I am only days away from his 11 month milestone so we can wrap two months into one again. I can not believe I will only have a "baby for another 5 weeks"- let the tears begin. It is soooo bitter sweet.
-Thomas is very independent, and I probably give him much more freedom than I gave the others. He crawls quickly, goes from room to room exploring, and loves the change of scenery.
- He is starting to pull himself up on his knees, but no interest in standing or walking as of right now.
-Big news is as of this week, we FINALLY put the rock n play away. He started sleeping in his crib over night consistently at about the 9 month mark, and this week I finally got in him the crib for naps too!! There are some tears at nap time as he tries to work it out and get settled, but its normally not bad and he settles to sleep.
-Overnight is still pretty rocky. Last night he was up at 10:30 again at 2:30 and then up for the day by 5am. But we have had a few positive nights with longer stretches and just 1 wake up. I feel like we are very slowly making progress.
-In other big news, he did sleep through the night 1 night! It finally happened! After 10 months 5 days, we had our first full night of sleep. It was our first in Disney World and he was super tired from traveling. I was afraid it would have the opposite effect, but on this occasion it was great. He went to be at about 8:30pm and stayed asleep til 6am! Whoooo Hooooo! So exciting. It only happened that one night, it went back to normal the next night, but it was refreshing to know it can happen.
-Perfect time to talk about Thomas's first big vacation! We went to Disney World this month, and it was pretty awesome! Thomas was a good sport. He went along with all of our daily activities, napped in the stroller, nursed around the parks, and slept in the pack n play all just fine. His big brothers had an amazing time!
-Thomas has become quite the momma's boy. He wants me, and only me, all of the time. If I walk in the room and don't pay him attention, he gets angry, really angry. He wants mommy to hold him, snuggle with him, play with him at all times. Apparently when I am out of site, he is totally different, but when I walk in the door he needs to cling. I will take it, because I know its not long before Dad's become the super cool center of attention for the boys as they get older.
-To my amazement, he is still nursing and very frequently. I am finally going to reach my goal of nursing my baby on his 1st birthday!
-He has gotten much better with solid foods. We are doing the Baby Led Weaning and give him mainly soft solids. He prefers to feed himself and does not like to be fed by spoon, so we are going with his lead. Sweet potato fries, avacados, broccoli, scrambled eggs, puffs, and yogurt are some favorites. He also loves those baby food pouches that he can hold up and drink himself. I am glad to see him eating more.
Some of his favorite things are - baths, dancing, clapping, anything with music, playing catch (aka rolling the ball back and forth).
Some dislikes- bumping his head on furniture as he crawls around, not being with mommy, and going to sleep on his own.
Thats about it for right now. We all LOVE LOVE LOVE him so much. He makes off of us smile and laugh all day every day! I can't wait to celebrate his 1st birthday next month and I'll post all the details!
The Taynors
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Friday, October 14, 2016
Review of Beaches Turks and Caicos
As previously mentioned, we booked a last minute spontaneous family vacation to Turks and Caicos. We had been eyeing up the Beaches resort for a while, but every time we priced it out it was WAY to expensive. On a whim this summer I priced it out for a last minute Fall getaway, and I found a package for half the price, literally half the price. We were very excited and booked it right away! I couldn't wait for our getaway.
And a quick shout out to our wonderful travel agent Dina, that helped us book this trip very last minute and took care of all of our travel needs. Call her when you decide to book- DinaSilvestriTravel@gmail.com. Thank you, Dina!!
(Long post, but lots of good info if you are considering a trip)
Cost-
It is expensive! Even at half the price it is expensive. But it is truly an all inclusive. We did not pay a dime for anything once we got there. All drinks, all levels of alcohol, water activities, kids camps... everything. Even tipping is not allowed (if the staff is tipped, they need to turn it into the management to be donated to their charity), so it is not like other all-inclusives where you need to tip to ensure good service and good drinks.
When it comes to price I have two thoughts.
1. Even though they are rare, you can get a discount, especially in the off season, so just keep shopping or have a travel agent keep an eye out for promotions.
2. I think it is worth the money. After experiencing the resort and all it has to offer, I do not think we overpaid. IT IS WORTH IT!
Room-
We choose to stay in the Caribbean section. It is the cheapest and the most simply done. I believe it has also been around the longest, so it's a bit dated. We personally didn't need the room to be anything special, so it wasn't worth the extra money to upgrade to the Italian, French, or Key West sections. But if you are particular about your hotel room, need more space for more kids, or really want to stay in a "nicer" room, I would select a different section, there are plenty of options to fit your needs.
I would describe our actual building as OK. The rooms were standard, two full beds, and a pull out chair. It was definitely dated, nothing special. They were clean, and the staff took good care of the buildings, but they were just very basic. Our room was well located, we had a nice view and could see the ocean in the distance. And we loved being so close to the kids clubs, water park, and beach.
To be honest, our first impression the first 30 minutes at the resort was "oh no, maybe it's not going to be as great as we thought." The shuttle brings you right into the Caribbean lobby, which is small and dark and dated. And then we went straight to check into our room (no wait at all, we got right into our room). So the blah lobby and the basic room did not impress us. Luckily, that feeling of oh no didn't last for long. As soon as we got our bathing suits on and explored the property, we were thoroughly impressed.
Bottom line- Caribbean has a great location, and plenty of options, but the rooms are fairly basic and a bit outdated. We would stay in them again if we got the package discount we got.
Beach-
The beach was AMAZING! Most beautiful beach I have ever been to and I am blessed to have been all over the world at various beaches (Hawaii, Cabo, Riviera Maya, St. Lucia, cruises, Bahamas, Italy, California, Dominican Republic). This was my favorite. We were there the last week of September, so thankfully the place was very quiet. We never had to fight for a spot on the beach, a turn on the floating rafts, a cabana... We had our pick of whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it. I can not wait to be back on that beach.
The Resort overall-
The place is huge, so many different areas to wander. The Italian section was the main area- biggest pool, zero entry pool, kids area, hot tubs, nicest swim up bar, the main buffet restaurant, and right off the beach. Key West was towards the end of the resort, but had two very nice upscale restaurants and felt very cozy and quiet. The French section was new and updated, close to the water park area, great little coffee shop open all day and late at night, near the main stage for entertainment and some great restaurants. Each section had its own personality and some nice attributes. Again because we traveled in the off season, we never had to fight for a spot at the pool, we could go anywhere.
I am not sure how many pools there are, but we spent time at 4 of them! It was fun going to different areas each day because each pool had something different about it. All had a swim up bar, that of course Mike and I loved, but the kids loved just as much. The bar tenders would happily make the kids strawberry smoothies or apple juice. They loved it.
Dining-
They had about 19 different restaurants! 19!! That is so great when you are traveling for a week. They had a few basic buffets for breakfast and several more options for sit down dining in the morning. They had family friendly restaurants and then they had fine dining for adults only, and everything in between. At the time we traveled a few of the restaurants were closed, and they all opened on a rotating schedule. So we had a calendar with all the options and when they were open. At first this kind of annoyed me, but in the end it worked great, we always had plenty of great options.
We ate breakfast at Mario's and Guiseppis two times each, these were buffets, it was the easiest option with the kids and to start our day. Then one morning we ate at Barefoots, a restaurant in the sand, which the kids loved because they could play as we waited for our food. Then the last morning we had breakfast at Schooners which had unique food and ocean front, nice way to end the trip.
For lunch, my favorite option was Dino's pizza. We could come right out of the water park or off the beach and sit in the "Town Center" for pizza, salads, or sandwiches. We always had a good lunch there. Then we also tried Bobby Dee's which is in the water park for days where we were right out of the pool, super casual, burger and fries kind of lunch. Bobby Dee's also has an ice cream and milk shake bar open all day. Lastly we tried Arizona's for a lunch buffet with a Mexican twist. All the food was good and we loved the variety.
For dinner, Mike and I ended up spending a lot of time on our own (see kids camp section). Our first night we ate as a family at Neptunes which is a bit fancier but kids are allowed. The fish was delicious and the wine was good (they refill your glass every time they walk by, your wine glass never gets empty!). After that the kids wanted nothing to do with us, so we got a lot of date nights. Sky was a romantic ocean front dinner with a great menu and champagne, and Arizonas for dinner offered a delicious steak. Soy was a casual Japanese style restaurant and the sushi was soooo good! I don't think we had a bad meal!
In addition to the dining, we loved stopping in the coffee shop for an afternoon cappuccino and warm chocolate chip cookie, or grabbing ice cream to go from the ice cream shop. We definitely ate and drank our moneys worth.
Kids Camp and Activities-
The reason we picked this resort is because we were hoping for a mix of family time and adult time. And that is exactly what we got. We were able to spend a lot of time as a family doing things we love, AND we were able to comfortably bring the kids to camp and spend some time as a couple relaxing and enjoying the beautiful island. It was truly a perfect happy medium.
I wasn't sure how much we would actually use the camp, we travel as a family because we want to spend time together. But the camp was so awesome, that the kids wanted to go frequently and we were comfortable sending them. The camp is broken down into many groups- under 1, 1-2 yr old, 3-4 yr old, 5-7 year old, 8-10, year old, teens, etc. At first I was a bit bummed Patrick and Ryan wouldn't be in the same group, but as the week went on it really didn't matter. Patrick's group did so much age appropriate activities, and Ryan's group did more big kid adventures, they were both so happy. It was nice to have them broken into an appropriate age group so that they aren't mixed into one big group.
Examples of some of the scheduled activities for the 3-4 yr olds: Cookies with Cookies Monster, Art and Crafts with Abby, swim time in their private kids pool, Letter or the Day, movie night PJ party, Beach Party with Big bird, Face painting, Duck hunt, playground adventure, Story time with Elmo, and Dress up costume parties. Every day was different, every hour was different. So much fun.
Examples of the schedule for 5-7yr old "little Pirates": puppet making, beach olympics, pool games, beach science experiments, snorkeling lessons, treasure hunt, sand castle making, Kids Mini Dance party, Bonfire with marshmallows, Boat Cruise, and talent show. This was a great age where the kids became friends and looked forward to seeing each other each day.
By the end of the week, Ryan knew all the kids. He was famous, he was the social director letting everyone know when he would be in camp so that they could plan to be there too. He even signed himself up and participated in the talent show (without me having any idea, I missed it)! The teens where doing it and his group went to watch, and he asked to enter and participate. He did the Robot dance across the stage for 2 minutes and was from then on known as Robot Ryan by all the other guests.
The camp counselors were wonderful, they knew the kids by name and greeted them with big smiles and hugs every time we dropped them off. It was really a great experience.
In addition to the camp- there was so much to keep the kids busy. The water park area was legit. Three large slides, two medium slides, a smaller splash area with small slides, lazy river, and surf simulator. We all had a great time in the water park.
They also had parades, character shows, bonfires on the beach, Character parties, and an xbox lounge and game room. We were not bored for one moment. You could do as much or as little as you wanted. That is one reason we loved the camp so much. The kids had the opportunity to go go go and do everything they wanted to do, and Mommy and Daddy could check out for a couple hours each day to chill and do nothing.
We also took advantage of the free snorkeling, and brought Ryan along with us both times. One time we took the short boat ride off shore and snorkeled on a local reef, and then the next time we got a tip from the hotel and just walked down to the end of the property and snorkeled right off the beach. Ryan loved it! Such a cool way to introduce him to the activity and not spend extra money.
I would say this resort is set up to accommodate families with kids of any age. They have something to offer everyone.
Examples of how we spent our days-
1st Full day-
Breakfast at Mario's
Water park as a family
Lunch at Dino's
Quick little nap for the kids, cocktails on the balcony for the parents
Kids went to camp to try it out from 3:30-5pm
Mommy and Daddy went to the beach and had a drink at the pool bar
Showers
Live character show at 6:30
Family dinner at Neptunes
Kids to bed, relaxed on the balcony
2nd day-
Breakfast at Guiseppe's
Kids to camp 9-11:30am
Mom and Dad went to the beach, had drinks delivered to our chair, and were buzzed by lunch- oops
Lunch at Dino's again, we loved the pizza
Italian pool as a family
rest time for the kids
Cookies monster to our room
6-8pm kids to camp for the kids talent show and party
We went to dinner at Sky and sat by the fire after until pick up
And then the days continued like that- a combination of family time, camp time, pool time, water park time, beach time, etc.
Last but not least, Food Allergies-
Traveling with food allergies is not easy, especially when its several allergies. But I would say Beaches is very good at dealing with it. They are not Disney, Disney is in a league of its own with allergies, but they were good, thorough and I felt safe with Ryan eating. The way it works is you have to go to the food concierge at the main lobby, and put in food requests ahead of time. This overwhelmed me at first, because I didn't know where we were going to eat and when. But after the first day I saw that it was worth it to take the time, plan out our dinners, and put in a food request in advance so that we could get Ryan a good meal. This even worked on the nights he went to kids camp for dinner. As long as the chef had a meal request, he would personally deliver Ryan is dinner whether he was with us or with the camp.
Breakfast we just did the buffet and I would get Ryan yogurt, fruit, cereal, and bacon because I knew they were safe options. Only one day I put in a food request for special pancakes on the day we went to the sit down restaurant for breakfast. Lunch we knew the pizza at Dino's was safe, so that was a good option. And Bobby Dee's I just spoke to the manager on site if we went and confirmed a safe meal for lunch, so I didn't have to put it special requests in advance. So really only dinner needed to be pre-planned.
They also had the chef make him gluten free, egg free, nut free cupcakes and cookies that I picked up from the front desk that he was able to bring for desserts.
Bottom line- there was always a safe meal for him, it just took a little pre-planning and organizing. I consider this a success for our first time traveling out of the country with a food allergy kid.
Conclusion-
If you are looking for a family vacation, a beautiful location, a chance to relax or to fill your day with activities, kids to be entertained, good food and wine, and a break from reality... then this should be your next vacation. Start saving now, its not a cheap get away, but its worth it. The Taynors will be back!
And a quick shout out to our wonderful travel agent Dina, that helped us book this trip very last minute and took care of all of our travel needs. Call her when you decide to book- DinaSilvestriTravel@gmail.com. Thank you, Dina!!
(Long post, but lots of good info if you are considering a trip)
Cost-
It is expensive! Even at half the price it is expensive. But it is truly an all inclusive. We did not pay a dime for anything once we got there. All drinks, all levels of alcohol, water activities, kids camps... everything. Even tipping is not allowed (if the staff is tipped, they need to turn it into the management to be donated to their charity), so it is not like other all-inclusives where you need to tip to ensure good service and good drinks.
When it comes to price I have two thoughts.
1. Even though they are rare, you can get a discount, especially in the off season, so just keep shopping or have a travel agent keep an eye out for promotions.
2. I think it is worth the money. After experiencing the resort and all it has to offer, I do not think we overpaid. IT IS WORTH IT!
Room-
We choose to stay in the Caribbean section. It is the cheapest and the most simply done. I believe it has also been around the longest, so it's a bit dated. We personally didn't need the room to be anything special, so it wasn't worth the extra money to upgrade to the Italian, French, or Key West sections. But if you are particular about your hotel room, need more space for more kids, or really want to stay in a "nicer" room, I would select a different section, there are plenty of options to fit your needs.
I would describe our actual building as OK. The rooms were standard, two full beds, and a pull out chair. It was definitely dated, nothing special. They were clean, and the staff took good care of the buildings, but they were just very basic. Our room was well located, we had a nice view and could see the ocean in the distance. And we loved being so close to the kids clubs, water park, and beach.
To be honest, our first impression the first 30 minutes at the resort was "oh no, maybe it's not going to be as great as we thought." The shuttle brings you right into the Caribbean lobby, which is small and dark and dated. And then we went straight to check into our room (no wait at all, we got right into our room). So the blah lobby and the basic room did not impress us. Luckily, that feeling of oh no didn't last for long. As soon as we got our bathing suits on and explored the property, we were thoroughly impressed.
Bottom line- Caribbean has a great location, and plenty of options, but the rooms are fairly basic and a bit outdated. We would stay in them again if we got the package discount we got.
(View from our balcony when Cookie Monster visited)
Beach-
The beach was AMAZING! Most beautiful beach I have ever been to and I am blessed to have been all over the world at various beaches (Hawaii, Cabo, Riviera Maya, St. Lucia, cruises, Bahamas, Italy, California, Dominican Republic). This was my favorite. We were there the last week of September, so thankfully the place was very quiet. We never had to fight for a spot on the beach, a turn on the floating rafts, a cabana... We had our pick of whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it. I can not wait to be back on that beach.
(A few different days on the Beach)
The Resort overall-
The place is huge, so many different areas to wander. The Italian section was the main area- biggest pool, zero entry pool, kids area, hot tubs, nicest swim up bar, the main buffet restaurant, and right off the beach. Key West was towards the end of the resort, but had two very nice upscale restaurants and felt very cozy and quiet. The French section was new and updated, close to the water park area, great little coffee shop open all day and late at night, near the main stage for entertainment and some great restaurants. Each section had its own personality and some nice attributes. Again because we traveled in the off season, we never had to fight for a spot at the pool, we could go anywhere.
I am not sure how many pools there are, but we spent time at 4 of them! It was fun going to different areas each day because each pool had something different about it. All had a swim up bar, that of course Mike and I loved, but the kids loved just as much. The bar tenders would happily make the kids strawberry smoothies or apple juice. They loved it.
They had about 19 different restaurants! 19!! That is so great when you are traveling for a week. They had a few basic buffets for breakfast and several more options for sit down dining in the morning. They had family friendly restaurants and then they had fine dining for adults only, and everything in between. At the time we traveled a few of the restaurants were closed, and they all opened on a rotating schedule. So we had a calendar with all the options and when they were open. At first this kind of annoyed me, but in the end it worked great, we always had plenty of great options.
We ate breakfast at Mario's and Guiseppis two times each, these were buffets, it was the easiest option with the kids and to start our day. Then one morning we ate at Barefoots, a restaurant in the sand, which the kids loved because they could play as we waited for our food. Then the last morning we had breakfast at Schooners which had unique food and ocean front, nice way to end the trip.
For lunch, my favorite option was Dino's pizza. We could come right out of the water park or off the beach and sit in the "Town Center" for pizza, salads, or sandwiches. We always had a good lunch there. Then we also tried Bobby Dee's which is in the water park for days where we were right out of the pool, super casual, burger and fries kind of lunch. Bobby Dee's also has an ice cream and milk shake bar open all day. Lastly we tried Arizona's for a lunch buffet with a Mexican twist. All the food was good and we loved the variety.
For dinner, Mike and I ended up spending a lot of time on our own (see kids camp section). Our first night we ate as a family at Neptunes which is a bit fancier but kids are allowed. The fish was delicious and the wine was good (they refill your glass every time they walk by, your wine glass never gets empty!). After that the kids wanted nothing to do with us, so we got a lot of date nights. Sky was a romantic ocean front dinner with a great menu and champagne, and Arizonas for dinner offered a delicious steak. Soy was a casual Japanese style restaurant and the sushi was soooo good! I don't think we had a bad meal!
In addition to the dining, we loved stopping in the coffee shop for an afternoon cappuccino and warm chocolate chip cookie, or grabbing ice cream to go from the ice cream shop. We definitely ate and drank our moneys worth.
Kids Camp and Activities-
The reason we picked this resort is because we were hoping for a mix of family time and adult time. And that is exactly what we got. We were able to spend a lot of time as a family doing things we love, AND we were able to comfortably bring the kids to camp and spend some time as a couple relaxing and enjoying the beautiful island. It was truly a perfect happy medium.
I wasn't sure how much we would actually use the camp, we travel as a family because we want to spend time together. But the camp was so awesome, that the kids wanted to go frequently and we were comfortable sending them. The camp is broken down into many groups- under 1, 1-2 yr old, 3-4 yr old, 5-7 year old, 8-10, year old, teens, etc. At first I was a bit bummed Patrick and Ryan wouldn't be in the same group, but as the week went on it really didn't matter. Patrick's group did so much age appropriate activities, and Ryan's group did more big kid adventures, they were both so happy. It was nice to have them broken into an appropriate age group so that they aren't mixed into one big group.
Examples of some of the scheduled activities for the 3-4 yr olds: Cookies with Cookies Monster, Art and Crafts with Abby, swim time in their private kids pool, Letter or the Day, movie night PJ party, Beach Party with Big bird, Face painting, Duck hunt, playground adventure, Story time with Elmo, and Dress up costume parties. Every day was different, every hour was different. So much fun.
Examples of the schedule for 5-7yr old "little Pirates": puppet making, beach olympics, pool games, beach science experiments, snorkeling lessons, treasure hunt, sand castle making, Kids Mini Dance party, Bonfire with marshmallows, Boat Cruise, and talent show. This was a great age where the kids became friends and looked forward to seeing each other each day.
By the end of the week, Ryan knew all the kids. He was famous, he was the social director letting everyone know when he would be in camp so that they could plan to be there too. He even signed himself up and participated in the talent show (without me having any idea, I missed it)! The teens where doing it and his group went to watch, and he asked to enter and participate. He did the Robot dance across the stage for 2 minutes and was from then on known as Robot Ryan by all the other guests.
The camp counselors were wonderful, they knew the kids by name and greeted them with big smiles and hugs every time we dropped them off. It was really a great experience.
(hard to see but this was the science experiment on the beach)
They also had parades, character shows, bonfires on the beach, Character parties, and an xbox lounge and game room. We were not bored for one moment. You could do as much or as little as you wanted. That is one reason we loved the camp so much. The kids had the opportunity to go go go and do everything they wanted to do, and Mommy and Daddy could check out for a couple hours each day to chill and do nothing.
We also took advantage of the free snorkeling, and brought Ryan along with us both times. One time we took the short boat ride off shore and snorkeled on a local reef, and then the next time we got a tip from the hotel and just walked down to the end of the property and snorkeled right off the beach. Ryan loved it! Such a cool way to introduce him to the activity and not spend extra money.
I would say this resort is set up to accommodate families with kids of any age. They have something to offer everyone.
Lazy river
kids only swim up bar
some slides
little kids area
medium slides in the back ground
lazy river
one of Ryan's many camp friends
examples of that weeks schedule
boat trip
One of the best parts about the trip, especially if you are use to Disney, is the character availability. We saw them and interacted with them so much. Just hanging by the pool, they would come by and say hi. While sitting at lunch. They participated in the kids camp activities, they just walked around the resort. Even if you aren't a character fan, it just brings some extra fun for the kids to always see them around. Some of the girls from kids camp even arranged a surprise (not paid for) visit from Cookie Monster to our room for pictures and he brought a small gift for the kids. It was really special to not have to fight for time with them.
Examples of how we spent our days-
1st Full day-
Breakfast at Mario's
Water park as a family
Lunch at Dino's
Quick little nap for the kids, cocktails on the balcony for the parents
Kids went to camp to try it out from 3:30-5pm
Mommy and Daddy went to the beach and had a drink at the pool bar
Showers
Live character show at 6:30
Family dinner at Neptunes
Kids to bed, relaxed on the balcony
2nd day-
Breakfast at Guiseppe's
Kids to camp 9-11:30am
Mom and Dad went to the beach, had drinks delivered to our chair, and were buzzed by lunch- oops
Lunch at Dino's again, we loved the pizza
Italian pool as a family
rest time for the kids
Cookies monster to our room
6-8pm kids to camp for the kids talent show and party
We went to dinner at Sky and sat by the fire after until pick up
And then the days continued like that- a combination of family time, camp time, pool time, water park time, beach time, etc.
Last but not least, Food Allergies-
Traveling with food allergies is not easy, especially when its several allergies. But I would say Beaches is very good at dealing with it. They are not Disney, Disney is in a league of its own with allergies, but they were good, thorough and I felt safe with Ryan eating. The way it works is you have to go to the food concierge at the main lobby, and put in food requests ahead of time. This overwhelmed me at first, because I didn't know where we were going to eat and when. But after the first day I saw that it was worth it to take the time, plan out our dinners, and put in a food request in advance so that we could get Ryan a good meal. This even worked on the nights he went to kids camp for dinner. As long as the chef had a meal request, he would personally deliver Ryan is dinner whether he was with us or with the camp.
Breakfast we just did the buffet and I would get Ryan yogurt, fruit, cereal, and bacon because I knew they were safe options. Only one day I put in a food request for special pancakes on the day we went to the sit down restaurant for breakfast. Lunch we knew the pizza at Dino's was safe, so that was a good option. And Bobby Dee's I just spoke to the manager on site if we went and confirmed a safe meal for lunch, so I didn't have to put it special requests in advance. So really only dinner needed to be pre-planned.
They also had the chef make him gluten free, egg free, nut free cupcakes and cookies that I picked up from the front desk that he was able to bring for desserts.
Bottom line- there was always a safe meal for him, it just took a little pre-planning and organizing. I consider this a success for our first time traveling out of the country with a food allergy kid.
Conclusion-
If you are looking for a family vacation, a beautiful location, a chance to relax or to fill your day with activities, kids to be entertained, good food and wine, and a break from reality... then this should be your next vacation. Start saving now, its not a cheap get away, but its worth it. The Taynors will be back!
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Inside the Brain of a Mom on the 1st Day of Kindergarten
Well today was the day, I sent my oldest child off on the bus to kindergarten. And it was really hard, like really really hard.
I didn't think I would be the mom that cried at the bus stop and was fighting the urge to follow to bus all the way to school. But about half way through this summer I realized that was totally going to be me. My anxiety was at an all time high. Unfortunately the Kindergarten orientation two weeks ago did not help the situation at all. I left feeling more scared and more sad and more worried about how he was going to handle this new school schedule and how was I going to handle having him away from me from 8:45am-4:10pm every single day.
So why is it so hard? Why am I such an emotional mess? I think one big part of it is that kindergarten represents the next big stage in life. His baby, stay home and play with mommy, responsibility free years are over... and never coming back. He will now be in school full time for the next 13 years (any hopefully more with a great college education)!! He will spend way more time in school, following the rules, going through the motions of public education, conforming to what he is suppose to be doing, then he will at home with me and exploring the world. That makes me sad.
But it's also hard because I need to come to terms with the fact that he won't need me as much. He will be gaining independence daily. He will become a big boy, slowly drifting away from my little buddy that needs mommy's hugs and kisses for everything. This realization is equal parts pride and heartbreak.
Luckily for everyone, he woke up this morning excited and ready to start this adventure. When the bus came, he ran, literally ran down the street and jumped right on. That made me happy and relieved and soooo sad that he so easily just blew me a kiss and went on his way.
Within a few minutes my parents went back on with their day, Mike left for work and took Patrick to my inlaws, and it was just me. I sat in the kitchen, drank my coffee, and cried lots of tears. Here are some of the thoughts that ran through my mind:
- I can't believe my little baby is on that big bus driving to a brand new building without me. He is to young for that! How can he possibly do that by himself??
- I hope he can open his lunch box and all his snacks? What if he can't open the bag of grapes, or zipper it back up?
- I pray pray pray he doesn't try to share food with any other kids, he still doesn't really understand what is safe and not safe to eat with his allergies. The lunch room is a scary place!
-What if he talks to much? He loves to talk, and he is so enthusiastic, but what if he doesn't understand when to stop?
- Please be a kind love-able boy! I hope the teacher loves him too and he doesn't become the "bad" or "annoying" kid in class.
- What shorts is he wearing? Is he going to be able to button them by himself after the bathroom?
-I hope he doesn't get overwhelmed and act like a crazy kid.
-Does he miss me? I hope so because I miss him, but I hope not because I don't want him to be sad.
-Do they get to spend enough time just playing and being kids? They are still so young, being in school all day is hard!!
-I hope he eats his lunch and snack, I don't want him to be hungry.
-Is it 4:10pm yet???
The time finally came to meet him at the bus stop. When the bus arrived the bus driver had to remind him several times that he had to get off the bus, he could see his friends tomorrow. He spent the next 2 hours telling me lots of stories about the classroom, the boy on the bus, the kid he helped walk to the nurses office, the boy who hit him by mistake in the face (I didn't love this part), the lunch room, and how he needs to wear his nice blue sneakers on Tuesdays. My heart was full to hear about his great first day. Tomorrow will be a tad easier, but the feelings of worry and sadness will not be gone. But hopefully seeing him happy, a great teacher, and new friends will help ease the pain and lead to an amazing first year of school!!
They say things are much easier when the kids start 1st grade.... that better be true!
I didn't think I would be the mom that cried at the bus stop and was fighting the urge to follow to bus all the way to school. But about half way through this summer I realized that was totally going to be me. My anxiety was at an all time high. Unfortunately the Kindergarten orientation two weeks ago did not help the situation at all. I left feeling more scared and more sad and more worried about how he was going to handle this new school schedule and how was I going to handle having him away from me from 8:45am-4:10pm every single day.
So why is it so hard? Why am I such an emotional mess? I think one big part of it is that kindergarten represents the next big stage in life. His baby, stay home and play with mommy, responsibility free years are over... and never coming back. He will now be in school full time for the next 13 years (any hopefully more with a great college education)!! He will spend way more time in school, following the rules, going through the motions of public education, conforming to what he is suppose to be doing, then he will at home with me and exploring the world. That makes me sad.
But it's also hard because I need to come to terms with the fact that he won't need me as much. He will be gaining independence daily. He will become a big boy, slowly drifting away from my little buddy that needs mommy's hugs and kisses for everything. This realization is equal parts pride and heartbreak.
Luckily for everyone, he woke up this morning excited and ready to start this adventure. When the bus came, he ran, literally ran down the street and jumped right on. That made me happy and relieved and soooo sad that he so easily just blew me a kiss and went on his way.
Within a few minutes my parents went back on with their day, Mike left for work and took Patrick to my inlaws, and it was just me. I sat in the kitchen, drank my coffee, and cried lots of tears. Here are some of the thoughts that ran through my mind:
- I can't believe my little baby is on that big bus driving to a brand new building without me. He is to young for that! How can he possibly do that by himself??
- I hope he can open his lunch box and all his snacks? What if he can't open the bag of grapes, or zipper it back up?
- I pray pray pray he doesn't try to share food with any other kids, he still doesn't really understand what is safe and not safe to eat with his allergies. The lunch room is a scary place!
-What if he talks to much? He loves to talk, and he is so enthusiastic, but what if he doesn't understand when to stop?
- Please be a kind love-able boy! I hope the teacher loves him too and he doesn't become the "bad" or "annoying" kid in class.
- What shorts is he wearing? Is he going to be able to button them by himself after the bathroom?
-I hope he doesn't get overwhelmed and act like a crazy kid.
-Does he miss me? I hope so because I miss him, but I hope not because I don't want him to be sad.
-Do they get to spend enough time just playing and being kids? They are still so young, being in school all day is hard!!
-I hope he eats his lunch and snack, I don't want him to be hungry.
-Is it 4:10pm yet???
The time finally came to meet him at the bus stop. When the bus arrived the bus driver had to remind him several times that he had to get off the bus, he could see his friends tomorrow. He spent the next 2 hours telling me lots of stories about the classroom, the boy on the bus, the kid he helped walk to the nurses office, the boy who hit him by mistake in the face (I didn't love this part), the lunch room, and how he needs to wear his nice blue sneakers on Tuesdays. My heart was full to hear about his great first day. Tomorrow will be a tad easier, but the feelings of worry and sadness will not be gone. But hopefully seeing him happy, a great teacher, and new friends will help ease the pain and lead to an amazing first year of school!!
They say things are much easier when the kids start 1st grade.... that better be true!
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Whats going on these days?
Its been a wild few months. Lots going on. Good things, bad things, stressful thing, exciting things. I am not going to get into all of it right now, but here are a few notes on the Taynor family happenings.
- We are trying to sell our Coolidge house. The renters are ready to move out, and keeping it is not a great long term investment, so we hope to sell it soon. It has been on the market for 2 weeks and had lots of showings and one offer we are currently negotiating with. I am hopeful we can get it sold quickly and move on. The goal is to use the money from that house to buy another home in North Carolina. The NC can be an investment home or a home for us to live in if we decide we are heading South. That is a conversation for another day. Owning three homes and being landlords has been a fun yet challenging new business venture we have started the past couple years.
-We are actively debating whether we should settle in here in NJ or make the move to NC like so many others have. Lots of pros in both directions. I have kind of thrown my hand up in the air, I pray every night, and I am asking God to take the wheel on this whole process.
-As usual I am debating my job situation. My bridal hair business is growing and I am happy with the progress I have made. I do hope it continues to grow and allows me the ability to leave the office job. I am also looking into other options of what I can do from home to supplement my income if I decide to the leave the office. The balance of babysitters and office hours has become very difficult, especially for how little I make and if we plan to have another child (lots of prayers for this too) then this problem will not go away anytime soon. So its the constant battle of being home a lot, taking care of my family, and still making enough money to contribute to our monthly finances. One option I am considering and in the process of working on is a travel agent. I figure I love planning, I am very organized, and like my previous post states I am travel obsessed these days, so it might be a good fit along with the bridal business.
-Mike and I were training for a half marathon. Unfortunately I was sidelined at the last minute (tough look after training for 3 months, I didn't even get to run the race), but Mike ran with my sister and they did awesome. We are hoping to keep it up because we do enjoy running together.
-We have been doing lots of work on our house. Some little projects, some big projects, but slowly but surely we are making changes. I'll do a post with pictures soon, but its nice to see some progress. But I will admit, when I look around this house I still just see work. A big property that needs lots of love, a basement I would love to finish, these ugly counter tops that I dream about changing... so while we wait and save to do it, I just watch a whole lot of HGTV and dream.
-Ryan is officially registered for kindergarten. It makes me so sad and proud at the same time. I can't imagine him leaving at 9am and not coming home til 4pm every single day! I am going to miss him like crazy and am getting ready to buckle in for a rocky year.
-We are getting ready for wedding season. We have another 5 weddings this year! I thought I was too old for his!
I think those are the hot topics as of right now! Look at me catching up on lots of blog posts. Still to come- Disney re-cap, birthday party details, ADHD discussion, and home improvements update.
- We are trying to sell our Coolidge house. The renters are ready to move out, and keeping it is not a great long term investment, so we hope to sell it soon. It has been on the market for 2 weeks and had lots of showings and one offer we are currently negotiating with. I am hopeful we can get it sold quickly and move on. The goal is to use the money from that house to buy another home in North Carolina. The NC can be an investment home or a home for us to live in if we decide we are heading South. That is a conversation for another day. Owning three homes and being landlords has been a fun yet challenging new business venture we have started the past couple years.
-We are actively debating whether we should settle in here in NJ or make the move to NC like so many others have. Lots of pros in both directions. I have kind of thrown my hand up in the air, I pray every night, and I am asking God to take the wheel on this whole process.
-As usual I am debating my job situation. My bridal hair business is growing and I am happy with the progress I have made. I do hope it continues to grow and allows me the ability to leave the office job. I am also looking into other options of what I can do from home to supplement my income if I decide to the leave the office. The balance of babysitters and office hours has become very difficult, especially for how little I make and if we plan to have another child (lots of prayers for this too) then this problem will not go away anytime soon. So its the constant battle of being home a lot, taking care of my family, and still making enough money to contribute to our monthly finances. One option I am considering and in the process of working on is a travel agent. I figure I love planning, I am very organized, and like my previous post states I am travel obsessed these days, so it might be a good fit along with the bridal business.
-Mike and I were training for a half marathon. Unfortunately I was sidelined at the last minute (tough look after training for 3 months, I didn't even get to run the race), but Mike ran with my sister and they did awesome. We are hoping to keep it up because we do enjoy running together.
-We have been doing lots of work on our house. Some little projects, some big projects, but slowly but surely we are making changes. I'll do a post with pictures soon, but its nice to see some progress. But I will admit, when I look around this house I still just see work. A big property that needs lots of love, a basement I would love to finish, these ugly counter tops that I dream about changing... so while we wait and save to do it, I just watch a whole lot of HGTV and dream.
-Ryan is officially registered for kindergarten. It makes me so sad and proud at the same time. I can't imagine him leaving at 9am and not coming home til 4pm every single day! I am going to miss him like crazy and am getting ready to buckle in for a rocky year.
-We are getting ready for wedding season. We have another 5 weddings this year! I thought I was too old for his!
I think those are the hot topics as of right now! Look at me catching up on lots of blog posts. Still to come- Disney re-cap, birthday party details, ADHD discussion, and home improvements update.
The Taynor Brothers
As usual, I haven't blogged in forever. I missed Patrick's 2 year old birthday update and party details, and I missed Ryan's 5th birthday update and party details. Life is busy, blogging slips down on the priority list. So instead of trying to back track, here is my post about my precious boys. Hopefully I will still get to posting about their parties. I had a lot of fun planning all the details and would love to share.
So as of today- Ryan is 5 years 3 months old and Patrick is 2 years 4 months old.
Patrick-
-His personality makes us laugh and shakes our heads all day. He is funny, charming, moody, a trouble maker, and super cuddly.
-Patrick is the type that will do something wrong, know he is about do get in trouble, so he will do something really super cute immediately after so that everyone laughs and smiles and suddenly he is no longer in trouble (my brother was very good at this trick too, I know it well).
-He is still sleeping in his crib and in diapers, but we plan to start transitioning both things this summer.
-He occasionally goes on the potty, and when he does we have to have a big celebration
- Patrick can be a bit of a couch potato (he gets it from his Daddy). Umizomi, Little Einsteins, and Paw Patrol are current favorites.
-Talking is coming slow for him, just like his brother. But he is a very good communicator and the words are slowly catching up.
-He calls his brother Yaya and he is in love with him!
-Sleep habits are pretty routine- in bed around 7-7:30, sleeps til anytime between 6-7am and takes a 48 minute nap (I'm serious, all naps are exactly the same length, we have still never gotten a nap over 1 hour).
-He is in the "I do" stage which I kind of love. He wants to try to do everything himself and he is determined to keep up with his big brother.
-We registered Patrick for school, so he will be starting preschool 3 mornings a week in the fall (ahhhh!)
-Patrick can be stubborn. He know what he wants and that's it. If he doesn't get it, tempers flare. But luckily the tantrums never last long.
- He is a picky eater. By time we get to dinner he pretty much eats nothing. I am a mean mom. I make one dinner for the family, he eats it if he wants, or he eats nothing for dinner. I am not starting the bad habit of multiple meals or eating junk for dinner. I am not overly concerned because he eats a great breakfast, a decent lunch, and has lots of healthy snacks all day... so I know the kid won't starve. He will start eating dinner again when he is ready.
-On the food topics- his favorite foods are pouches, bananas, avocado, yogurt, veggie straws, waffles with sun butter, and pasta.
-He finally has his own friend. Up to this point its been all Ryan's friends or his cousins. But now he has play dates with his little buddy Rex and they have a lot of fun together. Its very cute.
-My favorite part of the day is Partick cuddles. He loves to hug and kiss and cuddle up in my lap. I think he would curl back inside the womb if it was possible.
-Patrick's the kind of kid that everyone loves. He is cute, he puts on a show for everyone, he is a social butterfly, people just love him.
Ryan-
-Ryan brings me all the greatest parts of my day and all the hardest parts of my day! He is a lot of love, personality, emotions, and energy every single day.
-Recently Ryan has been blowing us away with his knowledge and questions and quests to learn about all these fascinating topics. He is obsessed with whales, sharks, underwater life, scuba diving, dinosaurs, and traveling around the world. And the obsession is not just about playing with these kind of toys. He wants to read books (like real encyclopedia style books), watch documentaries, and tell everyone about what he is learning.
-When you ask Ryan what he wants to be when he grows up he says "a scuba diver that can take pictures and videos of whales and sharks and use to it do research to learn more about them and teach kids" or to work at a rescue center for sea animals that have been injured.
-He also has become very artistic. His teachers always pull me aside to tell me how great his imagination and art skills are. We are looking into an art summer camp for him.
-He loves people, all people, all the time. Everyone he meets he wants to become friends with. He has invited many grocery store clerks or target employees to our house for dinner.
-Ryan is currently enjoying playing soccer on Saturday mornings and going to his gymnastics class. He is doing much better with following the structure and improving his skills.
- We are working everyday with his ADHD behavior needs and his sensory issues. Its been a tough few months. He goes to OT once a week and I am constantly doing research, going to seminars, watching webinars, to find out more about what I can do about helping him. As he gets older, we are encountering new more challenging issues with his ADHD and compulsive behavior. Its a lot of work to keep up with but we are trucking along. I hope to do a separate post about this soon, I don't want my Ryan update to be all about his disability.
-Ryan is very very emotional- from the highest highs to the lowest lows. When he is excited he is barely able to contain his joy, and when he is upset he cries to the point of throwing up and not breathing. The pendulum can swing from one emotion to the next in just seconds. He keeps me on my toes.
-This kid is LOUD, like really loud all the time. I didn't realize how loud he was until he wasn't around for a few days and the house was eerily quiet. He talks loud, laughs loud, cries loud, plays loud.
-Just like I was saying about Patrick, Ryan is full of love. Lots of cuddling, hugs, kisses all the time. Many days the boys fight over who gets to cuddle with mom- I don't mind this at all!
-Ryan loves to be outside, exploring in the woods, doing yard work with Daddy, swinging on the swings. He is very excited for summer to be outside all the time.
Now lets take a quick peak at their relationship as brothers.
-They love each other so much, its very sweet.
-Ryan loves to protect Patrick, he gets very worried about him and making sure he is safe all the time. But at the same time he can totally body slam him in a wrestling match and not thing twice about it.
-Ryan wants to be just like Mike, and Patrick wants to be just like Ryan, so this leads to a lot of following each other around and fighting over toys. When they all play together, Ryan wants to do whatever Mike is doing, and Patrick then wants what Ryan wants, so even though we have a room full of toys, all three boys are fighting over the same sword (or dinosaur, or truck, or lego piece). It is an odd dynamic because their love for each other and want to play together leads to lots of fighting and tears on a daily basis.
-Both boys are very boyish boys. They are loud, like to get dirty, wrestle a lot, play with bugs, constantly on the move. The activity level in our house is always very high from the minute their eyes open until they fall asleep at night.
-We have reached the fighting and tattling stage. Its tough and I don't think its going away anytime soon. Like I said they fight over toys ALL OF THE TIME, and we get a lot of "Patrick hit me" or "Yaya gave me boo boo". We have a lot of lessons in sharing and keeping your hands to yourself in our future.
-But they can't leave the room without giving each other hugs and kisses and saying I love you, 100 times a day.
I am sure I could go on and on about the little things that make me smile every day, or the little things that make me want to pull my hair out (like Patrick's habit to poop in the bath tub or Ryan's ability to leave a mess wherever he goes) but at least I got some of their little personality traits down on paper!
Seriously I need to get better at posting more often, then I don't want to worry about getting it all down at one time.
So as of today- Ryan is 5 years 3 months old and Patrick is 2 years 4 months old.
Patrick-
-His personality makes us laugh and shakes our heads all day. He is funny, charming, moody, a trouble maker, and super cuddly.
-Patrick is the type that will do something wrong, know he is about do get in trouble, so he will do something really super cute immediately after so that everyone laughs and smiles and suddenly he is no longer in trouble (my brother was very good at this trick too, I know it well).
-He is still sleeping in his crib and in diapers, but we plan to start transitioning both things this summer.
-He occasionally goes on the potty, and when he does we have to have a big celebration
- Patrick can be a bit of a couch potato (he gets it from his Daddy). Umizomi, Little Einsteins, and Paw Patrol are current favorites.
-Talking is coming slow for him, just like his brother. But he is a very good communicator and the words are slowly catching up.
-He calls his brother Yaya and he is in love with him!
-Sleep habits are pretty routine- in bed around 7-7:30, sleeps til anytime between 6-7am and takes a 48 minute nap (I'm serious, all naps are exactly the same length, we have still never gotten a nap over 1 hour).
-He is in the "I do" stage which I kind of love. He wants to try to do everything himself and he is determined to keep up with his big brother.
-We registered Patrick for school, so he will be starting preschool 3 mornings a week in the fall (ahhhh!)
-Patrick can be stubborn. He know what he wants and that's it. If he doesn't get it, tempers flare. But luckily the tantrums never last long.
- He is a picky eater. By time we get to dinner he pretty much eats nothing. I am a mean mom. I make one dinner for the family, he eats it if he wants, or he eats nothing for dinner. I am not starting the bad habit of multiple meals or eating junk for dinner. I am not overly concerned because he eats a great breakfast, a decent lunch, and has lots of healthy snacks all day... so I know the kid won't starve. He will start eating dinner again when he is ready.
-On the food topics- his favorite foods are pouches, bananas, avocado, yogurt, veggie straws, waffles with sun butter, and pasta.
-He finally has his own friend. Up to this point its been all Ryan's friends or his cousins. But now he has play dates with his little buddy Rex and they have a lot of fun together. Its very cute.
-My favorite part of the day is Partick cuddles. He loves to hug and kiss and cuddle up in my lap. I think he would curl back inside the womb if it was possible.
-Patrick's the kind of kid that everyone loves. He is cute, he puts on a show for everyone, he is a social butterfly, people just love him.
Ryan-
-Ryan brings me all the greatest parts of my day and all the hardest parts of my day! He is a lot of love, personality, emotions, and energy every single day.
-Recently Ryan has been blowing us away with his knowledge and questions and quests to learn about all these fascinating topics. He is obsessed with whales, sharks, underwater life, scuba diving, dinosaurs, and traveling around the world. And the obsession is not just about playing with these kind of toys. He wants to read books (like real encyclopedia style books), watch documentaries, and tell everyone about what he is learning.
-When you ask Ryan what he wants to be when he grows up he says "a scuba diver that can take pictures and videos of whales and sharks and use to it do research to learn more about them and teach kids" or to work at a rescue center for sea animals that have been injured.
-He also has become very artistic. His teachers always pull me aside to tell me how great his imagination and art skills are. We are looking into an art summer camp for him.
-He loves people, all people, all the time. Everyone he meets he wants to become friends with. He has invited many grocery store clerks or target employees to our house for dinner.
-Ryan is currently enjoying playing soccer on Saturday mornings and going to his gymnastics class. He is doing much better with following the structure and improving his skills.
- We are working everyday with his ADHD behavior needs and his sensory issues. Its been a tough few months. He goes to OT once a week and I am constantly doing research, going to seminars, watching webinars, to find out more about what I can do about helping him. As he gets older, we are encountering new more challenging issues with his ADHD and compulsive behavior. Its a lot of work to keep up with but we are trucking along. I hope to do a separate post about this soon, I don't want my Ryan update to be all about his disability.
-Ryan is very very emotional- from the highest highs to the lowest lows. When he is excited he is barely able to contain his joy, and when he is upset he cries to the point of throwing up and not breathing. The pendulum can swing from one emotion to the next in just seconds. He keeps me on my toes.
-This kid is LOUD, like really loud all the time. I didn't realize how loud he was until he wasn't around for a few days and the house was eerily quiet. He talks loud, laughs loud, cries loud, plays loud.
-Just like I was saying about Patrick, Ryan is full of love. Lots of cuddling, hugs, kisses all the time. Many days the boys fight over who gets to cuddle with mom- I don't mind this at all!
-Ryan loves to be outside, exploring in the woods, doing yard work with Daddy, swinging on the swings. He is very excited for summer to be outside all the time.
Now lets take a quick peak at their relationship as brothers.
-They love each other so much, its very sweet.
-Ryan loves to protect Patrick, he gets very worried about him and making sure he is safe all the time. But at the same time he can totally body slam him in a wrestling match and not thing twice about it.
-Ryan wants to be just like Mike, and Patrick wants to be just like Ryan, so this leads to a lot of following each other around and fighting over toys. When they all play together, Ryan wants to do whatever Mike is doing, and Patrick then wants what Ryan wants, so even though we have a room full of toys, all three boys are fighting over the same sword (or dinosaur, or truck, or lego piece). It is an odd dynamic because their love for each other and want to play together leads to lots of fighting and tears on a daily basis.
-Both boys are very boyish boys. They are loud, like to get dirty, wrestle a lot, play with bugs, constantly on the move. The activity level in our house is always very high from the minute their eyes open until they fall asleep at night.
-We have reached the fighting and tattling stage. Its tough and I don't think its going away anytime soon. Like I said they fight over toys ALL OF THE TIME, and we get a lot of "Patrick hit me" or "Yaya gave me boo boo". We have a lot of lessons in sharing and keeping your hands to yourself in our future.
-But they can't leave the room without giving each other hugs and kisses and saying I love you, 100 times a day.
I am sure I could go on and on about the little things that make me smile every day, or the little things that make me want to pull my hair out (like Patrick's habit to poop in the bath tub or Ryan's ability to leave a mess wherever he goes) but at least I got some of their little personality traits down on paper!
Seriously I need to get better at posting more often, then I don't want to worry about getting it all down at one time.
Friday, December 25, 2015
When Christmas Doesn't Go as Planned
It's Christmas night, 7:30 pm, and I have enough time to sit down and write a blog post. Something is wrong with this picture. After all the planning for a magical Christmas day, I am currently sitting on the couch by myself watching lifetime movies. This year Christmas did not go as planned.
Apparently even though I shopped months in advance, I got all the best gifts, wrapped them in color coordinated piles for each kid, prepped lots of food, coordinated plans with all of our family... that didn't stop the flu from hitting our house. Patrick started with the high fever on Tuesday and it has not gone away. He is miserable and lethargic and is on day 4 of this nasty virus (to the doctor we go tomorrow). Then just to make things even better, it hit Mike yesterday. He is out for the count with the same high fever, body aches, and misery.
So this morning Ryan jumped out of bed with excited that it was Christmas morning, but we had to drag Patrick and Mike down to join in the excitement. Patrick cried through most of present, he had no interest at all, and Mike was barely awake to watch the kids open Santa's surprised before he went back to bed for the rest of the day.
Mid-day I realized that neither Patrick or Mike could attend our family Christmas dinner, and Mike was in no shape to take care of Patrick.... sooooo that meant I had to stay home also to take care of them both. I didn't want to ruin the day for Ryan, so I sent him up with my parents.
So here I sit, Patrick is in bed, Mike never left bed, and Ryan is out with my family. I will admit I am a bit lonely, this is definitely not how I pictured Christmas. I am missing my kids and husband and my cousins and extended family, BUT I am sipping champagne, enjoying the quiet and thinking about how even though this was not our perfect Christmas, we are still such a fortunate family with so much to be thankful for.
Christmas can be overwhelming and stressful for parents, but that is not the point and life happens anyway. I am making this a glass half full moment and enjoying whats left of this holiday, and praying that our family is healthy soon so we can enjoy all of Santa's goodies and the plans we have all week.
Anyway- Merry Christmas to all, and hopefully next Christmas we will be able to all celebrate!
Here are a few of the pictures I did manage to get today:
Apparently even though I shopped months in advance, I got all the best gifts, wrapped them in color coordinated piles for each kid, prepped lots of food, coordinated plans with all of our family... that didn't stop the flu from hitting our house. Patrick started with the high fever on Tuesday and it has not gone away. He is miserable and lethargic and is on day 4 of this nasty virus (to the doctor we go tomorrow). Then just to make things even better, it hit Mike yesterday. He is out for the count with the same high fever, body aches, and misery.
So this morning Ryan jumped out of bed with excited that it was Christmas morning, but we had to drag Patrick and Mike down to join in the excitement. Patrick cried through most of present, he had no interest at all, and Mike was barely awake to watch the kids open Santa's surprised before he went back to bed for the rest of the day.
Mid-day I realized that neither Patrick or Mike could attend our family Christmas dinner, and Mike was in no shape to take care of Patrick.... sooooo that meant I had to stay home also to take care of them both. I didn't want to ruin the day for Ryan, so I sent him up with my parents.
So here I sit, Patrick is in bed, Mike never left bed, and Ryan is out with my family. I will admit I am a bit lonely, this is definitely not how I pictured Christmas. I am missing my kids and husband and my cousins and extended family, BUT I am sipping champagne, enjoying the quiet and thinking about how even though this was not our perfect Christmas, we are still such a fortunate family with so much to be thankful for.
Christmas can be overwhelming and stressful for parents, but that is not the point and life happens anyway. I am making this a glass half full moment and enjoying whats left of this holiday, and praying that our family is healthy soon so we can enjoy all of Santa's goodies and the plans we have all week.
Anyway- Merry Christmas to all, and hopefully next Christmas we will be able to all celebrate!
Here are a few of the pictures I did manage to get today:
Thursday, November 12, 2015
DIY Ninja Turtle Halloween Costumes
This year I decided to do something I have never done before. I made the boys their Halloween costumes! And I learned how to do some basic sewing in the process.
Ryan declared very early on that he wanted to be Leonardo (because he is the leader) and that Patrick had to be Raphael (because Red is one of his favorite colors). Ninja turtles are super popular right now, so I had plenty of options for buying one, but I decided to make it myself for the following reasons:
1. The store bought ones were a little cheesy.
2. Knowing how popular the turtles are, I also knew that there would be a million little boys in the same costume. So I wanted them to be a little bit different.
3. Ryan is in big kid sizes and Patrick is in young toddler sizes, so even if I did buy them at the store they would be in different costumes. I could not find a costume in a size 24 mo and size 6 that were matching, and appropriately Leo and Raph.
4. My mom use to make our costumes when we were kids, I wanted to continue that tradition.
Thank goodness for Pinterest. I was able to search TMNT costumes and found many bloggers with step by step directions. I needed all the help I could get. I picked this particular tutorial because it was very detailed and I felt like I could actually do it.
I did need to employee the help of my mother. I can not sew, haven't done it since 8th grade home-ec, and this costume required a decent amount of sewing. I pretty much following the bloggers directions step by step. I also bought white sweat pants and shirts from Amazon and then used RIT fabric dye to get them green. I mixed the Kelly Green and the Dark Green color to try to get a little bit darker and more turtle like then the one in the tutorial. At first I was afraid the color came out too dark, but once it was put together I think it was perfect.
I also decided to buy the boys turtle shells off of Amazon instead of making the shells because I wanted something a little more sturdy. Dress up clothes go well beyond Halloween in our house, so it was worth the money to have turtle shells they can play with all year round.
I was able to buy all of the supplies at AC Moore or on Amazon. Once I had everything together, the work did not take long. One evening I dyed the sweats and washed/dried them to be ready for the the next evening. I decided to use the stove top method for dying the clothes. I thought it was the quickest and the cleanest way to do it. I was nervous to put the dye through my brand new washing machine. I was happy with the stove top results. Then it took my mom and I a few hours the second night to cut the fabrics, pin everything in place, stuff the chest, and sew on all the pieces.
The costume turned out perfect. I was happy and the boys were even happier! They looked adorable and we now have a simple turtle costume in our dress up box for playtime. Thanks again The Scrap Shoppe Blog for the inspiration and tutorial on a great boys Halloween costume.
Tons of pictures coming soon!
Ryan declared very early on that he wanted to be Leonardo (because he is the leader) and that Patrick had to be Raphael (because Red is one of his favorite colors). Ninja turtles are super popular right now, so I had plenty of options for buying one, but I decided to make it myself for the following reasons:
1. The store bought ones were a little cheesy.
2. Knowing how popular the turtles are, I also knew that there would be a million little boys in the same costume. So I wanted them to be a little bit different.
3. Ryan is in big kid sizes and Patrick is in young toddler sizes, so even if I did buy them at the store they would be in different costumes. I could not find a costume in a size 24 mo and size 6 that were matching, and appropriately Leo and Raph.
4. My mom use to make our costumes when we were kids, I wanted to continue that tradition.
Thank goodness for Pinterest. I was able to search TMNT costumes and found many bloggers with step by step directions. I needed all the help I could get. I picked this particular tutorial because it was very detailed and I felt like I could actually do it.
I did need to employee the help of my mother. I can not sew, haven't done it since 8th grade home-ec, and this costume required a decent amount of sewing. I pretty much following the bloggers directions step by step. I also bought white sweat pants and shirts from Amazon and then used RIT fabric dye to get them green. I mixed the Kelly Green and the Dark Green color to try to get a little bit darker and more turtle like then the one in the tutorial. At first I was afraid the color came out too dark, but once it was put together I think it was perfect.
I also decided to buy the boys turtle shells off of Amazon instead of making the shells because I wanted something a little more sturdy. Dress up clothes go well beyond Halloween in our house, so it was worth the money to have turtle shells they can play with all year round.
I was able to buy all of the supplies at AC Moore or on Amazon. Once I had everything together, the work did not take long. One evening I dyed the sweats and washed/dried them to be ready for the the next evening. I decided to use the stove top method for dying the clothes. I thought it was the quickest and the cleanest way to do it. I was nervous to put the dye through my brand new washing machine. I was happy with the stove top results. Then it took my mom and I a few hours the second night to cut the fabrics, pin everything in place, stuff the chest, and sew on all the pieces.
The costume turned out perfect. I was happy and the boys were even happier! They looked adorable and we now have a simple turtle costume in our dress up box for playtime. Thanks again The Scrap Shoppe Blog for the inspiration and tutorial on a great boys Halloween costume.
Tons of pictures coming soon!
Friday, November 6, 2015
Taynor Family Randomness- Fall 2015
I wish I could blog daily, I seriously have enough going on in my head that I could come up with a topic of interest every day. I am going to try to make that a goal of mine, to write more often. Lets see how I do!
But for now, here is a bunch of random things going on in our world. I'll be very general, and hopefully a lot of these topics I can go into more details about in later posts (ya know, now that I am going to blog more often). So here it goes.
- We have been in our new house almost 1 year! I can't believe how fast it has gone. We are still very much in fix it up mode, and we have the "what should we do about..." or "What project should we start next" conversation every day. Top of the priority list is to finish the basement, patio and backyard landscaping, dining room, and maybe upstairs bathrooms. In the meantime we have been tackling smaller items- setting up a craft area in the playroom, Mike is building cabinets and cubbies in our front hall closet, front of the house landscaping, 20 privacy trees in the backyard around the base of the hill, painted the boys bathroom rainbow, and hopefully some new light fixtures soon.
-We love our house, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that we are considering moving. I would say its about a 50/50 shot right now, but things in life keep popping up that suggest maybe it would be a good idea to move out of state (craziness with Mike's company, craziness with Toms River, my parents interest in possibly retiring out of state, financial reasons, they are building something mysterious behind our property, and of course the fact that many of my life-support friendships are now out of state). Who knows- no real plans yet, all just pretend.
-I miss my friends like crazy! And Ryan misses his friends... and Mike misses his guys.... you get the point. We are really really missing all the important people that have moved far away. And not just my North Carolina people- my South Jersey and Maryland girls too. Everyone is just to damn far away. I read an amazing blog once that described this feeling. I want to know what they do each day, and see how they decorate their homes for the holidays, and watch their kids grow up, and see the new sweater they got on sale last week. All those things that are so normal when your best friends are near buy, that get lost when suddenly they are far away.
- We bough another house the end of August. We officially own three homes and rent two. Mike has always wanted to dabble in real estate investing, so this year we took advantage of some opportunities. Let me tell you, financially balancing three homes is not easy. Hopefully it will be worth it in the long run.
- It's been a busy travel year for us. Since April we went as a family to Tampa, the OBX, as a couple to Colorado for my cousins wedding, NC twice, Mike on a guys trip, me on a girls trip to Disney. Ryan and I are going next weekend to visit all our buddies in North Carolina, but then that will probably be it for awhile until our spring family Disney trip (Staying at the Polynesian this time- woohoo)!
- I am learning more and more and more about what healthy living is really all about. Its become a major passion recently. I am constantly learning and researching and really feel like I finally get how it all works. Things I have questioned my whole life finally make sense. This particular topic really needs a post of its own, I can't wait to share some of the changes we have made. Its been about a 4 years journey- pretty much since Ryan was born (motherhood changes everything), but the past year I have really become confident in my knowledge and some of the changes we have made as a family.
- My sister just ran the NYC marathon on Sunday and she killed it! We all went up to watch her, what an amazing experience. It was her first marathon and she finished in 3:42. I am incredibly proud of all her hard work and dedication. Congrats to all NYC marathon finishers.
-So are you going to have another baby?? That's the question I get asked almost daily. For a while I said I wasn't going to even talk about it until after our vacation to Colorado. Well that was 3 months ago. I have no updates or news as of now, but I can say we sure do hope to be able to have a third baby. Only time will tell.
-I have been super sentimental about my boys recently. I could explode with love each day. I LOVE being their mom, like seriously love it! I have always loved them, but something recently has made me slow down and actually appreciate and fall in love with each day. I feel like I can appreciate that they won't be this small forever, and that time is going fast. So I want to take in every day and every stage and make a million memories, because before long they will be big boys, then preteens, then teenagers (ahh scary), and eventually adults with wives and I will no longer be the most important woman in their lives. My point being- having toddlers and preschoolers is SO MUCH FUN, and I am going to love it instead of getting annoyed by the hard parts.
-Speaking of the boys- lets do a brief update on both of them:
Ryan
-He is 4 years and 8 months.
-He loves dinosaurs, ninja turtles, fire fighters, police men, power rangers, sharks, sea creatures, and as always, trucks.
- His imagination is UNBELIEVABLE. Like, crazy smart thinker. Every day we act out a new story line full of adventures.
-His newest obsession is crafts. When he was younger he had no interest in coloring or drawing, but I guess he is making up for it now. He spends hours every day coloring, cutting, gluing, stapling, taping, painting, writing, making stories, decorating my house, etc. He calls them projects and he spends most of his day at home working on projects.
-The start of the school year was a struggle. But his teacher has been fantastic working with him, we changed occupational therapists, I adjusted his vitamins and refocused on his diet and nutrition, and I think he is starting to settle in and show some improvements. He has very classic ADHD symptoms and is dealing with many sensory processing issues, but we are doing so much to help him with his brain/body connection and I believe we are already seeing some changes.
-One major plus to our house is that the back yard is our own personal woods. He can spend hours exploring, gathering acorns and leaves, swinging on the swings, doing obstacle courses. He loves being outdoors.
-Daddy is Ryan's favorite person in the world. Everything Mike does is just "soooo cool". If Daddy does it, Ryan wants to do it. If Daddy likes it, Ryan likes it (this specifically hurt when he decided to root for the MEts this year instead of the Yankees- booo)
-Ryan is a big bag of emotions and he is really good at talking about them. Its kind of cute to watch a little person go through the range of being happy, then anxious, then sad, and then process it and go back to being happy again.
-He is super protective of his brother. He watches him closely when they explore in the back yard, and is always checking to make sure the gate on the stares is closed. He gets worried when Patrick crying and wants to know where he is at all times. They are turning into best buds.
-Ryan prays to God every single night to have a baby sister. Man he is putting the pressure on.
- There are little things that Ryan is doing recently that really shows his independence growing. Things that are not a big deal really, but to me they are big signs of him growing up. Some examples: he gets up in the middle of the night and uses the bathroom and then goes right back to bed without needing my help. I only know because I normally hear the toilet flush. He can swing himself on the swings for a very long time. He picks out his clothes, gets dressed on his own, puts the dirty clothes in the hamper, without needed a lot of prompting. He makes his bed most mornings. Sometimes he washed the dishes after dinner without being asked (and actually really cleans them, not just play in the water). He plays independently for much longer stretches of time. Little things that are signs that he is really growing up before my eyes
- Oh Yea, his very favorite song is Drinking Class by Lee Bryce. He knows every word. Proud mamma moment, I guess :)
Patrick
-1 year and 10 months old
- The almost two stage is hitting us hard. Boy is strong willed.
-He is so friggin cute and he knows it.
-He knows what he wants, and knows how to throw a fit til he gets it. But he can also switch on the big smile and flirty eyes in a second.
- Like most second children I would assume, he wants to do everything that Ryan does.
-He is incredibly stubborn- but I believe he has been that way since the day he was born, including during labor.
-He is also incredibly love-able and cuddley. He loves to snuggle and offers hugs to everyone, included strangers.
-His favorite songs are Let It Go from Frozen, Shake your Sillies Out, and also Drinking Class.
-Donald Duck aka Quack Quack is Patrick's favorite character and stuffed animal.
- He won't go anywhere without his school bus. Some kids have loveys and some have teddy bears... Patrick's comfort object is a school bus. Its very cute.
-He is suddenly giving me a hell of a time with sleep again. He was awful til he turned 1 year old. After that he fell into a good routine. Right to bed with no problems between 6:30-7 and up between 6:30-7 most mornings. Some days earlier but not the usual. Then his naps were never great, an hour at best. But he would go right down on his own without any fuss. Then on Saturday everything changed. He refuses to take a nap during the day and just cries hysterically for hours even though he is exhausted, he refuses to fall asleep at night, up to 2 hours of crying each night before he falls asleep standing up or finally gives in and lays down, and then up for the day by around 5am. The tears have been starting just by mentioning nap time or bedtime, and he does whatever he can to try to stall and avoid going up to his room. He is beyond exhausted. We have been pretty miserable all week. Not sure whats going on, or how to change it... but it sucks to see him so upset. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers that he settles back into his happy routine soon.
- He eats like a teenage boy- that is all.
-Getting him in and out of the car seat is a full blown wrestling match.
-He is a slow talker, even slower than Ryan I think. He has some basic animal sounds (dog, cat, sheep, cow), Mama, Dada, Gigi, Bubba, Uh-Oh, Yes, Bus, Quack Quack, Snack, Go, and NaNA (banana) . That is about it. He can do some sign language, and he is pretty good at letting us know what he wants in non-verbal ways. BUT I do think life will get a lot easier for all of us once he starts picking up a few more words. We have many frustrated moments of whining and tears because I have no idea what he is trying to say to me.
-He is generally calm and happy and can go with the flow. He plays well by himself and can be very silly.
Well I think I have gone through a lot of topics I wanted to touch on. Hopefully I will be back very soon to talk about some hot topics, or whatever else pops into my mind between now and then. Until next time...
But for now, here is a bunch of random things going on in our world. I'll be very general, and hopefully a lot of these topics I can go into more details about in later posts (ya know, now that I am going to blog more often). So here it goes.
- We have been in our new house almost 1 year! I can't believe how fast it has gone. We are still very much in fix it up mode, and we have the "what should we do about..." or "What project should we start next" conversation every day. Top of the priority list is to finish the basement, patio and backyard landscaping, dining room, and maybe upstairs bathrooms. In the meantime we have been tackling smaller items- setting up a craft area in the playroom, Mike is building cabinets and cubbies in our front hall closet, front of the house landscaping, 20 privacy trees in the backyard around the base of the hill, painted the boys bathroom rainbow, and hopefully some new light fixtures soon.
-We love our house, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that we are considering moving. I would say its about a 50/50 shot right now, but things in life keep popping up that suggest maybe it would be a good idea to move out of state (craziness with Mike's company, craziness with Toms River, my parents interest in possibly retiring out of state, financial reasons, they are building something mysterious behind our property, and of course the fact that many of my life-support friendships are now out of state). Who knows- no real plans yet, all just pretend.
-I miss my friends like crazy! And Ryan misses his friends... and Mike misses his guys.... you get the point. We are really really missing all the important people that have moved far away. And not just my North Carolina people- my South Jersey and Maryland girls too. Everyone is just to damn far away. I read an amazing blog once that described this feeling. I want to know what they do each day, and see how they decorate their homes for the holidays, and watch their kids grow up, and see the new sweater they got on sale last week. All those things that are so normal when your best friends are near buy, that get lost when suddenly they are far away.
- We bough another house the end of August. We officially own three homes and rent two. Mike has always wanted to dabble in real estate investing, so this year we took advantage of some opportunities. Let me tell you, financially balancing three homes is not easy. Hopefully it will be worth it in the long run.
- It's been a busy travel year for us. Since April we went as a family to Tampa, the OBX, as a couple to Colorado for my cousins wedding, NC twice, Mike on a guys trip, me on a girls trip to Disney. Ryan and I are going next weekend to visit all our buddies in North Carolina, but then that will probably be it for awhile until our spring family Disney trip (Staying at the Polynesian this time- woohoo)!
- I am learning more and more and more about what healthy living is really all about. Its become a major passion recently. I am constantly learning and researching and really feel like I finally get how it all works. Things I have questioned my whole life finally make sense. This particular topic really needs a post of its own, I can't wait to share some of the changes we have made. Its been about a 4 years journey- pretty much since Ryan was born (motherhood changes everything), but the past year I have really become confident in my knowledge and some of the changes we have made as a family.
- My sister just ran the NYC marathon on Sunday and she killed it! We all went up to watch her, what an amazing experience. It was her first marathon and she finished in 3:42. I am incredibly proud of all her hard work and dedication. Congrats to all NYC marathon finishers.
-So are you going to have another baby?? That's the question I get asked almost daily. For a while I said I wasn't going to even talk about it until after our vacation to Colorado. Well that was 3 months ago. I have no updates or news as of now, but I can say we sure do hope to be able to have a third baby. Only time will tell.
-I have been super sentimental about my boys recently. I could explode with love each day. I LOVE being their mom, like seriously love it! I have always loved them, but something recently has made me slow down and actually appreciate and fall in love with each day. I feel like I can appreciate that they won't be this small forever, and that time is going fast. So I want to take in every day and every stage and make a million memories, because before long they will be big boys, then preteens, then teenagers (ahh scary), and eventually adults with wives and I will no longer be the most important woman in their lives. My point being- having toddlers and preschoolers is SO MUCH FUN, and I am going to love it instead of getting annoyed by the hard parts.
-Speaking of the boys- lets do a brief update on both of them:
Ryan
-He is 4 years and 8 months.
-He loves dinosaurs, ninja turtles, fire fighters, police men, power rangers, sharks, sea creatures, and as always, trucks.
- His imagination is UNBELIEVABLE. Like, crazy smart thinker. Every day we act out a new story line full of adventures.
-His newest obsession is crafts. When he was younger he had no interest in coloring or drawing, but I guess he is making up for it now. He spends hours every day coloring, cutting, gluing, stapling, taping, painting, writing, making stories, decorating my house, etc. He calls them projects and he spends most of his day at home working on projects.
-The start of the school year was a struggle. But his teacher has been fantastic working with him, we changed occupational therapists, I adjusted his vitamins and refocused on his diet and nutrition, and I think he is starting to settle in and show some improvements. He has very classic ADHD symptoms and is dealing with many sensory processing issues, but we are doing so much to help him with his brain/body connection and I believe we are already seeing some changes.
-One major plus to our house is that the back yard is our own personal woods. He can spend hours exploring, gathering acorns and leaves, swinging on the swings, doing obstacle courses. He loves being outdoors.
-Daddy is Ryan's favorite person in the world. Everything Mike does is just "soooo cool". If Daddy does it, Ryan wants to do it. If Daddy likes it, Ryan likes it (this specifically hurt when he decided to root for the MEts this year instead of the Yankees- booo)
-Ryan is a big bag of emotions and he is really good at talking about them. Its kind of cute to watch a little person go through the range of being happy, then anxious, then sad, and then process it and go back to being happy again.
-He is super protective of his brother. He watches him closely when they explore in the back yard, and is always checking to make sure the gate on the stares is closed. He gets worried when Patrick crying and wants to know where he is at all times. They are turning into best buds.
-Ryan prays to God every single night to have a baby sister. Man he is putting the pressure on.
- There are little things that Ryan is doing recently that really shows his independence growing. Things that are not a big deal really, but to me they are big signs of him growing up. Some examples: he gets up in the middle of the night and uses the bathroom and then goes right back to bed without needing my help. I only know because I normally hear the toilet flush. He can swing himself on the swings for a very long time. He picks out his clothes, gets dressed on his own, puts the dirty clothes in the hamper, without needed a lot of prompting. He makes his bed most mornings. Sometimes he washed the dishes after dinner without being asked (and actually really cleans them, not just play in the water). He plays independently for much longer stretches of time. Little things that are signs that he is really growing up before my eyes
- Oh Yea, his very favorite song is Drinking Class by Lee Bryce. He knows every word. Proud mamma moment, I guess :)
Patrick
-1 year and 10 months old
- The almost two stage is hitting us hard. Boy is strong willed.
-He is so friggin cute and he knows it.
-He knows what he wants, and knows how to throw a fit til he gets it. But he can also switch on the big smile and flirty eyes in a second.
- Like most second children I would assume, he wants to do everything that Ryan does.
-He is incredibly stubborn- but I believe he has been that way since the day he was born, including during labor.
-He is also incredibly love-able and cuddley. He loves to snuggle and offers hugs to everyone, included strangers.
-His favorite songs are Let It Go from Frozen, Shake your Sillies Out, and also Drinking Class.
-Donald Duck aka Quack Quack is Patrick's favorite character and stuffed animal.
- He won't go anywhere without his school bus. Some kids have loveys and some have teddy bears... Patrick's comfort object is a school bus. Its very cute.
-He is suddenly giving me a hell of a time with sleep again. He was awful til he turned 1 year old. After that he fell into a good routine. Right to bed with no problems between 6:30-7 and up between 6:30-7 most mornings. Some days earlier but not the usual. Then his naps were never great, an hour at best. But he would go right down on his own without any fuss. Then on Saturday everything changed. He refuses to take a nap during the day and just cries hysterically for hours even though he is exhausted, he refuses to fall asleep at night, up to 2 hours of crying each night before he falls asleep standing up or finally gives in and lays down, and then up for the day by around 5am. The tears have been starting just by mentioning nap time or bedtime, and he does whatever he can to try to stall and avoid going up to his room. He is beyond exhausted. We have been pretty miserable all week. Not sure whats going on, or how to change it... but it sucks to see him so upset. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers that he settles back into his happy routine soon.
- He eats like a teenage boy- that is all.
-Getting him in and out of the car seat is a full blown wrestling match.
-He is a slow talker, even slower than Ryan I think. He has some basic animal sounds (dog, cat, sheep, cow), Mama, Dada, Gigi, Bubba, Uh-Oh, Yes, Bus, Quack Quack, Snack, Go, and NaNA (banana) . That is about it. He can do some sign language, and he is pretty good at letting us know what he wants in non-verbal ways. BUT I do think life will get a lot easier for all of us once he starts picking up a few more words. We have many frustrated moments of whining and tears because I have no idea what he is trying to say to me.
-He is generally calm and happy and can go with the flow. He plays well by himself and can be very silly.
Well I think I have gone through a lot of topics I wanted to touch on. Hopefully I will be back very soon to talk about some hot topics, or whatever else pops into my mind between now and then. Until next time...
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
My Boys- an update
It’s been far too long since my last post about the boys. My lack of recent blog posts can be a testament to the fact that my two little love bugs are keeping me on my toes these days and our days are busy from sun up to sun down. But I love it! My brain tends to swirl around with things I would love to write about, but usually I can’t stop what I am doing to sit down and actually type. So this particular post might seem unorganized and scattered, but I have about 20 minutes of free time while Ryan is in OT so I am going to give it a shot. Here is a general update of my boys!
Ryan-
4 and a half years old
42 inches tall and 45lbs
Still a blondie with blue/green/gray eyes
-Ryan is my sensitive, dramatic, sweetheart! And when I say this I mean to the extreme. He is VERY sensitive, and VERY dramatic, and SUPER sweet. Everything he does it to the extreme. He can go from the happiest kid on the block, to having the most terrible meltdown I have ever seen in a matter of seconds. His highs are high and the lows are low. But he loves very strongly and he loves everyone!
-Boy this boy is active. From the moment his eyes open until he finally falls asleep at night, he is on the move. There are definitely pros and cons to this. Its great to see him always active and playing and exploring, he still won’t even sit down through a TV show. He runs and swings and jumps and swims and wrestles and plays non stop. BUT there is a time when we wish he was able to sit still and focus on one task for longer than 30 seconds. Independent play is still a work in progress, he likes to play with others. I end most days exhausted from constantly being on the go. I think these are good characteristics for him in the future…. as long as it doesn’t get him in too much trouble at school.
-Ryan is “one smart cookie” as he calls himself. But seriously he is! He is not smart in the “I know all my letters and numbers and can read at a young age way”, all those things require him to sit and practice which is not a strong suit. He is smart in the sense that he asks deep insightful questions, he analyzes everything, he remembers everything, he is intuitive and a problem solver, and he can recall random information about any topic after just briefly hearing about it. He stumps me with tricky questions on a daily basis and I am so glad Google is available so I can get the answers for his questions. He holds very adult like questions with perfect strangers and he is always asking WHY.
-My grandfather Poppy use to call me “yack yack gab a lot” (a nickname which also got passed down to my cousin Jessie and my sister) and I am sure if he was still here with us, he would pass it right along to Ryan. This kid can talk! He can talk to anyone about anything for any length of time. Just this morning he was following the spanish speaking cleaning ladies around the house telling them all about our most recent vacation. He makes friends instantaneously with anyone as soon as he walks in the room. Everyone he meets knows that Mike had poison ivy this spring, and I was away at a wedding for 5 nights, and the rock he is carrying around was part of the Rocky Mountains.
-Up until recently Ryan would really obsess over one thing at a time (like trucks for the past 2 years), but his interests are definitely starting to expand. He really loves all the normal boy things- super heros, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, dinosaurs, trucks, Planes Fire and Rescue, Paw Patrol, riding his bike, swinging on the swings, snakes and bugs (gross), baseball, and pretty much anything that Dad likes- you know because dad is SOOO COOL. The other day when I asked him what is the one thing he still wants to do before summer is over, his answer was “yard work with dad”. Funny kid.
-And just some random things- he is still a pretty good eater, he eats much healthier than the rest of the family. He wakes up around 7am and is in bed around 8 and only naps occasionally. He is always playing pretend. He has huge feet. He is about a size 5, we recently dropped the “T”. He played soccer for the first time this year and like it so we are going to try again this fall. This summer he learned to swim on his own with no bubble. He can jump off the side and swim across the pool by himself. He goes to OT twice a week and speech once a week (more details on that another time). He is extremely sensitive to noise. He still loves to cuddle- its normally a jerky get punched in the back style of cuddling, but he likes to be close. Still allergic to eggs, nuts, and wheat. He is finally 100% overnight potty trained, that took some time. He is a great big brother and he tells me everyday he wants a baby again and this time make it a girl (I”ll do my best Ryan!).
Anyway I think that is about it for now. I am sure I am missing some important characteristics, but that is what comes to mind when I think of my loveable 4 year old!
Patrick
1.5 years old
I acutally have no idea how tall he is or his weight, we are overdue for a doctor check up. But my guess is he is small for his age.
His hair has gotten very blonde, curly and long.
Golden brown eyes- and a great tan lol
Currently wears size 18-24 months
-Patrick is super cute, and he knows it. He smiles at people and gives them a cute little dimple because he knows that people are saying “oh he is so cute”. His hair turned super blonde which surprised us all. He definitely looks like a beach baby this summer.
-For the most part Patrick is easy going. He definitely has his phases where he is whiny and clingy, but overall he is a good happy baby. I do think teething bothers him a lot and recently he has been having some tummy trouble so he is a little off, but generally he returns to his normal personality.
-After giving me a hard time about sleep for so long, he has fallen into a nice routine. He is very easy to put to bed around 6:30-7pm and he sleeps through the night til anytime between 5:30-7am. He still takes two naps, about an hour at 10am and another hour at 2 pm. I would love to consolidate that to one longer mid day nap, but he is fighting the change. It is a huge relief that putting him down is so easy these days. The one wierd thing he still does is cry hysterically every single time he wakes up. He goes from sound asleep to standing and screaming in just a second. He has never woken up with a smile on his face or babbling to himself like most kids do. I hope he grows out of this because its a harsh wake up call for him and the rest of us.
-Patrick is a little slow on speaking. He finally just started saying mama and dada in the last couple weeks. Those are the only words he has. I am going to give it another couple of months and then I will call the early intervention people to see if they are concerned. He communicates very well in other ways- sign language, pointing, doing what we ask, responding to us, etc.- so I don’t think it is a hearing problem or a lack of comprehension, he is just slow to say actual words.
-Right now Patrick loves to books “Moo Bah LA LA LA” and anything else that has fun animal noises. I guess you can say animals are his top interest right now. That and Mickey Mouse. Otherwise Patrick just does and watches whatever his brother is doing or watching.
-He follows in Ryan’s footsteps in the activity department. He loves to be on the move and to climb and slide and run. Although he is a little bit better at sitting and playing by himself and he has much better rhythm when we have dance parties.
-Patrick is iPhone obsessed. He loves to just sit and play on our phones. Normally he is just scrolling through pictures and watching home videos, but he can navigate all the apps and find his PBS kids app or any of the games we have for the kids. His biggest temper tantrums are when we take the phone away. We are definitely trying to go through some iphone detox for him.
-He is also a pretty good eater. He eats a lot of food- a whole lot! He has foods he won’t eat and meals where he is a bit picky, but generally he eats well. We have been on the “everyone eats the same thing for dinner” plan since he was about 1. If either boy doesn’t eat what we make for dinner, they don’t eat. So far its working for us, if they have meals they don’t eat a lot, they always make up for it the next day.
-Patrick adores Ryan. He loves to follow him around, chase him, wrestle with him, and basically copy cat him. Its super cute to see the brother relationship forming so strong already.
Anyway- we are all doing well and the boys are amazing! I love being their mom. It gets hectic and messy and exhausting but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I use to worry about never finding the right man to love, and now I get to love 3 every day! Life is good.
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