One Dollar

In an effort to give Dave some quiet to sleep, I took the kids to Fred Meyer after church this morning. I figured it was as good of time as any to get their Valentines for school. It should be no surprise that Tyler picked out Star Wars and Hailey picked out princesses. After the valentine selection we wandered over to the valentine candy isle. I was looking for a bag of small treats that we could attach to the Valentines. Both kids were in a good mood (after having just put boxes of valentines in the basket) and Hailey was being her dramatically cute self. "Oh mommy, look at these (picking up a package of candies). They look sooooo delicious. Mmm, yummy". She has similar comments for several different candies. Each time I had to respond, yes those do look great but we aren't buying candy for us today. The kids accepted that and moved on to the next. There was a woman browsing the isle with us smiling at the kids. We rounded the corner to check out the other side. This same lady came up to us and asked if she could give Tyler and Hailey each a $1 to buy a valentine. Apparently they had charmed her. She was very nice and after our thank you's the kids were so excited to find something they could buy. Hailey quickly found some princess chocolates. Tyler (not a big chocolate fan) gravitated toward the stuffed animals. Since he couldn't find anything for a $1 we headed for the toys and after quite a few minutes he settled on a match box car. They were so excited for their gifts and even more excited to give their $1 to the cashier. Tyler was giddy about his car and how it is the best car ever and just so special. I had a proud parenting moment as we were walking out of the store and he said, "we should send that nice woman a thank you note". Yes we should. Why didn't I think to ask her for her address. ugh.

Anyway, it was a huge treat for the kids. Very special. Hailey did break down in tears after we go home. She all of the suddent wanted her "green ticket" back. She didn't quite understand she traded it permanently for her chocolate.

$1 treasures

Batman...I mean Batgirl

Basketball

Saturday's at the Quiggle household are made up of gymnastics and basketball among other things. Tyler decided he wanted to try out basketball this year and he seems to be having a fun time. His favorite part is running down the court as fast as he can and standing under the opponents net arms out stretched.

Well, I guess his favorite part is making baskets but running is definitely second best. It seems to be hard to remember to guard someone. Dribbling is encouraged but not essential at this age. The kids are mostly happy just shooting and running down the court. He claims he likes practice more than the games but seems to really be enjoying the season.

Force field

Dave's back on patrol and we are back to his crazy patrol schedule. It's been a major adjustment for us all (still is). The days he works nights and needs to sleep during the day I've been making an effort to be out of the house as much as possible. Yesterday afternoon I had a bunch of errands to run so I packed up the kids (such a fun trip for them) and we headed out. After our stop a Trader Joe's we went to the pet store. I thought it would be a fun side trip to break up all the boring stores. The kids always love looking at the fish, birds, and whatever else the store has. In the back of the store they had a fish pond and above it was a very large bird (whatever the huge parrot looking birds are called). It was sitting on a branch in the open air and nothing was keeping it at it's "home". Tyler looked up at me, eyes wide and very serious, and said "Is there a force field right there?".......convinced there was some magical (super cool) invisible shield keeping the bird contained. It made me smile.

Thank You Hello Kitty

This little girl is diaper free! Well for the most part. Of course she still wears one at night and we are working on one other time of day (ahem). We've passed a huge milestone none the less. It has been en entirely different experience than with Tyler. Hailey was actually ready at the beginning of last summer but it was hard when we were out and about so much (at playgrounds with no bathrooms) so I put it off (good parenting, I know). I decided this fall was a good time to tackle it and of course Hailey wanted nothing to do with it. So the last few months we've been sort of working on it. I've tried to get her in unders for at least a little bit each day but some days she flat out refused and most days she'd wear them but wasn't at all committed. A couple of weeks ago, I let her pick out some new panties at Target. She picked out some Hello Kitty ones and has been wearing them exclusively ever since. Who knew it would be that easy. Even more amazing is that she has really only had one real accident. She has even been wearing them out and about in public when we run errands and to school etc. She's had no problems what so ever.

So now we have no naps and no diapers (and it takes even longer to get out of the house). They are growing up so fast.

The secret to our success

A Little Rest

We've been a napless family for a while now (It seems only I would really like to have a nap each day....not that I've ever gotten one). You may remember a post a while back where I mentioned Hailey had given up her naps or perhaps more accurately I've been encouraging her not to take naps. She generally falls a sleep so much faster when she doesn't have one. As a side note, we still haven't solved her night time waking. Even if she has a little nap it seems to keep her awake an extra hour or two at night. The problem is, this girl loves her binky (yes another big change that needs to happen soon). And the truth is she really does love taking naps. So generally around nap time I hear, "Mommy, I need a little rest". Then she takes herself upstairs, gets her binky and hangs out on her rocking chair and reads books or sings songs or whatever. It looks a little something like this:

ok, this is her not wanting her picture taken but notice her book choice

Batman is her favorite

This is how she likes to "rest"

Than maybe 20 minutes later she comes back downstairs and is ready to continue her day.

But some days I notice that it gets a little quiet upstairs and I go up to find this:

Can this be comfortable?

Or this:

This definitely can't be comfortable.

There is at least a foot gap between the chair and ottoman and her buns hang right off the chair.

not sure why the color is funny on this

but yes she does have her lights on and it doesn't stop her from falling asleep

At this point I usually feel bad that she was able to fall asleep in such an uncomfortable position and I let her sleep for 30 minutes to an hour (depending). Of course about 10:30 that night I'm wondering why....why did I let her nap? Why can't she nap and still fall asleep? Why does she love sleeping during the day but hates going to sleep at night? I often go into her room and tell she needs to close her eyes only to hear her say "I don't want to sleep, I don't want to close my eyes". Why? Why? Why? Will getting rid of her binky solve all our problems? And how painful is that transition going to be. Remember the two weeks or terror when we tried that before. The hours upon hours of crying and her falling asleep standing in her crib? Eeesh. Maybe mini naps on the rocking chair aren't that bad. Maybe.

Mattress Fun

I'm back. I finally down loaded all of our Jan pictures (thus far). So now I have plenty of pictures to blog about and will hopefully be a little more diligent this week. Time has gotten away from me. Again.

Last week Tyler and Hailey got new windows in their bedrooms. We really need new windows in our house. We keep our blinds closed at all time in the winter because you can feel the cold air coming through them when the blinds are open. But it will likely take several years for us to replace them all. We are just going to plug along little by little.

Anyway, we had to move Tyler's mattress while his window was being replaced. We stood it up against the wall to get it out of the way but the kids thought this was the best ever. They had a ton of fun climbing up and sliding down. Hailey had no problem monkeying her way up too.

the climb

On top

Hailey preferred to just hang out on the top

Tyler was all about sliding and jumping down

Tyler at 5 years old

My sweet boy Tyler. It's so hard to believe that he is already 5. He has changed so much over the years and at the same time many things have stayed the same. Tyler is very kind hearted. He is definitely a boy and can be rough around the edges but deep down he is very concerned about everyone's well being. He is very much a rule follower. When out in public he is Hailey's guardian (at home...all bets are off :). He is concerned when someone is upset and he can get his feelings hurt easily. Tyler loves to be around people. He is happiest when the whole family is together. He is scared to be alone in any room, even at our house. He has the beat of drums going through his head at all times and is often seen air drumming and I'm not sure he is always aware that he is doing it. At 5 legos are his life and he spends a lot of time working on his creations. He 's obsessed with star wars (books and stories) at the moment. Tyler has always been athletically inclined and seems to have exceptional skills at baseball, tennis, and golf. Tyler's favorite place is home and would be happy if he never had to leave the house.

Tyler loves to make things. He is often making forts or beds. He enjoys coloring pictures (on a blank page much more than a pre drawn coloring page). He could spend his entire day making lego creations if someone had the patience to play with him all day long. When making his lego creations he does not want advice or help (unless there are some pieces he can't get apart).

Tyler loves being at home, getting snuggles, having the whole fmaily together, snuggling his blanket and teddy bear, and being carried out of bed in the morning. He really just likes to be surrounded by his people and all things warm and snuggly. He still like to snuggle with me. There are days in the afternoon when he'll come up and say "Mommy, I need my ups. I haven't had enough ups today". Then I pick him up and he gives me the biggest hug and we just hang out for a few minutes. He plays so well with Hailey. Like any brother or sister they have plenty of moments but all in all he does enjoy her company. And he is patient with her....Hailey gets mad and hits him daily (if not more often) and Tyler has never ever laid a hand on her. I don't think he has even considered it.

Tyler has endless questions. He loves listening to stories and he never forgets anything he has heard. Ever. Tyler wants to be a part of every conversation. He wants to understand everything he hears. He will ask question after question after question when driving in the car. He demands Dave tell him stories and could sit and just talk with Dave for hours. Tyler has an incredible ability to bring up the memory of the tiniest detail from an event a year or two old. Tyler's mind chews on questions for a while but doesn't forget them. He commonly asks questions about something he saw or heard a week or two previously.

Tyler loves reading books before bed. He loves library books and reading different books every night. Except for Star Wars books...those he can read over and over and over again. We've had to stop reading Star Wars books before bed though because it gets his mind going and he is unable to fall asleep.

On nice days Tyler loves riding bikes, running, playing ball, and just generally enjoying the outdoors.

Tyler is very opinionated about what he wears. He has always been this way. Current fashion favorites are a Tshirt and jeans or shorts. If he could spend all of everyday in pj's he would.

My very favorite Tylerism is the way he stands with his hands on his hips (fingers pointing to the floor). He does it a lot and it is just sort of his thing. It almost always makes me smile.....unless it is joined by hsi mean/angry face.

Put in my place

Hailey's napping is really irratic right now. She requests to have one maybe 4 days a week and it's become pretty clear that it's just so she can have that binky we haven't weaned her from yet. Some days she even just stays in her bed for 20 minutes to get her fix and then she's ready to play again. The problem is that even though she loves her naps, when takes them she is up really late at night. Today I took the kids to "pump it up" in the morning so we could get out of the house and the kids could burn some energy. Afterwards we ran a bunch of errands and didn't get home until about 3:00. Hailey immediately wanted to take a nap. I didn't want her to get in bed because I knew she would fall asleep (bounce houses use up a lot of energy). A nap starting at 3:00 in the afternoon would be bad news. So I made her a deal. She could have her binky and take a "rest" in her rocking chair (in her room) while looking at books. She could have her rest while I unloaded and put away all the groceries. By the time I had all my unloading/unpacking done, I noticed it was pretty quiet upstairs. I went upstairs to find this......
Doesn't look very comfortable does it. I guess she really was tired. Feeling bad she was sleeping half off a chair I tried to move her to her bed. She woke with a start, lots of crying. I was trying desperately to calm her down and let her sleep a little more when Tyler walks in all cheerful saying "Hi Hailey, did you have a good nappy". Using my quiet angry voice I said "Ty stay in the hall, I'm trying to get her back to sleep". He looks at me all mad and makes more comments. And I keep shooshing him. Hailey never did go back to sleep (probably for the better) and Tyler came up to me shortly after saying "Mommy, you did the worst thing a mommy could do." Yikes!! "What's that?" I said. "You made me feel bad". So then I felt awful and apologized. I'll have to come up with a more effective, less damaging way to get him out of the room in the future.

It's all about timing

Last night lying in bed I asked Dave "How old do you think Tyler will be when I stop carrying him downstairs in the morning". Tyler and I have a little ritual. It's one of my favorite moments with him every day. When he wakes up he calls "I want my mommy, mommy". He goes through a few rounds in the time it takes me to get from the office to his room. I walk in, fumble in the dark to his bed and snuggle up next to him. He usually stays super still for a few seconds and then stretches out. That's my cue to start rubbing his back, belly, legs. He stays still for any where from 1 to 5 minutes for his "rubs". Then he says he's ready to get up. He climbs up on me and snuggles my neck all the way down the stairs. This is why I was wondering how long Tyler will let me/want me to carry him downstairs.

So this morning, without making any noise or calling anyone's name, Hailey suddenly showed up in the kitchen saying "I got out of bed all by myself". We didn't hear a thing in the monitor and she had to scale all the way down the crib (yes, she should be out of her crib but Dave and I have been too cheap to buy her a real mattress.....some day soon).

That's ok, I'll keep my "moment" with Ty for now.

diaper hat

Hailey needed a new pull up/diaper but the chore quickly became a game and well, the kids had new hats.....and a good time.

Christmas #2

We had our second Christmas last weekend. Tyler and Hailey had fun playing with their cousins and got a whle new round of gifts. We had my fmaily over to our house for dinner, gifts, and dessert. It's always nice to get everyone under one roof. It doesn't happen very often.

setting up the presents

Grammy and Hailey

Tried to get a picture of Dave and I but Hailey really wanted to be in the picture too.

Hailey telling Uncle Dave all about Star Wars


Getting ready to open presents

Tyler and his gifts (lots of Legos :))

Hailey's gift pile

My blue eyed girl and her crazy curls

Check out these baby blues
Will these curls stay or will they be gone after the first haircut.....someday?

photography

A second Christmas blog is coming...one of these days. But until then a few short ones. Here is my budding photographer. She has also started to do some of my exercise videos with me (in her own little way). It's good to know that even though she only has eyes for her daddy, she's keeping tabs on me a little "bidit".