Wednesday, August 8, 2012

First night

So we started Ben on his new sleeping pattern last night and he did great! I only had to go and put him back in his bed twice, but I did have to lay with him until he fell asleep, which wasn't very long. It was hard to get him to just lay down in his bed the first time to get him to just go to bed, he gets scared in his room, even though we have lights in there and he was clutching to his stuffed animals and I had to give him a flashlight and lay down with him, but I was impressed with how well he did. Hopefully we will get to a point where I won't have to lay down with him and he will just go back to sleep instead of getting up. But we made a rule chart for him to follow and hung it up in his room and whenever he followed the rules the whole night he got a star sticker on his chart and then got a special reward from the reward basket that I put together for him. So he got a reward this morning! Hope it all keeps going good! I love him so much but it is so nice to have our bed to ourselves!

Monday, August 6, 2012

My new challenges...get ready to follow me!

ok, so I have been inspired from all the things that I have been pinning on pinterest over the past few months to be a better and more engaging mother! I have a plan to get Ben off the t.v. and into more challenging and learning experiences. Also to have him play more and just to get away from so much t.v. So I have to admit, the t.v. is the biggest crutch I use for a babysitter, not gonna lie. I use it for everything, when I need to clean the house, doing homework, to tired to play, it gets used for it all. My kids are addicts, and it is my fault! So here is the challenge, to get Ben off the t.v. and into more learning activities and more play! He does have a few things he does need to learn before he starts school in 2 years, which is not that far off, I need to be his preschool teacher, not just a mom. So the goal is to get him down to 1 hour of t.v. a day and fill up the rest of his days with me teaching him new things, like his letters which I know that he is far behind with learning them, he know how to spell his name, the short version (BEN) and I want to just be a better MOM!!
So here it goes, I have till his bday, Sept. 5th, to get him on track and me to feel better about how I am raising him to be! I mean, yes, he already is super smart, anyone who knows him knows that, but I know that I can be doing more to do better with him.

Here is the other challenge that I am going to work on not just with Ben but with David too. They are both not great sleepers, Ben more than David, but Ben has been bad since day 1. Of course, this comes back to me too, doing all the things they tell you not to do "don't let him sleep in your bed" (did that) "don't let him fall asleep with a bottle" (oh do that with David) "Let him cry himself to sleep" (oh tried that and failed miserably) So here goes this challenge, to get Ben to sleep in his own bed and fall asleep in his own bed.

I guess you need the history. Yes Ben slept in our bed til he was 9 months old, then we got him to fall asleep while crying himself to sleep after that, then he did pretty good til he got promoted to the big boy bed where he crawls into bed with us every night, without fail, and this has been going on for about a year, year and a half. And we allow it, cause we are to darn tired to do anything about it. But I am taking a stand, no more terrible sleepers!! My challenge is to get Ben to fall asleep in his own bed, oh the other part is that he always has to fall asleep on the couch with the t.v. on. So we are now going to get him to fall asleep in his own bed and stay in there throughout the night! No no not going to be easy, but it is going to happen!! Mostly with David we just need to get him to fall asleep without the bottle! I have a system, a fool proof system that will work, and of course you know it is going to involve rewards, won't get no where without rewards! So here we go.....

Friday, July 6, 2012

Here we go...

So just to give a little update,
Jason just quit his 2nd job, his last day in on the 12th.
This is a a good and scary thing at the same time.
It will be really nice to have Jason here more often, I know that he has really been wanting to have more time with the kids and to do things that he wants to do. But the things that is scary is that we just won't have very much money, which we can get by on just his one job, but barely. He did just get a little raise at his one job, so that is good. I am not working because I am going to school and there is no one that would really hire me with the specific hours that I would need, part time and at night. So for now I am just being Mommy and going to school, I really want to finish school!
But other than that our little family is doing great! Ben and David are just the 2 sweetest, adorable little human beings on the planet!! ;) I could not think of anything that would make me want to have any less time with them, I LOVE being able to stay home with them, and when I go to school I am able to just have family members watch them, so that is a good feeling. The scary thought is that once I get accepted into the nursing program, it is a full time gig, so they will have to go to daycare, eeks! But that won't be for a least another year, maybe 2, so I don't have to think about that just yet! So for now, we are all great, flourishing and loving life!
Here is a list of things that David is doing and saying:
1. mama
2. Daddy
3. Papa
4. bye bye
5. uh-oh
6. baba (for bottle)
7. cracker
8. Ben
9. Quack (for what does a duck say)
9. puppy
10. more
11. gaga
12. no no
13. peepee (he discovered he was a boy and says it whenever I change his diaper now!)
14. woof (for what does a puppy say)
15. bubble
16. Hi
17. shoes
18. toes
He loves to walk and is already trying to take off running! He loves to give hugs and kisses! He is such a sweetie, but he does have a set of lungs on him! He can scream with the best of 'em!


Ben is super smart too! He is so social.

He will just say hi to everyone and anyone, and David has picked up that habit too! But people are always so friendly to them and they are just good kids! I hope they keep these attitudes as they get older, I want them to be good, smart, happy boys!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Walk tall!

SO, David has been trying so hard to walk lately, he is really determined! He really is trying so hard, the most steps he has taken so far has been 7!
He is so smart too, this is a list of words he is saying now:

Baba-for bottle
Dada
Mama
Nana
No no- everyone's favorite!
puppy
Ben
papa
gaga
yaya
uh-oh
bye bye
wow

Like I said, super smart! He has been sick for a little while though, poor thing!
He had a bout of RSV we think about 4 weeks ago, now he has had this horrible cough that the doctor thought was croup (don't know if that is spelled right) But he is finally getting over it all, and Ben had it too just not as bad!
So for now, we are a great happy family! Can't wait for my boy to walk all the way! I love my boys!!!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Legoland!


So I had my spring break from school last week and we decided to go on a trip. I first wanted to go to Disneyland but decided it would be better if we went there with our family. So we decided to go to legoland! It was so much fun! Ben was having so much fun! I have never seen him so excited and happy before! It was such a nice time to get away from everything for a little while and just be able to focus on my boys! It was a great time for mommy and daddy too! I can't wait to take them back there next year, and by that time David will be able to ride the rides! Ben's favorite ride was the dragon! It goes pretty fast, and he was barely tall enough to be able to ride it, you have to be 40 in. tall and he was barely at the 40 in. bar, his hair was fluffy and I think that was the only reason he reached it :) But we will definitely be going back next year! And we also went to the beach, which was fun too, it was just really windy and the water was really cold so we didn't get to stay as long as I wanted to, but me and Ben went and found some shells and he liked to run away from the waves as they came onto the shore. David liked it too, especially eating the sand ;) What a great trip!!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Fun time in life!

Well...

David is now 10 months, holy smokes..time goes so fast! He is such a cutie pie and so smart! He is trying so hard to walk, trying to keep up with one of his favorite people, Ben! He loves Ben so much, he wakes up in the morning and gets a huge smile on his face when he sees Ben, it is the sweetest thing! He is trying really hard to talk too, he yells and does his own little talk, but he is trying to say Ben and Juice. Can't get over how smart this kid is, and cute, like I said before! :)
Ben is also very smart, even though I know he has been a little behind in learning a few things, like his letters, which has been driving me nuts for some reason! But he now knows most of his letters, and he picked it up so fast! He loves Star wars, and anything to do with star wars! He has this lego video game that he is obsessed with!
He also loves his baby brother very much!!

As far as my life goes...
I get kidney stones all the time, which sucks because we have no health insurance so each visit to the E.R. is pricey! I got a wonderful blessing from Jason the other day that I hope will make the kidney stones subside so that I can focus on my life! I am taking Anatomy right now, which is proving to take up all my extra time, plus more at times! It is hard, I know everyone I talk to says that they loved it and that they were the top of their class, I am just barely making it through, I do like it, but it is challenging for me to memorize everything!!
I need to get a B- to pass the class for nursing, so good luck to me :)
But I love my life! I love spending as much time as I can with my boys, they are the only reason I do this, so I can provide a better life for them and give them everything that they need and deserve! I want to make a better life for them! I want to get a house so they actually have space to run and play! I want to be able to pay for their schooling and missions! I know that is far off, But I am a planner!
I hope to be done by next year, if all goes as planned!
For now, our life is good!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Growing Boys!

So just to get a little bit of an update....

David turned 9 months on the 15th of Jan. He is growing really fast and getting so smart! He has been crawling since 7 1/2 months, he now pulls himself to stand and is trying so hard to walk, I am sure he will pretty soon. He really wants to catch up with Ben!He says "Dada" most of the time and he also likes to say "mama" but only when he desperately needs me. He starting saying ball the other day but then stopped. He is now sleeping in his own bed, and he has been sleeping in their pretty good, usually about 8-10 hours a night, and he wakes up to eat usually once or twice.
He loves to be held, so it makes it hard to get stuff done during the day (especially homework) but he is a really good baby! He loves to laugh!
He really loves Ben and loves to be around him and play with him!
He eats pretty much all the baby foods that we give him, his favorites are sweet potatoes and bananas. We have also started him on some more solid foods that we eat, just break it into tiny pieces. He is just so cute! We love him so much!

Ben is super smart and cute too! He is growing taller and now starting to lose some of the chubbiness that he had. He loves to play, and especially video games. His new favorite game is the lego star wars on the PS3. He is really good at it, and is addicted, not gonna lie, we have to restrict his game playing during the day. But he loves to play with other kids his age, and he is a really nice kid to them. He loves to be with his cousins especially!
His speech is getting more and more advanced. He talks like a little adult sometimes, its really funny! But he loves to help out with David and with things that I need. He is amazing, couldn't ask for a better son! We love him so much!
He is excited to go to school, he asks me all the time when he can go, I keep telling him 2 more years, he will get to go to preschool when he is 5, he is looking forward to that, and me too! He will be a really good student, I just need to teach him the alphabet, he only knows 3 letters (BEN).
We started doing FHE a few weeks ago and he seems to really enjoy that too! He loves to learn new things and to color and see pictures of Jesus. Like I said, he is really smart, and he retains so much information after just telling him something once.
I can't wait to see what kinds of boys and men they will both grow to be, I hope that they will continue to be smart and healthy and kind and sweet! I don't know what I would do without them! They are my whole life and heart!