Thanksgiving & Snow

Last week was Thanksgiving. My dad was flying out to California to spend it with my sister, so we decided to join them. It's a 10 hour drive time, but with kids and breaks, it's really 11-12 hours. This was our first big road trip with Lottie. We drove to Boise 2 weeks ago and that is 6 hours. We survived that drive, so we thought we could handle this one. It was.... interesting. The kids did overall really well. We hit some nasty traffic on the way there. Apparently everyone else was traveling for Thanksgiving.. Weird? 

On the way there, Leo wanted to split up the drive and stay in a hotel Tuesday night. Well... let's just say, we won't be doing hotel stays for awhile. Jackson is a very independent sleeper. Plus, he slept from 6-9 pm during the drive. We got to the hotel at about 9:45 and he was awake until 1 am... 1 am!!! Bless his heart, he just wasn't tired and he didn't know how to fall asleep with us next to him and Charlotte waking up every so often. Leo and I didn't have much patience though, we were exhausted. We kept using our scary/quiet voice and telling him to lay down, close his eyes, and stop moving. He would quickly stop moving and squeeze his little eyelids closed as hard as possible. That would last for about 5 minutes and then his legs would start kicking the blankets and he'd start rolling over. Eventually he did fall asleep but shocker, he was wide awake at 7 am. 

My dad's flight was delayed so we took some extra breaks on Wednesday. We attempted to visit Circus Circus, the casino, in Vegas. Leo said it family friendly and that he had been there when he was little. Well, the circus performers weren't there, so we just walked from to one end and then back. But Jackson got his wiggles out so that's all that matters. 

Anyway, we eventually made it and we had so much fun at Loo's house. All Jackson could talk about on the drive was "Bubbie house. Bubbie. Shawn. Grandpa. Baber. Bubbie house?" It was non-stop. 

He was truly spoiled while we were there. Shawn's brother, Lane, was there too. So, Jackson had Bubbie, Grandpa, Shawn, Lane, & Leo's non stop attention. He constantly had an adult to play with him and he was in heaven. I took care of Charlotte and relaxed the entire time. It was glorious. Jackson and Baber had fun together. Baber is a shih tzu and she is crazy patient with kids. Thank goodness. Jackson would smother her and pull her hair and she never even yelped. 

The weather was wonderful and we got to be outside the whole time. It wasn't hot, probably 60s. Just perfect. 

This was Charlotte's Thanksgiving outfit. I had to document her jeggings and boots. They lasted about 5 minutes. Same with the headband. 

Whenever I start taking pictures of Charlotte, Jackson always wants his picture taken. 

Charlotte has officially found her hands and this is how she looks 90% of the time. 

My dad is a really good grandpa. My babies are lucky. 

On Saturday, we went to a park. 

A&M game. Lauren, Shawn, & Lane all went to A&M. This is how the room looked for a couple hours. 

Don't be deceived by Charlotte's face. She loved her Aunt Bubbie, she just doesn't always love having her picture taken. 

Lauren & Shawn cooked up an impressive Thanksgiving spread. Turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, etc. It was delish. And then, Shawn smoked ribs for us on Friday night. Mmm.... ribs. 

Loo & I did a little black Friday shopping. We went to this store on base and I got Bare Minerals foundation that is normally $50, for $40. It wasn't on sale, this store is just cheaper. I've been wanting to try Bare Minerals for awhile and it really does provide just as much coverage as any other makeup. It leaves my skin super soft too. On Saturday, we went to Sephora. Holy Guacamole. I could spend a lotta money at Sephora. I got 2 mascara samples to try. 

We also got Jackson the big Buzz Lightyear from the Disney Store. I totally felt like a fun Christmas mom. We all went into the store together and when I saw that Buzz was basically half off, I snuck it into the line and hid it from him the whole time. Brought it home and hid in the closet. 

So far, for Christmas we have for him: Buzz Lightyear, small Jessie doll (he has the small Buzz & Woody), Little People Farmhouse & Tractor, a Thomas the Train launcher toy thing, and we'll be going to the Dollar Store in a week or so to pick up some random action figure and last little things. 

I'm soooo excited for Christmas! We had a big snow storm yesterday & a little today. Tons of snow. Several inches on the ground. Jackson played a lot yesterday. 

Let's recap, shall we?

Oy ee vay.

I have to say, I am impressed with how many times I didn't lose my patience today.

Jackson woke up yelling No! to me, so that's fun. He had to go to his room and play by himself by 9 am because he kept crying and tantruming.

Charlotte hasn't been sleeping long shifts the last few nights, so I'm a little extra tired.

We went to Target to get ingredients to make cookies for Leo's home "teachees". Target was dandy. However, we didn't make tons of friends there because Jackson had a raunchy poop in the toy section. I tried to hurry him away from the toys to go change him and every mom we passed, smelled her own child's bum and then looked at me disgusted. (That's slightly exaagerated, but one mom actually did check her own child's diaper and I said, don't worry, it's mine. And she gave this pity smile, like ok, get that smell away from me.) Then in the checkout line, a sweet little grandma smiled at Jackson and started to put her stuff behind ours on the belt and Jackson wasn't okay with that. So he kept yelling, "Excuse me!" (too-me is what it sounds like) and gave her a grump face.

Once we came home, Charlotte decided that she wasn't going to take independent naps for the rest of the day. Every time I laid her down, I would hear her wake up within 10 minutes.

Jackson didn't take a nap. I did leave him in there for an hour and a half, which did give some form of break. He would just yell every couple minutes to let me know he was still awake. "Morning!" is what he yells to say he's done with nap.

One of the times, I tried to put Charlotte down, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with Jackson, but I forgot the baking powder annnnd the cinnamon. Needless to say, they were ga-ross. Not sweet at all, which I guess I don't understand what the cup of sugar does, but not enough sweetness. So those 2 dozen cookies were a bust. Even I couldn't eat them, so there was no way I was going to give them to other people.

On to treat #2. Mint chocolate brownies. Way more successful, but I did leave them in a few minutes too long because I was trying to clean out the car quickly. They were still edible at least.

Then, I realized we didn't have any paper plates to put them on, so we made a quick trip to the dollar store and grabbed some little candies to put with the brownies.

I came home, got the treats on plates and wrapped up. 5 minutes later, I hear a crash from the kitchen. Charlotte's crying in my arms and I'm trying to not be mad at Jackson for pulling down a plate of treats. When I want into the kitchen, his face showed he knew he was in trouble. I tried my very hardest to not yell, because I don't want to yell at my kids when they spill stuff. I still do sometimes, but I have the goal to not. Anyway, he frantically tried to grab the brownies and put them back. I told him it was fine, but to walk away. Leave the kitchen.

Short story, long.

We eventually recovered. Charlotte gave me sweet smiles and I talked to her for awhile when I was getting her pajamas on. I put Jackson to bed. To be honest, he was crying and screaming while I gave him a hug and kiss and said goodnight. I was patient but he was pushing the boundaries today.

Today, I felt the monotony of being a stay at home mom. I thought, man if I could just have one hour to myself. I even tried to give Charlotte formula which was a no go, because I thought, if she takes it consistently for a few days, then maybe I could leave her with someone else for more than 2 hours.

Charlotte's asleep in the swing. She'll wake up soon, but that's okay. Jackson's asleep upstairs. I've eaten dinner and gotten some time to myself. Hopefully, Leo will be home soon. Poor guy has long hours and then rides his bike to and from the train in the freezing cold.

Most importantly!!!We're heading to California for the rest of the week for Thanksgiving! Stay tuned for some pics! I'm so excited to see my family.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, I couldn't wait any longer. I busted out the Christmas decorations this week and it makes me so happy. We've been watching the classic Christmas movies. Jackson got a frosty and a rudolph book so now he loves both of those stories. We also watched Elf, which is still my favorite. I got Jackson a little Christmas tree and we bought some ornaments for him to paint. He looooves painting. 

Jackson & daddy painting ornaments

My tree (burlap Christmas baby)

this little girl just hung out and watched us decorate. what a doll.

Jackson put stickers on the window

painting more ornaments

Good days & bad days

I hope that I document a fair amount of the good days and the bad days. Sometimes, I get stuck in a negative mood and just post about the things my kids do that drive me bonkers. Other times, I only talk about how perfect they are and while they are perfect, they also drive me bonkers a lot. 

Yesterday was a rough day. There's usually one day a week where it's hard for me to stay patient. Jackson is definitely a toddler and sometimes, I just look at him like, "Really????" The reasons he cries, the reasons he's mad, the things he becomes obsessed with, etc. I talk to my sister Jess about this often since Wyatt is the same age and then Oliver is still in the baby stage. A lot of our days are fairly similar. 

The things that frustrate me the most about toddler times are first of all, how slooow he walks or does anything really. I know that sounds horrible but all day long, I'm thinking, oh my goodness, walk faster! Plus, he gets distracted by every little thing. Getting him dressed is a chore. Especially since he's perfected the limp body collapse. Yesterday, I think I said, "Stand up!" about a million times. 

Then of course, the tantrums. He didn't cry over anything ridiculous yesterday which was helpful. Most days, we have at least one meltdown and it is hard to be patient with those. I've started putting him in his room until he stops crying. Which is sad because eventually he comes out red faced, sniffling, but saying "I happy!". Bless his little heart. 

I know this sounds like I don't like being a parent. It's quite the opposite. I would not change what I do for anything in the world. But I want to remember that sometimes it's really hard and I'm definitely not perfect. 

Today, on the other hand, has been really fun. It was snowing. We watched Frosty the Snowman 3 times and it's not even 2pm. We went to walmart and he helped me choose a hat and gloves. I put Charlotte down for a nap and played PBS computer games with Jackson for 30 minutes. He looooves that. The game we played was a cat in the hat sorting game. He actually was really good at it. Then, I took him upstairs for his nap and he "sorted/cleaned" the toys on his floor, unprompted I might add. I heard him say, "this basket? no.... this basket?" with his blocks, guys and his books. 

I cleaned off my camera sd card and found some fun pics of him. These were probably a month ago. 

Playing with Buzz.

And Rex.

Happy

Silly

Surprised

Mad

 Sleeping (apparently, we need to work on this one...)

Playing on daddys phone

What Charlotte's up to these days

Lottie girl turned 2 months yesterday. I can't believe she's already 2 months and yet, I'm so glad she's 2 months. I love the newborn stage but I loooove once they get interactive and a little more sturdy.

She had her doctor's appointment yesterday and she weighs 11 lbs 10 oz ( 71%) and is 24 inches long (98%). She has a peanut head like her brother. I don't remember how big it is but I remember it was 52%. That's just how Jackson was, althought he was a bit chubbier. He was always 80s & 90s for height and weight and then 50s for head.

She sure is a strong little thing. She can hold her head up pretty well and still rolls out of tummy time sometimes. She gives sweet little smiles to all of us in the house and last night, she gave her first giggle. She was laying on the couch and I had her hands and was making her dance and tickle herself. So cute.

She still has just peach fuzz on the top of her head. She lost the hair on the sides from her nursing position, but still has quite a bit in the back. It's not an extreme mullet, but it's a little mullet-ish.

Her most consistent sleeping routine is falling asleep at night from 8:30ish to 1:30ish, then I feed her around 430ish and then 630, I feed her again and leave her in my bed and usually get up with Jackson by 7. The last 2 nights, she's slept until 2:40 which was glorious. I feel great during the day. I never take naps. They just make me grumpy when I have to wake up.

Her first road trip is coming up in a few weeks. We're driving 10 hours to visit Aunt Bubbie & Uncle Shawn in CA for thanksgiving. My dad's flying out there too. None of them have met Charlotte so I'm excited to show her off.

Sloooow down

Let me preface this post by saying that we have taught Jackson about traffic light colors (Green means go, Red means stop, and Yellow means sloooow down). We often talk about these when trying to entertain him during long drives or long walks.

Anyway. Today, we're leaving Target and I put him in his carseat and see a yucky booger hanging out of his nose.

Me: "Ew, let me wipe that big green booger."
Jackson: "Green?"
Me: "Yeah."
Jackson: "Blue boogers?"
Me: "No, we don't have blue boogers."

5 minutes later, while I'm driving, I hear Jackson say, "Sloow down."

Me: "Did you see a yellow light?"
Jackson: "No, booger."

I look back through my rearview mirror to see Jackson talking to a big booger on his finger.

Jackson: "Yellow (yeyah) booger, sloooow down."

I laughed sooo hard and then was grossed out by how much boogers rule my life. Boogers and poop, that's what being a stay at home mom is all about. Sure, I need to be nurturing and maybe patient. But most of all, I need to have a strong stomach and luckily, I do.

Charlotte's blessing day

Yesterday, Charlotte was blessed in our ward. I spent most of Saturday cleaning the house and getting stuff ready. I had big plans to made lots of pinterest-inspired foods for the brunch afterwards. But then... we had to buy tires on saturday and I had to wrestle a baby and toddler through walmart (one of those children did not his nap and was over life). So instead of being awesome, we bought walmart donuts, muffin mixes, and bagels & cream cheese and called it good. Darcie brought fruit and we had choc. milk and OJ. Plus, our church is at 9 so trying to prep food before was difficult anyway.

It was a nice day on Sunday. Family came including Leo's immediate family (minus Trevor & Brielle, they were sick), his Aunt Kathy and then my grandma, Janessa, & Uncle Brett came. It was a much smaller group than we expected but I'm kind of okay with that. Charlotte cried through her blessing but everyone says they couldn't hear her, so that's good. Jackson was wrestling all over me so I caught bits and pieces of it. Leo is such a tender dad and I know it meant a lot to him to bless his little girl. It was also the day of the primary program which is always entertaining.

Afterwards, everyone came over and ate the dry walmart donuts. Delicioso.

Charlotte's dress has been in my closet for several years now. I purchased it during my Children's Place days before children were even considered. But it was white and I loved it and so I bought hoping to be able to bless a little girl someday. 

She turns 2 months tomorrow and has her dr appt in the morning. I'll have to post tomorrow and update on her specifically.