Weekend Update

We had a fun and productive weekend, although frustrating at times.

On Saturday we made a return trip to the library and had fun picking out lots of books. Owen also really enjoyed giving the librarian our library card to check out the books.

That afternoon is where the disaster began. NO NAP. Let me repeat, NO NAP. I was convinced we killed naptime after taking away the pacifier last weekend. He does great at night, no problem. But he seems to have so much trouble settling down in the middle of the day. If any of you have suggestions, I welcome them. If you come up with something that works I may even send you money.

Needless to say, all of the fun things we had planned for the rest of the day died and we counted down the time until we could put him to bed (7pm for reference.)

On Sunday, we had a busy day. We started off with swim lessons. Owen seemed to really enjoy them this week and participated in the songs, etc. He only cried to get out once. I think it's because the water is a bit cold (so Brett tells me.) All of the poor kiddos are shivering uncontrollably by the end of the session each week. Owen enjoyed chasing the shark toy around the pool as you'll see in this video.

After that we went to visit Jeff and Jill's church for a pancake breakfast. Jill is one of the youth group leaders and it was a yummy event!!!! Owen LOVES pancakes so he was very excited. We then attended Mass. Since it's a different church than ours, and much larger, Owen had a lot of trouble sitting still so he went away for a while with Daddy. But, we made it through.

We headed home for a nap, which Owen was asking for so we thought we were in luck. Thought being the operative word. He did actually settle down after about 45 minutes of playing and slept for 1 1/2 hours, so that was a big relief. We may try and put him in the crib next week for a nap, but not sure how that will work since he really likes the big boy bed. We'll see. At least in the crib he can't get out and play with his toys. Until he climbs out I guess...

That afternoon we just relaxed, ran some errands, and played with Playdoh. It was lots of fun!

Back in August you may remember my post about my first Inchies I made for swap-bot. Well, the ones I sent to Argentina never made it and the person contacted me about it in November. Being a fellow crafter, she was patient and they finally got sent out again. 3 of the 4 were replicas of what was made originally. Not very exciting, but my brain couldn't work any harder.

On another crafting note, I'm in a paper doll swap and just bought all of the materials. I'm very excited about what I'll be making and will be sure to share my progress along the way.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Our Own Worst Enemy

I'll explain the post title in a minute, but first I wanted to share Owen's first swim lesson. He's taking them at DePaul University on Sunday mornings. 9:30 am, a little early for us, but we'll live.

The rest of the pictures are of Owen's new big boy bed. We finally made the leap, which was hard because he really had no desire to get out of his crib. But I didn't want him to feel like he was getting kicked out of the crib for the baby.
So, back to the title of this post. Another big leap we made was getting rid of the pacifier. He's only been using it to sleep and only at home, but definitely uses it for comfort. And I'll admit, we all have been using it as a crutch since Owen is such a wonderful sleeper. Brett and I were both pretty nervous that the next week was going to be awful on everyone with a lot of crying and not a lot of sleep. To our surprise, he climbed right in bed. Although he did ask for it, we told him that they were not for the big boy bed and that they were all gone. He went to sleep on his own without a peep. Guess we've been dreading it for no reason.

Although today at nap time was pretty much a nightmare and he only slept for 45 minutes instead of 3 hours. I guess we'll have to work on this... I'd rather him sleep at night if we only get one or the other though.

I'm going to see Dreamgirls with Jill Wrobel tonight and am excited for a little time away!

Trip to Florida- Part 2

Saturday
The weather was a bit rainy on Saturday so we hung out inside most of the day. Barbara's family came over for a yummy lunch and it was a lot of fun. Owen enjoyed showing off his cuteness of course:)

Barbara's aunt brought Owen an adorable dinosaur puzzle which Owen thought was just great.
After everyone left Barbara and I did some crafting which I of course really enjoyed. The rest of the day we just relaxed and laid low.

Something funny that happened today: After Owen's bath, he noticed pruny fingers for the first time and freaked out for about 10 minutes over it saying "What happened?" over and over while looking at his hands. It was pretty funny. I told him they were just "wrinkly" which he pronounces as "rinkery." Pretty funny.

Sunday
On Sunday morning we got up and played outside, it was beautiful. We had fun playing with bubbles and looking for things in the yard.

Exploring Papo's lemon tree

There was an episode of Dinosaur Train recently where they discovered fossils. Owen found a rock which he called a fossil, and ironically enough, when we looked close there was an old shell embedded in the rock. It was just limestone so it's probably not a real fossil, but a good find nonetheless and Owen was so proud. And apparently Owen still really likes the palm fronds. (Sorry the video is sideways.)

After some fun outside, we went to get Owen's hair cut. Gladly, it was not the nightmare (for everyone involved) that it was last time in Chicago which was great. He was still really anxious but we got it done.

That afternoon we finished up one of our crafts from the day before. We made Owen this really great Superman cape since he's been talking about this character a lot lately. He was really excited and I think it turned out really great.

We also made these great counting bean bags which I think we'll have a lot of fun with. Thanks to Barbara for all of her help with these projects!
Monday
On Monday it was time to go home sadly. Owen came down with a fever on Sunday night so I wasn't really looking forward to traveling by myself with a sick kid, but he still did really well.

Thanks to Nonna Barbara and Papo for a great trip!!! We already miss you and the nice weather.

Trip to Florida- Part 1

Thursday

We got to Florida on Thursday evening and just relaxed from the day of travel. Sadly Brett couldn't come with us since he had to work so it was just Owen, me and Baby G #2 in search of warmer weather and to visit Papo and Nonna Barbara.

We had my favorite dinner of spaghetti with white clam sauce and it was off to bed for Owen. His new 3T fleece pjs have zippers that really bother him. So, I looked for t-shirts they other day but they were out of his size and all they had was these tank tops. They look HILARIOUS on him so we had to take a picture.
And here is evidence of the nightly struggle to put on thus said pjs. As you can see, I won, as always...
Friday
We had to get out and enjoy the sunshine and mid to upper 60 temps. Those of you that read the blog frequently may remember our trip to the Jacksonville zoo in September. It is an absolutely wonderful zoo and since we didn't get to see all of it last time I wanted to go back.

We started off with feeding the giraffes which was one of my favorite things last time. Owen seemed a lot more comfortable with it this time too.

Climbing the elephant statues

After lunch all of a sudden these giant peacocks started roaming around. It was really neat as I've only ever seen them behind a fence before. Owen thought they were hysterical.

And that they looked fun to chase.
And of course we had to ride the carousel again, since this was an Owen favorite. First he rode the giraffe.

My Dad, me and Owen

He rode the alligator second, which moved up and down and he thought it was fabulous. He made everyone smile with his contagious laugh.

And, of course we had to pet the goats which was another one of Owen's favorite attractions last time. At least we were able to get him out this time without the screaming fit we had before.

He had to touch every single goat and look them in the eyes to say hello. Very silly.

Brushing the goatGoat going for a ride on the shovel


Naming the goat parts

The next exhibit was part of the Australian loop and it was the Lorikeets. It was a really neat open exhibit where the birds could fly all around. You could buy a container of nectar for the birds to eat out of which was so cool. And the birds are so pretty.

Feeding the birds

Here are some cool videos of me feeding the birds.

(Note: I did not fall over at the end of this video as it looks like was about to happen...)

Ok, this video you just watched is perhaps one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. I've probably watched it about 50 times since we realized it was recorded and it is still just as funny every time. I think it's so funny not only because of Owen's reaction, but because he thought it was so funny when the bird landed on my head, only to completely freak out when it happened to him. I definitely think this is America's Funniest Home Video quality.

Kanagroos- No, they are not dead, although it was about as exciting as if they had been.

Next we checked out the Komodo dragon exhibit. We told Owen it was just like a baby dinosaur and he thought that was so cool. Owen really enjoyed the asian gardens where they had the coy ponds. He loves anything to do with fish and water.

All in all it was a really GREAT day. Even if Owen walked around the second half of the day saying "I don't want the bird to land on my head."