No? You can't see them? Good, that must mean I didn't pull out all of my hair this weekend. I guess my theory of the nice weather improving Cayden's attitude and behavior was complete crap. Saturday was way too windy and cold to do anything but they had been outside at daycare on Friday and we got be outside most of the day on Sunday. I can't remember ever having such a horrible, exhausting weekend.
Poor Harper was cutting her fourth tooth in less than 2 months which means she had a fever, nasty runny nose and some serious crabby pants on. Very little made my usually happy baby smile or laugh and she did not want to eat much. I am pretty sure she would say (if she could talk) that this past weekend sucked for her too.
Cayden is another story. Although he was in a good mood (for the most part) he was driving me nuts. Do you know what happens when you tell a three year old that he's driving you nuts, he turns around and tells you that you are driving him nuts. And round and round we went with him running around like a mad man, being extra needy and super crazy and me attempting to hide in the bathroom to get 30 seconds of alone time and not pull out all of my hair.
Here is a small snapshot of some of my conversations with Cayden this yesterday:
Conversation 1
Cayden - I want to pick a movie!
Mommy - I need to go to the bathroom.
Cayden - But I want to pick a movie!
Mommy - Please wait one minute while Mommy goes to the bathroom.
Cayden - But I want to pick a movie and I need some more chocolate (what he calls chocolate milk)
Mommy - Cayden, Mommy needs to go to the bathroom very bad.
Cayden - Don't poop in your pants and just let me pick a movie!
Mommy - Thanks for the tip dude!
Conversation 2
Mommy - Cayden, you are driving Mommy nuts today.
Cayden - I'm not trying to drive you nuts, you're driving me nuts and I just need keep finish playing.
Conversation 3
Cayden - I can't find my frog.
Mommy - It's in your bed, look under your blankets.
Cayden (without looking) - But I can't find it. Just come find it.
Mommy (after stopping what I was doing and hurring in there so his yelling across the house doesn't wake up his sleeping sister) - Where is it?
Cayden (now yelling at me) - I don't know, just find it!
Conversation 4
Mommy (after the 10th time) - Cayden, get your shoes on so that we can go to Grandma's house
Cayden (insert major attitude here) - Alight, alright, fine.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
rain, rain go AWAY!
If I am going to keep my sanity (or my hair for that matter) it needs to stop raining so that we can get our lawn in and start playing outside at night. I would even be happy being able to walk the kids up to the school to play at the playground for a while just to get Cayden out of the house. This kid has been bouncing off the walls lately and it has to be because he has lots of days off from daycare and the weather has been too crappy to go outside.
When I say bouncing off the walls, I mean he is going mock 2 with his hair on fire from the time he wakes up in the morning until he finally crashes at night. He is talking fast, digging through the kitchen cupboards to find different snack, wanting to play with everything and doing his very best to make sure that his baby sister doesn't fall asleep when we put her down at night so that they can play a little longer. I love that he wants to play with Harper right now but seriously, dude when she is in her crib and is already having trouble falling asleep it dose NOT make things easier when you go crawl in bed with her.
He needs to be able to run this energy off outside soon or Mommy is going to COMPLETELY LOSE IT!
When I say bouncing off the walls, I mean he is going mock 2 with his hair on fire from the time he wakes up in the morning until he finally crashes at night. He is talking fast, digging through the kitchen cupboards to find different snack, wanting to play with everything and doing his very best to make sure that his baby sister doesn't fall asleep when we put her down at night so that they can play a little longer. I love that he wants to play with Harper right now but seriously, dude when she is in her crib and is already having trouble falling asleep it dose NOT make things easier when you go crawl in bed with her.
He needs to be able to run this energy off outside soon or Mommy is going to COMPLETELY LOSE IT!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
sibling love
Anyone who has at least one sibling knows that there is a very special relationship that develops and evolves as you grow up together. It is always amazing, fun and heart-warming to watch my kids interact and to see their relationship as brother and sister grow.
When I was pregnant with Harper, Cayden didn't quite understand what the belly really was or what it really meant when we told him there was a baby in there. When she was born, Cayden's first real acknowledgement of her was when he looked at her in the little bassinet and told us "I like it dat baby." He has always wanted to hug her and hold her but very quickly tired of it.
As Harper became more and more mobile, their relationship became more one of annoyance on his part, adoration on her part and a little bit of jealousy for both of them. Cayden did not want Harper any where near his toys, his blankets or his room but all she wanted to do was to be around him and playing with the same toys. Every once in a a great while, he would break down and let her come in his room and play but only with items that he gave her. If she tried going after something else, that was it and she was out of there.
Lately, Cayden really wants to play with his sister. He climbs into her crib with her, brings her toys to play with, bribes her to come into his room, wrestles with her in his blankets and even shares his snacks with her. Although, his idea of playing with her a lot of the time involves him hiding certain toys (or all of his toys) in his kitchen cabinets that she can't quite open on her own or on the kitchen counter where she can't reach. I had to laugh at him the other day when he spent the whole night trying to keep everything away from her but when I told him that she was sleeping his response was "Why? I want to play with Harper."
Their relationship has already grown and changed so much in the 10 short months since Harper was born that I can't wait to watch and see what happens.
When I was pregnant with Harper, Cayden didn't quite understand what the belly really was or what it really meant when we told him there was a baby in there. When she was born, Cayden's first real acknowledgement of her was when he looked at her in the little bassinet and told us "I like it dat baby." He has always wanted to hug her and hold her but very quickly tired of it.
As Harper became more and more mobile, their relationship became more one of annoyance on his part, adoration on her part and a little bit of jealousy for both of them. Cayden did not want Harper any where near his toys, his blankets or his room but all she wanted to do was to be around him and playing with the same toys. Every once in a a great while, he would break down and let her come in his room and play but only with items that he gave her. If she tried going after something else, that was it and she was out of there.
Lately, Cayden really wants to play with his sister. He climbs into her crib with her, brings her toys to play with, bribes her to come into his room, wrestles with her in his blankets and even shares his snacks with her. Although, his idea of playing with her a lot of the time involves him hiding certain toys (or all of his toys) in his kitchen cabinets that she can't quite open on her own or on the kitchen counter where she can't reach. I had to laugh at him the other day when he spent the whole night trying to keep everything away from her but when I told him that she was sleeping his response was "Why? I want to play with Harper."
Their relationship has already grown and changed so much in the 10 short months since Harper was born that I can't wait to watch and see what happens.
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| so much fun riding in the car together |
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| Cayden's closet was the place to be |
the zoo...need i say more?
Finally, we had a day of decent weather fall on the same day that I did NOT have to work so that we could go to the zoo. Despite the wall of black clouds that were slowing inching their way our direction, the kiddos and I got to spend about 2 hours at the zoo. Bummer part of going at this time of year...most of the animals are not in their outdoor pens yet. Upside of going this time of year...the animals that are in their outdoor pens are pretty active in the afternoon instead of sleeping in the heat like they do during most of the year.
The best part of this trip for Cayden...all the birds that were out and about (which does not excite this mommy who is completely, totally and somewhat irrationally afraid of birds) and of course, the playground. The best part for Mommy...the bear cubs that spent about 20 minutes chasing each other all around their habitat and getting to see the kids' excitement as they watched. The best part for Harper...all the snacks she got to enjoy in the front seat of the double-stroller while her big brother walked next to her and played on the slides. This short, first trip sure made me excited about having a zoo pass so that we can go all the time. Maybe on our next trip Cayden will even let us spend more time visiting the animals than playing on the slides. Ok, maybe not but I can dream can't I?
The best part of this trip for Cayden...all the birds that were out and about (which does not excite this mommy who is completely, totally and somewhat irrationally afraid of birds) and of course, the playground. The best part for Mommy...the bear cubs that spent about 20 minutes chasing each other all around their habitat and getting to see the kids' excitement as they watched. The best part for Harper...all the snacks she got to enjoy in the front seat of the double-stroller while her big brother walked next to her and played on the slides. This short, first trip sure made me excited about having a zoo pass so that we can go all the time. Maybe on our next trip Cayden will even let us spend more time visiting the animals than playing on the slides. Ok, maybe not but I can dream can't I?
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Easter
I was delaying this post a little in the vain hope that I would actually be able to find the time to download all the really good pictures from my real camera instead of having to rely on my iphone photos all the time. Unfortunately, that doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon so iphone, here I come.
After a cold, windy and disastrous egg hunt at my office where Cayden cried the whole time and was rendered completely unable to walk because of his fall in the parking lot I was slightly worried about how the rest of our Easter festivities would go. Thankfully, the fall and subsequent skinned knees were not in any way connected to the egg hunt for him. With these injuries though, we did make a major leap forward with the way we treat our "owies." We actually got to use real bandaids instead of having to just tape damp papertowels over them. I am sure that we will have to increase our bandaid budget now, but I would rather see his hands and legs covered in Cars and Toy Story characters than his previous preference of paper towels and scotch tape.
Anyway, our long weekend of Easter festivities (yes, I got to have Friday off as a state holiday) started off with egg dying on Friday morning with the neighbors. We waited until Harper was napping (poor second child) so that we could have a slightly more relaxed time with only the two big kids. The kids did get bored about halfway through forcing the Mommy's to take over and finish the job. Not surprisingly, it went much faster without the kids. After the eggs were all dry, Cayden did get into it again when I started putting fun stickers and other decorations on the eggs (they looked like jungle animals...so cool)!
Saturday was consumed by the excitement of the circus and thanks to that extreme excitement both kids went to bed early. This made life much, much easier for the Woinarowicz Easter bunny because she didn't have to stay awake until the wee hours in order to put the kids' baskets together. She did, however, have way too much fun shopping for all their goodies and putting them together. And, it was all worth it seeing their faces on Sunday morning. Cayden was not impressed by the fact that his dogs seemed to enjoy his egg hunt as much as he did. He spent half his time looking for the eggs and the other half yelling at Gracie and Molly to get away from them. Mommy also had to make him complete his hunt rather quickly so as to make sure that our four legged family members didn't find them first.
The Easter excitement continued at Grandma's house with another egg hunt. Cayden's love of eggs makes his excitement over hunting for them endless, no matter how many times he does it. I know this kind of thing won't last forever and the simple joy of looking for brightly colored eggs under the furniture and on the window sills will soon be a thing of the past so I am grateful I got to spend so much time this past weekend watching my happy and excited three year old finding Easter eggs. And, by everyone else being so excited Harper was as well. She had no real idea what was going on but she sure did seem to enjoy herself as much as everyone else.
Here is our wonderful Easter weekend in review:
Mommy's treat of choice for this weekend was not cupcakes (a big change for me) but instead I made something new but equally tasty.
Cayden's picture is slightly blurring because he is trying to keep his newly found Easter eggs away from the big white nose in the picture.
Harper's bunny ears are her souvenir from the circus. She
looked too cute in her fuzzy, flashing light ears (hence the two pictures of her in them).
After a cold, windy and disastrous egg hunt at my office where Cayden cried the whole time and was rendered completely unable to walk because of his fall in the parking lot I was slightly worried about how the rest of our Easter festivities would go. Thankfully, the fall and subsequent skinned knees were not in any way connected to the egg hunt for him. With these injuries though, we did make a major leap forward with the way we treat our "owies." We actually got to use real bandaids instead of having to just tape damp papertowels over them. I am sure that we will have to increase our bandaid budget now, but I would rather see his hands and legs covered in Cars and Toy Story characters than his previous preference of paper towels and scotch tape.
Anyway, our long weekend of Easter festivities (yes, I got to have Friday off as a state holiday) started off with egg dying on Friday morning with the neighbors. We waited until Harper was napping (poor second child) so that we could have a slightly more relaxed time with only the two big kids. The kids did get bored about halfway through forcing the Mommy's to take over and finish the job. Not surprisingly, it went much faster without the kids. After the eggs were all dry, Cayden did get into it again when I started putting fun stickers and other decorations on the eggs (they looked like jungle animals...so cool)!
Saturday was consumed by the excitement of the circus and thanks to that extreme excitement both kids went to bed early. This made life much, much easier for the Woinarowicz Easter bunny because she didn't have to stay awake until the wee hours in order to put the kids' baskets together. She did, however, have way too much fun shopping for all their goodies and putting them together. And, it was all worth it seeing their faces on Sunday morning. Cayden was not impressed by the fact that his dogs seemed to enjoy his egg hunt as much as he did. He spent half his time looking for the eggs and the other half yelling at Gracie and Molly to get away from them. Mommy also had to make him complete his hunt rather quickly so as to make sure that our four legged family members didn't find them first.
The Easter excitement continued at Grandma's house with another egg hunt. Cayden's love of eggs makes his excitement over hunting for them endless, no matter how many times he does it. I know this kind of thing won't last forever and the simple joy of looking for brightly colored eggs under the furniture and on the window sills will soon be a thing of the past so I am grateful I got to spend so much time this past weekend watching my happy and excited three year old finding Easter eggs. And, by everyone else being so excited Harper was as well. She had no real idea what was going on but she sure did seem to enjoy herself as much as everyone else.
Here is our wonderful Easter weekend in review:
Cayden's picture is slightly blurring because he is trying to keep his newly found Easter eggs away from the big white nose in the picture.
Harper's bunny ears are her souvenir from the circus. She
looked too cute in her fuzzy, flashing light ears (hence the two pictures of her in them).
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
we LOVE the circus
From the moment we woke up on Saturday, everyone at our house was excited for the day. We were going to the circus. I know that I have said this about lots of different things before, but I really don't know who was more excited...me or the kids. Harper didn't really know what happening but she was happy and excited because Mommy and Cayden were happy and excited. I have always loved the circus and now that I have kids, it makes me happy to get to share this with them. I don't even mind the animal smell that hits you in the face when you first walk in.
I am not going to lie though, I was a little worried about taking both kids to the circus. I didn't have a baby sitter for Harper and as excited as I was to see her reaction to all of the lights and movement of the different acts I was equally nervous about juggling both kids and have to make Harper sit on my lap for 2 plus hours. Amazingly enough, both kids were awesome! Cayden was so good and listened so well. Harper sat on my lap or hung out in the baby bjorn without trying to escape. I was happy, grateful and stunned all at the same time.
After our first real circus experience together, I have decided that no trip to the circus would be complete without all of the following - some kind of toy with flashing lights (Cayden and Hunter each picked out a gun with spinning, flashing lights and Harper got fuzzy, bunny ears...the cutest thing ever and yes, she needed them), a drink in some kind of fun cup (the boys each had a slushy in a cup with flashing lights), popcorn, excited cheering and clapping from everyone and at least one kid passing out from all of the excitement before the circus is even over (Harper fell asleep in the baby bjorn during intermission while we walked around the arena).
I am not going to lie though, I was a little worried about taking both kids to the circus. I didn't have a baby sitter for Harper and as excited as I was to see her reaction to all of the lights and movement of the different acts I was equally nervous about juggling both kids and have to make Harper sit on my lap for 2 plus hours. Amazingly enough, both kids were awesome! Cayden was so good and listened so well. Harper sat on my lap or hung out in the baby bjorn without trying to escape. I was happy, grateful and stunned all at the same time.
After our first real circus experience together, I have decided that no trip to the circus would be complete without all of the following - some kind of toy with flashing lights (Cayden and Hunter each picked out a gun with spinning, flashing lights and Harper got fuzzy, bunny ears...the cutest thing ever and yes, she needed them), a drink in some kind of fun cup (the boys each had a slushy in a cup with flashing lights), popcorn, excited cheering and clapping from everyone and at least one kid passing out from all of the excitement before the circus is even over (Harper fell asleep in the baby bjorn during intermission while we walked around the arena).
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| It was a good day for Mommy, Cayden and Harper! |
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| Just enjoying a slushy in a cup with bright, flashing, colored lights. |
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| Watching the elephants...his favorite part! |
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| She fell asleep during intermission as we walked around the arena (thanks baby bjorn) and stayed asleep through most of the second act. |
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| Wide awake again and happy to be at the circus! |
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
you'd think i'd would have learned
Apparently, some things just don't sink in very well for this mommy. When Cayden heard me casually mention the word zoo he spent the whole following week (and the next week and a half) having a total meltdown every time he declared "I want to go to the zoo" and Mommy had to tell him that we couldn't go just yet. He did NOT like my answer and absolutely did NOT care that it was too cold out, too dark out (oh yeah, he asked more than once during our 2am bathroom runs), that the zoo was closed, the animals are asleep, etc. I tried everything including counting down the number of days until our planned trip, you know...the one that we had to skip because of the weather, but that did not work all that well on a 3 year old that can't quite count (backwards, anyway).
After all of that, you'd think that I would know enough not to mention upcoming events or activities in his presence. Nope, not this idiot! I just had to mention to Jake, right in front of Cayden, that I had made plans for the circus this weekend. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what I had done. You also have to keep in mind that this kid remembers EVERYTHING! Even when you have gotten comfortable thinking that he's forgotten about some promise of an outing, movie, toy, etc. that we have put off, he brings it up again. What is my punishment for this major mistake, you ask? Having to try and survive the inevitable meltdowns over not being able to go to the circus right this minute. Dude, we have to wait until the circus is in town. At least this activity is indoors and is something the weather cannot ruin for us. Saturday, please come fast!
After all of that, you'd think that I would know enough not to mention upcoming events or activities in his presence. Nope, not this idiot! I just had to mention to Jake, right in front of Cayden, that I had made plans for the circus this weekend. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what I had done. You also have to keep in mind that this kid remembers EVERYTHING! Even when you have gotten comfortable thinking that he's forgotten about some promise of an outing, movie, toy, etc. that we have put off, he brings it up again. What is my punishment for this major mistake, you ask? Having to try and survive the inevitable meltdowns over not being able to go to the circus right this minute. Dude, we have to wait until the circus is in town. At least this activity is indoors and is something the weather cannot ruin for us. Saturday, please come fast!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Happy Birthday Love!
Last week Tuesday, the 27th, was Jacob's birthday and thanks to my mom for our standing Tuesday date nights (Jacob and I/G-ma and the kids) we got to go out. Not only did we get to go out, without the kids, but we actually went out with friends. Getting to enjoy a quiet, relaxing dinner out with drinks and adult conversation was probably the best birthday present ever and it was a bonus for me too because I got just as much enjoyment out of it. It was also the first Tuesday night date that we did not spend at Sam's Club. Thanks again Mom for keeping your date with the kids and Thank you Keah and Tyler for an awesome evening with adults!
Happy Birthday Jacob! I could not be any luckier to have you as my partner, best friend and the father of my children. I love you!!!
Happy Birthday Jacob! I could not be any luckier to have you as my partner, best friend and the father of my children. I love you!!!
no zoo for us
As it usually happens for working moms who have to wait for the weekend to do fun things with their kiddos, the weather during the week (and by week I mean two weeks ago because I am way behind on my blog update) was AMAZINGLY beautiful. Every day the kids got to play outside at daycare giving our daycare provider a tan that I am already extremely jealous of while I sat under the bright flourescent lights in my little cubicle (with no windows). We were counting down the days until saturday so that Mommy could take Cayden to the zoo. I am not sure which one of us was more excited to go but I am going to say I was because going to the zoo not only meant an afternoon spent walking outside and seeing animals but also that Cayden would stop asking to go to the zoo every 5 minutes. I should also mention that we can't go to the zoo during the week because their hours at this time of the year are still from 1-5pm, so we have to wait for the weekend.
Finally, with our newly purchased zoo membership (thanks Mom and Grandma) the weekend is upon us. I wake up on Saturday morning to the sound of the wind howling and frost on the roof tops of all the houses. Not a good sign! We wait a few more hours to see if the weather will warm up but what does it do...it stays frigid. Our date with the zoo will have to wait for another day. We all go to bed Saturday night with the hope that we will wake up to the sun shining and warm and with the wind calming down from gale force to just blowing. Unfortunately for us, our hopes were crushed when Sunday morning rolled around with the same crazy winds and frosty roof tops.
So, instead of the zoo we stayed home where it was warm and cozy. Harper made a new friends when she discovered on of two (yes, thankfully we have 2) Jessie dolls. We cheered on UND as the hockey team won and then lost their final four tournament games. Mommy built the best train track yet and had just as much fun as Cayden did playing trains. Cayden and I even made a playdate at the indoor playground at BSC. Bummer compared to the zoo but mommy got some quality time with another female grown-up and Cayden got to run around like a crazy person with his little friend. Despite a few melt-downs and one fight between the boys we all had a pretty good time and left with tired kids and a standing date for the zoo...if we ever get a nice weekend night.
Here is that week/weekend in review:
Finally, with our newly purchased zoo membership (thanks Mom and Grandma) the weekend is upon us. I wake up on Saturday morning to the sound of the wind howling and frost on the roof tops of all the houses. Not a good sign! We wait a few more hours to see if the weather will warm up but what does it do...it stays frigid. Our date with the zoo will have to wait for another day. We all go to bed Saturday night with the hope that we will wake up to the sun shining and warm and with the wind calming down from gale force to just blowing. Unfortunately for us, our hopes were crushed when Sunday morning rolled around with the same crazy winds and frosty roof tops.
So, instead of the zoo we stayed home where it was warm and cozy. Harper made a new friends when she discovered on of two (yes, thankfully we have 2) Jessie dolls. We cheered on UND as the hockey team won and then lost their final four tournament games. Mommy built the best train track yet and had just as much fun as Cayden did playing trains. Cayden and I even made a playdate at the indoor playground at BSC. Bummer compared to the zoo but mommy got some quality time with another female grown-up and Cayden got to run around like a crazy person with his little friend. Despite a few melt-downs and one fight between the boys we all had a pretty good time and left with tired kids and a standing date for the zoo...if we ever get a nice weekend night.
Here is that week/weekend in review:
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