah kate really wanted to bake a cake. right. well, i don't bake but i did have a blueberry muffin mix on hand so we made those. she loves to help in the kitchen!! i've only made blueberry muffins 5,000 times so i have no idea where we (i) went wrong this time!!!
ha!! we actually still enjoyed them all week. sk had one for breakfast each morning - i just cut the top off and the rest was tasty. i think i put the oven on the wrong temp. i am plagued by baby brain. so far in the past 5 days i have burned muffins, forgotten about sk's open house at school (i made it very late after a friendly reminder), and i accidentally bought the cottage cheese with pineapple chunks to put in my lasagna. i am lucky that both of my children are still alive at the end of each day.
sk and i invited several of her little friends to play at the park on tuesday morning. i only took a few pics and they are all of the cutest little boy ever...her friend, foard.
he was climbing the tree and i was taking his picture with my phone. when he realized what i was doing he got himself in this fancy position and said, "well look at me do this!!" so proud. so i had to snap a pic of course.
oh, and then something sad happened to our beau this week.....
when i took him to be groomed they ended up having to cut all his beautiful long ear-fur. it was our fault. it was matted so badly. in the midst of my trying to juggle life with a newborn i have neglected my furry little boy. i am making it up to him with daily brushes and long walks (errr....that's the plan at least).
i am slowly getting sarah kate and hayes' bathroom together.
got to love a good ole spooky vintage octopus, right!
now, i want to paint the cabinets white. i think i can do this myself. i wonder if i need to prime..hmmm...a project for this winter maybe.
and finally, my favorite people...
caught up (for the most part) for now;)
anyway, first of all (and i say this with my fingers crossed while knocking on my wooden side table over here) sarah kate's bedtime avoidance issues are no longer. let's hope they are extinct and not endangered. we don't need those episodes to be few and far between - we need them to be dead. a couple of things have happened that contributed to our relapse in peaceful bedtime routines. first, sarah kate went through an AWFUL (and i do mean awful) time during the first week of school. i thought she was either a)becoming bipolar or b)entered into the terrible 3's with a bang and was going to be a miserable person until july 6, 2013 when she turned 4. i was concerned. i knew part of the problem was her new routine - took her a little while to adjust to the school schedule after coming off of a laid back summer schedule. but that excuse can only go so far so i knew it was time for an INTERVENTION! we've made a change in our parenting around these parts. we've really focused on positive reinforcement. i used it in my classroom and it worked. does it create perfect little robot children who act like angels 100% of the time? absolutely not. i don't want her to be perfect. if she were then i'd be bored. my job is to parent....and i'm a busy girl. so anyway, negative reinforcement still exists in our house. she still has to go to time out on occasion (although that really isn't effective for her). she still looses her dress up clothes from time to time (that is quite effective). but our main focus has shifted to praising her (over the top) for the things that she does right. i stole an idea from another blogger's blog - called "warm and fuzzies." if sarah kate does something really good (using good manners is the #1 expectation here) or if she brushes her teeth, says her prayers, goes to bed and STAYS in bed then she gets to put a "warm and fuzzy" in her jar. when the fuzzies reach the "fill" line then she gets a reward. she has reached the line 3 times since we started. first 2 times she chose frozen yogurt as her reward. the 3rd time (yesterday) she chose a spaceship bird feeder that she had been eying at michael's. like i said, she is not perfect (who is...i'm surely not) but she is learning! i also thought this system would be a good precursor to having a responsibility chart and eventually, earning an allowance.
i do think 3 is a difficult age and in order for me to enjoy my job i have to be the one in control over here...not my 3 year old.
 |
| paining her spaceship birdhouse |
 | ||
| concentration!!! |
 | |
| supervising the spaceship painting=) |
so anyway, that is where we are with our sarah kate. she is so dear! such a fun, funny, and smart little lady that i spend my days with. love her so! i'll take all the hard days she throws my way as long as i get to have her here with me.
speaking of hard days. hayes has had some lately. but not today - today she was great! this week she has started arching again during feedings, especially towards the end of the day. we have an appointment tomorrow to follow up on her reflux to make sure her meds are still correct for her growing little body!
and growing she is!!! she doesn't skip a meal even if it hurts a little to get it down! look at this sweet baby girl's big ole baby belly! i could seriously eat this child up with a spoon. she is SO obsessed with her mama and the feeling is mutual.
 |
| "oh yeah, this is my belly! don't be jealous!" |
in other news....
my mom came up last thursday and stayed through the weekend which was great and so helpful because trey left on friday for his golf trip. she kept the girls thursday night for trey and i to go out to dinner. it was our first date since hayes was born!
she kept hayes on saturday afternoon for me to take sarah kate to see finding nemo in 3D. we had such a great time! we got a big bag of popcorn and really enjoyed our time as a twosome - just like "old times." =)
sk's letter of the week was "c" this week. instead of getting creative she just wore a cow dress to school on wednesday and then we went to starbucks for a cake pop. and she took "crunchy crunchy carrots" as she likes to call them to school with her lunch. next!
on sunday sarah kate really wanted to bake a cake. right. well, i don't bake but i did have a blueberry muffin mix on hand so we made those. she loves to help in the kitchen!! i've only made blueberry muffins 5,000 times so i have no idea where we (i) went wrong this time!!!
ha!! we actually still enjoyed them all week. sk had one for breakfast each morning - i just cut the top off and the rest was tasty. i think i put the oven on the wrong temp. i am plagued by baby brain. so far in the past 5 days i have burned muffins, forgotten about sk's open house at school (i made it very late after a friendly reminder), and i accidentally bought the cottage cheese with pineapple chunks to put in my lasagna. i am lucky that both of my children are still alive at the end of each day.
sk and i invited several of her little friends to play at the park on tuesday morning. i only took a few pics and they are all of the cutest little boy ever...her friend, foard.
he was climbing the tree and i was taking his picture with my phone. when he realized what i was doing he got himself in this fancy position and said, "well look at me do this!!" so proud. so i had to snap a pic of course.
oh, and then something sad happened to our beau this week.....
 | ||
| beau is loving all the butterflies!!! he feels good with his new haircut even if is ears look goofy. trey has assured me that he doesn't know how ridiculous he looks nor does he care. |
now, i want to paint the cabinets white. i think i can do this myself. i wonder if i need to prime..hmmm...a project for this winter maybe.
and finally, my favorite people...
caught up (for the most part) for now;)
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