Halloween Costumes

Trick-or-treating last night was a riot! Luke was Elmo and Lexie was a ladybug.
At first, Luke didn't want to go up to the neighbor's front door, he just wanted to go for a walk. But once I explained that they would give him a treat, reluctantly agreed to let me carry him to her front door. Then, when he actually saw the treat in his bucket and realized that we could get more, he practically ran to the next house yelling, "Treat, treat!"

On our walk home last night I tried to explain that we couldn't get treats after tonight. But right now he's asking to go for a walk and for treats!

Finally... some photos!

We finally got a new computer. (Thank God for the great deal!) Which means we were able to download the photos from our digital camera.

Below are a few of my favorite photos of the kids.

Enjoy!

Playing Peek-a-boo

Here's Luke showing Lexie how to play peek-a-boo!

Our Silly Children

Lexie sits in her bumbo seat in the middle of the dining room table so she can be a part of our family dinner. As you can see, Luke likes to ham it up!

A Great Close-up of Lexie

Look at this cute shot of our adorable bald baby!

Teaching Winter Quarter

I just got offered the chance to teach again at Clark State during Winter Quarter. Yay!

I'll be teaching a computer graphic design class called 'Digital Typography', which should be right up my alley. It will be Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 - 5:20, so Marty will be able to watch the kids. They also have a need for 2-3 classes to be taught during spring quarter... just not sure which art or design classes they might be yet.

Pretty awesome how God is taking care of us!

Now I just have to brush up on the latest versions of the Adobe Creative Suite software. Does anyone know where this can be purchased any cheaper than JourneyEd.com?

Some Ideas for Temper Tantrums

I was reading the local website 937moms.com and found this great advice for handling temper tantrums when your toddler or pre-schooler wants his way:

"Attention tantrums are special performances that keep parents involved in trying to stop the unwanted behavior. If parents try to ignore this type of tantrum, it usually escalates it, while nagging the child to stop gives negative attention, which is a payoff. Instead, tell children that you can't understand them when they talk or act that way. Give them a specific suggestion for how you want them to get your attention in a positive way. Reassure them that when they calm down, you will pay attention to them. Then, if you ignore the tantrum, it will work. When the child says or does anything calmly or in an appropriate way, respond respectfully. The child will soon find that tantrums will cause the parent to withdraw attention, rather than get more involved."

This makes sense to me. I'll try it with Luke the next time and let you all know how it goes.

A Whiny 2-year-old

Now that Luke is 2 he's really wanting to have his way. He wants to go outside in the yard or for walks every waking hour (at least I'm getting some regular play-dates set up), and it's just not practical sometimes. Of course, he doesn't understand that, so he has little meltdowns that last up to 5 minutes or so. Sometimes he just screams... so loud it's ear-piercing. This happens several times a day.

Please tell me this will stop. Soon. Please. (Yup, I'm exhausted!)

On the positive side, Lexie slept 11-7 last night! Praise the Lord!

A Wonderful Night's Sleep!

Last night I fed Lexie rice cereal before bed and I'm convinced it helped her sleep longer. She slept from 10:30 - 6, nursed for 45 minutes and then went back to sleep for another hour and a half! And Luke slept from 8:45 - 9:15, so I got the most sleep I've ever gotten since Lexie came home from the hospital! Thank God!

The 2 nights before that she slept 11 - 5 and 12 - 6, so she's doing much better!

Finally... a few minutes to myself!

Lexie is such an inconsistent napper. Sometimes, though, like now, she sleeps when Luke naps. Then I'm torn about what to to with my time: housework, sit and read, or a quick nap? Such a tough decision! (As you can see, I've opted for computer time since I haven't been online in over a week!)

Luke has been napping less and less. It's usually an hour and a half to 2 hours long. Oh well. I figure it's better than no nap at all, because that boy takes a lot of energy. He sure is fun, though!

I'm trying to find things that cost little or no money to do with the kids through the cold winter months. Boonshoft may work occasionally, but Luke wants to do all the big kid stuff, and it's tricky with the baby, too.

All you stay-home moms in my area: let me know if you'd like to schedule regular play-dates (either weekly or every other week) alternating meeting at my house and yours. Luke goes nuts if he can't go outside or bye-bye on a regular basis; he simply bounces off the walls. I figure it will give you a place to visit as well.

I may end up taking the kids for walks around the mall a lot... ending with the play areas which have come in very handy. Luke is okay in the stroller as long as we keep moving and aren't actually shopping!

I'm open to suggestions for things to do with a rambunctious toddler in the winter time. Playing in the snow will be tricky with a baby along, although I can probably bundle us all up and go for walks when it's not ridiculously cold outside.

That's all for now!

Things are Good

Things are going well in our household. I'm still hoping to get the baby on a more consistent feeding schedule. Even when I feed her at 9:30 pm, Lexie still insists on eating around midnight or 1 and 5 or 6 am, but at least I'm getting 5 hour increments of sleep now. Believe me, every extra hour really helps!

During the day, she's such a happy baby now. It's a total 180 from her first 2 months of life. She's so silly and laughs a lot at her brother's antics! She loves to talk, squeal and just hear herself make loud noises... she's a lot of fun!

Luke is darling now that he's talking more. Getting rid of his binky had 2 huge benefits: he talks up a storm now, and he's eating much better. Apparently sucking on that binky was satisfying him orally so he wasn't eating well.

His current favorite (and adorable) phrases: "I non't know!" (I don't know); "Marney" (Barney); "Graash!" (as he points out a garage); "Sanother graash!" (There's another garage!). He has quite the fascination with garages and points them out whether we're walking or in the car, and he yells extra loud if the garage door is up; he wants them all closed! A little bit OCD? I'm afraid so.