Clean Teeth

Since Holly FINALLY got 4 teeth, we decided to start letting her brush them. It took her long enough to get them, we don't want them to fall out too soon. Holly is in love with her tooth brush. She gets so excited when I bring it out, and she never wants to give it back. As soon as I tell her to give me back her tooth brush she runs away shaking her head no. Then the chase is on. I have to chase her around the house, and when I finally reach her she hides the tooth brush behind her back. I usually have to pry the tooth brush from her fingers. Then she flings herself on the floor and cries her little heart out. After a good 3 minute cry she is good until the next brushing.

Let's just hope she is always this excited about her oral health!

A Sunbeam!

Owen has moved out of nursery and into the SUNBEAMS at church! I was worried that the move wouldn't go too smoothly. He just turned 3, he's a very young Sunbeam. But he made the transition pretty well. He's only tried to run out of the room a few times. I think he loves all the singing in Primary...he loves to sing!

Musical Beds

Look at me...posting 2 days in a row! How exciting is that? I just really wanted to get last night's game down in writing. This is not one to forget.

Last night we played MUSICAL BEDS! I would not recommend it though...and I hope we don't ever have to play again. Here's how it all went down:

The whole family went down for sleep in their own beds. Scott and me in our bed, Owen in his bed, and Holly in her bed.

Move #1 - Owen decided that he needed to sleep between Scott and me, so he climbed on in to our bed.

Move #2 - There was not enough room in the bed for all of us because Scott thinks he needs to sleep on his side with his butt sticking halfway into my side of the bed. So I decided to move on into Owen's bed. He has a full size bed...good size for me!

Move #3 - While I was moving I woke up Scott. He decided to take a potty break, and while taking his potty break he woke up Holly. I was going to let her cry it out...but after about 5 minutes of not being able to sleep because of her screaming I brought her into Owen's bed with me.

Move #4 - When Owen was a baby and he would wake up screaming we would just bring him into bed with us and he would fall back to sleep. Holly is not like that. She was in Owen's bed with me and she would not go to sleep. She was just wandering around the bed, trying to look our the window, and keeping me awake. I decided that she must be hungry because she hadn't eaten much at dinner that night. So I took her downstairs, got her some milk, and we settled into the rocking chair.

Move #5 - After an hour in the rocking chair and Holly still not falling asleep I decided to take Holly back up to Owen's bed. I was hoping that she would fall asleep in a bed.

Move #6 - Holly did not fall asleep. Instead she thought it would be great fun to hit me in the face with the plastic face of her Cabbage Patch baby. So I decided that she could go back to her crib and just cry it out. I was tired. It was about 3:30 in the morning at this point. So back to the crib for Holly, and back to Owen's bed for me.

Move #7 - Holly cried, and cried, and cried. I noticed something strange about her crying though. Whenever she cried I heard this low rumbling/buzzing sound...and the sound stopped whenever she wasn't crying (to take a breath or something). I thought it was just my imagination, but no, after about 5 minutes I decided something strange was going on. A mystery to be solved! So I walked out of Owen's room to investigate. Walking out of Owen's room, you can turn left and go to Holly's room, or turn right and go downstairs. I noticed that the rumbling noise was coming from my right, not from Holly's room. The noise was coming from downstairs. It was definitely turning on and off with Holly's cries too. I was a bit freaked out by that. And since I'm not the man in the house, it is not my job to check out strange noises in the night. So I woke up Scott and told him to grab the baseball bat. He went over to the top of the stairs, heard the noise and said, "That's Owen's toy car."

HUH?

He explained, "It's the remote control car that Owen got from Aunt Maryann for Christmas. It keeps turning on by itself. I need to take the batteries out tomorrow."

So I asked him how the heck it could be turning on and off to Holly's cries. That just seems a bit extreme. We finally figured out that Holly's baby monitor must have been sending signals to the car to start going whenever she cried! Who needs a remote? What a great scientific discovery! We had a good laugh over that one, turned off the monitor, and since Scott wasn't hogging 3/4th of the bed, I hopped back into my bed with Owen.

Move #8 - Holly was still screaming. Scott felt bad. So he got her out of her crib and decided to put her in bed with all the rest of us. Talk about a crowded bed.

Move #9 - Holly still wasn't sleepy...and now she was crowded into our little Queen sized bed. She decided she should start banging Owen on the head. Owen started screaming, "OUCH!" So Scott and Holly moved over to Owen's bed.

Move #10 - Holly was still crying. I was still sleepy, but a light bulb went off in my head. Holly usually sleeps through the night with out problems. She was fed, her diaper was dry, so something else must have been wrong. I came to the conclusion that her teeth must be hurting her. Her teeth have been so slow coming in, so they are probably all trying to pop out at the same time. That must not feel good. So I took her back downstairs, got her some Tylenol, and we settled back into the rocking chair.

Move #11 - While we were downstairs Owen decided he should move back to his own bed with Scott.

Move #12 - Holly fell asleep!!!!!!!! I did not want to spend the rest of the night in the rocking chair though, so I carefully stood up to take her back to her crib. She woke up. And cried. Oh boy. It was about 4:15 by this time. I usually get up at 4:30. I set my alarm back to 6:30 and climbed into my bed with Holly.

Move #13 - She wouldn't go back to sleep. By this point, I just wanted to get a few hours of sleep. So I put her back in her crib. The baby monitor was off, so no cars would rumble. Scott was asleep in Owen's bed, so he wouldn't feel bad and go get her. She was fed and drugged up, there was no reason she couldn't stay in her crib for a few more hours. She cried, for about 2 minutes....

AND SHE FINALLY FELL BACK TO SLEEP!

Move #14 - Owen moved back into our bed and finished off his night sleeping next to me.

Wow...that was probably the craziest night we have had with both kids. Thankfully that doesn't happen each night. Maybe I should just invest in some ear plugs to make sure it never happens again.

It's hard to believe that somebody so little can cause so much trouble! Happy sleeping to everybody!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I know that January 5th might seem a little late for those greetings, but I say better late then never! From reading all your blogs we know that you all had a pretty good Christmas and New Year...we did too. Who could ask for anything more?

We were lucky enough to have Scott's family over on Christmas Eve. We ate way too much food, played some games and enjoyed each other's company. Owen and Holly got to open up gifts from their Grandma Sheaffer and Aunt Tracey/Uncle Gary. Holly opened her first gift and was all set for the rest of the Christmas. She got her first Cabbage Patch Doll...

And she LOVED it! I've never seen a smile that big before. Since then she carries that doll around with her everywhere, along with the other Cabbage Patch Doll she got from Santa.

Santa did show up! Here the kids are sporting their new cuddly PJs that they got to open on Christmas Eve.

Many people have told me to enjoy having Christmas with little kids because they are so easy to please. They weren't lying. Look how excited Owen is to be getting new dishes!

And "Ta Da! It's Clothes!" (Overheard by Owen after opening his clothes)

I tried to get him to hold them up better...this is the best he could do though.

Holly also got lots of clothes. There is nothing like getting Christmas presents that you actually need.

Owen did get some toys. His favorite...this spiffy Little Einsteins computer. We had lots of fun with that one on Christmas day.
And somewhere along the way Owen lost his PJs. There's nothing like opening presents in your underwear I guess!

On to New Years Eve!

We got about an inch of snow on New Years Eve. Just the right amount of snow for Holly to have her first experience with snow.

Look at the snow coming down! Actually that is Owen throwing snow on Holly. I took a picture at just the right second. Luckily Holly is a good sport about it all. I had lots of fun following Holly around the yard while she discovered snow. She did not want to come in after about 2 hours of playing in the snow (Owen had long since gone inside). Here are a few more pictures of our fun time in the snow.

As for the rest of New Years Eve...it was pretty quiet. We just had a small party with just the 4 of us. There was pizza, cookies, brownies, and jello jigglers...and an exciting game of Candy Land! The kids and I were in bed by 9:50. Scott stayed up and watched "The Twilight Zone" marathon on Syfy.

Here's hoping you take some advice from Holly and have a relaxing 2010!