Mr. C- 10 Months

My baby boy is 10 months old today. Oh my WORD!! I think it is hard for me to have it sink in that we will have two toddlers in the house soon, and I'm already tired. What were we thinking?? Even though I am completely exhausted chasing two little ones around (Don't get me wrong, they are such WELL BEHAVED kids, I shouldn't be complaining at all) I wouldn't change it for the world. I can sleep when I'm older.

Here are some updates on my little man... My almost one year old... I think I'm going to get choked up.

GROWTH: I havne't weighed or measured him at all since his last doctors visit. I would guess he is around 17 1/2- 18 pounds and he grew probably 1/4 inch since the last check-up. But, I'm not sure....

SLEEP: I can finally say it... Our house is getting sleep. HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD!! It only took us 10 months to get to this point, but I love it and I will take what I can get. Collyn's bedtime is at 9:30 PM and he sleeps until 7:30-8 AM. He takes a morning nap at 10-11:30 and an afternoon nap at 1:30-3 PM. He isn't taking an evening nap at all. We are down to only two naps per day.

EATING: Mr C is eating up a storm. He eats pretty much anything we eat, and also eats baby purees. Breakfast is baby cereal with fruit or some yogurt (Or both, if he is that hungry). Lunch is baby cereal and a veggie and bits of whatever we are having. I will cut up some bread or bananas or something and he eats at the table with us, like a big boy. Dinner is a meat, veggie, grain combo Gerber baby food, plus the leftover veggie and fruit from the previous meals. He drinks 4 8 ounce bottles a day and FINALLY is holding his own bottle. He refused for a while because I nursed him so long and he didn't understand the fact that there was something to hold.

CLOTHING: 6-9 Month

DIAPERS: Size 3

DEVELOPMENT: Pulling himself up to stand. He will kind of walk back and forth on the couch, just a few steps though. He is climbing on anything he can get his knees on. If you hold his hands, he will walk everywhere. We have a toy fish bowl with balls that you put in it and he can put the balls in and take them out. He likes to "Share". Which is, hand it to you and take it back. He plays with his brother really well. New words: Bye-Bye and Papa. He points at things that he wants and directions he wants to go. He shakes his head "No."

Alden's First Track Meet

On Hannah's last day of school, she got a recreation department letter in her backpack. There was a track meet on the weekend for toddlers and up. Alden is finally able to do these things.

We got there late morning and my sister signed him up while I got the stroller out of the car and Collyn ready for the day. I sprayed the kids with sunscreen and put a hat on Collyn.

Alden did all the events. He did the running long jump, the standing long jump, the softball throw, and the 25 yard dash and the 50 yard dash. He was the only 2 year old that fully committed to every event. He was so cute trying it all.

The awards come in the mail (Everyone is a winner right? So, we can't hand out awards at the meet) but I know he got first in the 25 yard and 2nd in the 50 yard dash. He got a ribbon for showing up and participating.

He had such a fun time. My nieces, Hannah and Hayden and my brother, Johnny also competed that day. They all did a wonderful job.

I am so proud of all of them.

Alden is Superman

Alden has been Superman for the last couple weeks. He has two action figures that are Superman.

One day, I was walking through Wal-Mart while Lyndon and the boys waited in the car for me. I was running in to get formula for Collyn when I saw a Superman cape on sale in the center of the aisle. I figured I could spend $5.00 for a cape. Best $5.00 I have spent. He has worn this thing everywhere. We play Superman a lot.

One night, I was changing Alden for bedtime and he got up and ran away. I told him to come lay back down to get his jammies on, but he came back with his cape on. I let him run around for a few minutes with the cape before getting him dressed for bed.

Trip To The Barber

Alden had his 3rd hair cut yesterday. That first 2 times, he has sat on my lap and the barber cut his hair. This time, I convinced him in the car that he could do it by himself and he gets a special chair to sit on, which is true.

The barber, Martin, has a wooden board that he puts across the arm rests so it lifts kids up high. Alden was also excited because he knew he got a sucker for being good.

Alden did SO GOOD! He sat quietly and so still the whole time. Barely moved a muscle. Collyn sat on my lap and watched his brother get his hair cut. There was an elderly man waiting for his ride to get him. He leaned toward me and told me that I had very well behaved little boys. It made me feel great. I work so hard with these two boys, it's always nice to get encouraging words.

After the hair cut Alden got 2 SUCKERS! A red one to eat and Martin dropped a yellow one in my purse for later. Later was about 5 minutes because Alden finished the red one as fast as he could so he could have the second one. While we were leaving, Martin told me he wished all little boys were that good getting their hair cut.

What a wonderful time.

Alden's New Bedroom

Alden wanted his own bedroom. We have a 4 bedroom house (3 upstairs and 1 down) but we were only using two. One for us, and one for the boys. The other one was a toy room right off the living room and the downstairs one was used for storage. Alden really wanted his own room.

Within an hour I had it changed over. I moved some baby toys from the toy room to Collyn's room and rearranged the room to fit a bed. I had to keep my printer in there, but it doesn't bother him at all. The boys share a dresser and closet right now so I didn't switch that over. Just the bed.

He was so excited to have his very own room. :)

Last Minute Decorating

Since it looks like we are 100% moving in August, I have been doing some little things to spruce this house up to sell. I had so many wonderful ideas for this house and thought I would have time to do it, but it doesn't look like that is the case. When we first moved in, we painted the living room a light warm brown color (All the walls in the house were white and not maintained at all). We painted one wall in the kitchen a deep red because the theme was Vintage Coca-Cola. The boys bedroom had a red accent wall for firetrucks and our bedroom was a calm blue.

I have been eyeing our bathroom since we moved it. The people before us did a horrible paint job and painted the whole bathroom this horrid light blue. I mean EVERYTHING. Walls, trim, door, everything. Thank goodness not the ceiling. They had two racks against one wall that were oversized and awkward and no place to hang a hand towel. Last week, I decided it was time to paint it. I always wanted to do a pale yellow. I found the color "Bees Wax" in the paint section at a local store and got a gallon. I should have only gotten a quart because I barely used any of the gallon. Now, I'm trying to figure out what else I can paint yellow... Maybe the laundry room.

I bought a new towel rack to go next to the shower and tub and a hand towel rack to go beside the sink. If we were going to stay, I was going to change out the storage from above the toilet and put in a pedestal sink and a oval mirror. But, we aren't so this will do.

My next project is to paint the basement a cream. We have a full family room downstairs that needs painted. It is all paneling and UGLY! I had the idea of making it a "Man-Cave" family room. I think it will up the price of the house if we paint it because there is new carpet down there, but it is so dark.

We also have to paint the outside of the house before we put it on the market. Lots of painting!

TIPS FOR PAINTING WITH KIDS

I did all my painting without Lyndon here, I did it while he was working. Here are some tips.

1. Snacks. Make sure the kids have lots of snacks as distractions. It will keep them busy for a good 15-20 minutes which is enough time to do the trim. 2. I'm not for TV as a babysitter, but turn on one of their favorite shows or movies. Alden loves Wreck It Ralph, so that is what I put on. He doesn't sit and watch the whole thing, but it gives me a good 20-30 minutes of paint time without little ones. 3. Make sure they is a safe place for your crawling babies. We have a toy room, which luckily is across the hall from the bathroom. I put up a baby gate and put Collyn in there to play. He would get bored within 10 minutes, but a cracker here and there and a brother for distractions helped. 4. Of course, right when you are almost finished they will have a melt-down. At least mine did. I had about 10 minutes left of painting and they were both crying. I finished the job and waited for the clean up. I went and rocked my babies until they were calm and content and then cleaned up my mess.

Big Changes

Okay, so most of the time I just write about what is going on in our lives. Not feelings or emotions. I try to keep things pretty surfacey and to the point. This post if going to be a little different.

So, Background...

I have lived in the same town my whole life. I was born in a hospital 20 minutes from the town I currently live in. I grew up here, went all the way through school here (Preschool- High School) and I went to college at a community college 20 minutes away while I lived with my parents. When I got married, I moved out and moved into a house a block from my parents. Moved to a house 2 blocks from my parents before we had Alden and then moved 5 blocks away right before we had Collyn. All in all... I've never left my comfort zone. I've never been adventurous and left my hometown like the majority of the people I went to school with.

Lyndon and I were talking about how I'm not adventurous and I said I can be. And, I started naming things that I have done.... In the end, I realized they were lousy adventurous ideas and I've come to the conclusion that I am boring. I like structure, schedules and organization.

Lyndon was offered a job in Northern California that is about 10 hours away from where we currently live. We took a second trip down to the town last weekend (without kids). On Saturday, there was meet and greet to meet the congregation. On Sunday, Lyndon preached. That afternoon, we found out that Lyndon was voted in and he signed the contract to become the lead pastor of the church.

I am so proud of him and glad that he is finally able to follow his dreams and have a job that he went to school for. I'm just having a hard time because I am leaving everything I know. I struggle everyday knowing I'm selling the house I love after only a year living in it. I never was able to see its full potential. I have to sell a business I have put my heart and soul into. After 2 years, I almost have it paid off and now I have to sell it (Or sell the equipment) and never see the the glory and success I was hoping for. We are moving our kids away from every relative they have, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents... They all live in this town and we would be leaving that. My kids won't really know who they are when they visit or when we come to visit. And, it breaks my heart.

The plan is to go through the summer with our normal jobs. Lyndon will still be working at the garbage company and I will be teaching summer classes at the studio. We would be moving mid to late August, after dance is over and after Collyn's first birthday. I've gone back and forth through excitement and happiness for this new adventure to anger and sadness and disappointment for everything I'm leaving. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet, but in the end, we are moving.

I am looking for houses to buy. The market is way more expensive than in Idaho, so it's going to be tight, but I will do what I need to do to help my husband be successful.

I will keep updating with this and how everything is going. Such a big life decision. Probably the biggest one we have ever made and will ever make....