zip-a-dee-do-da

We have reached another milestone in the Kraby house. Lauren zipped up her own coat for the first time ever yesterday!

Now, to all of you out there that are poo-pooing this, thinking that this is not a big deal, you are wrong. I now have one child that can fully and completely dress themselves!! WOO-HOO!!!!

She has been putting on her own coat for a long time now, but that darn zipper was enough to send her into a tailspin. Er, flat spin. Out into space. No recovery.

But now, oh, now she is able to zip her coat up all by herself. This is a seriously important day in our house....... : )

Logan + sleep = happy mommy

It is truly amazing what a full nights sleep can do for a person's mind, body and overall being. Logan slept all the way through the night last night! Woo-hoo!! I woke up at 5:30 am and was immediately concerned about him, but could hear him breathing his sweet baby sleepy breaths in the monitor. Brian had to get up for work at that time, so he didn't get to enjoy the sleeping in part. Logan slept until 7am! He has only slept through the night a handful of times since his birth. I'm hoping he gets the hang of it! He doesn't require much when he wakes up and we NEVER pick him up unless we feel something is wrong. He just needs a nuk or his music or to be readjusted in his blankets.

He is also eating cereal like a champ! He finally just understood on Tuesday that if he opened his mouth, the food goes in much easier! It was difficult, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays when Brian works late and I alone am the dinner czar for the kids. Lauren and Josh are easy. However, when mommy would make the funny faces and noises required to try and get Logan to pry his mouth apart to insert the food, all heck would break loose. Seriously, this kids mouth is like some sort of animal trap that will not give way. So, he finally decided that food (especially bananas with oatmeal cereal) is mmm-mmm good and worth the small effort it takes to release the trap for nourishment. Double woo-hoo!!

Now, if we could only repeat everything that we did yesterday to get him to sleep through the night again tonight. I can't remember that far back!

the ups and the downs

Today was an overall really good day with the kids. All three of them had their moments (as did I), but I think that we all pulled together and are ending the day on a good note. Lauren's behavior has improved......slowly. We are working together and wading our way through these waters.
I climbed the ranks on Lauren's "list" today. First, she told me that she loved me. Then, she told me that I was invited to her birthday party. THEN, she told me that I could have beautiful sparkly princess stickers AT her birthday party. And finally, she told me that I was her bestest friend. : )
I have come to realize that raising kids was WAY easier before I actually had them! I was talking with a friend the other night about the show "Supernanny." Brian and I watch that show almost every Friday night either to make ourselves feel better because that's not us, or to get pointers because it is us! Either way, I'm convinced Nanny Jo has no children. Someone please tell me if they know otherwise. Before I had kids, having been trained in early childhood development and guidance, it was easier for me to see behaviors in children and pinpoint the pattern that was causing these behaviors to continue. Then I had my babies and the overpowering emotions that accompanied that - love, disappointment, pure happiness, amazement, elation, expectation, hurt and everything in between- has since clouded everything up! My black and white world of child development is now not only gray, but several different shades of gray.
Welcome to the wonderful world of parenting.....right?!
I wouldn't trade my gray world for the black and white one because I wouldn't trade the overpowering love that I have for my kids. Plus, I would miss out on the beautiful sparkly princess stickers that I'm getting at my sweet little Lauren's birthday party. In July. : )

Grade F

Today has been a difficult day. I feel as though I am failing my children by being an ineffective parent. We had visitors over this morning and I was so embarrassed of Lauren's behavior. Things started out fine, but took a turn (as they ALWAYS do). Lauren would not listen to her friend when her friend was telling her to stop, I had to intervene and it got ugly. Needless to say, Lauren was sent to her room until she could calm down. I felt like I needed a time-out, too. Then when it came time for our visitors to leave, Lauren exlaimed how she wanted to go to their house to play. Now, I think her friend was all to eager to go home (I would have been!!). When I explained that we would be eating lunch here as our friends had things they had to do, she pulled out the "BUT I WAAAAAAAANT TO!!!!!" Now, never, ever in my wildest dreams (or nightmares) had I imagined I would have a child that would behave so spoiled and bratty. I thought that would be nipped in the bud immediately, period. Apparently not. I was left speechless and embarrassed. After our visitors left I tried talking to Lauren. I do not feel like I reach her.
I understand that these things will happen, that my children will not always behave in the way I want them to. But the thing I struggle with is this: If this is my job ('cause let's face it, the lawyer thing ain't exactly a full -time gig) and this behavior is the result of the job I'm doing as a parent......shouldn't I be fired? And since I don't live in never-never land where firing myself is an option, then what?

Puddles

We're pretty certain that Joshua has never met a puddle he didn't like. He has spent the last four days in the puddle at the bottom of our driveway. It was ridiculous at first because we did not have any rain boots for him. He would soak his shoes and then cry because his feet and shoes were all wet. We would put dry shoes on him and BAM back in the puddle and the cycle would start over again. When we were outside on Sunday our neighbor brought us some rain boots that don't fit her little guy yet and they are PERFECT! He loves wearing them and splashes around! Brian has taken full responsibility for Josh's love of puddles. Apparently, Brian was a lover of puddles himself. Josh still goes through three to four pairs of pants per day as he cannot control his excitement once he is in the puddle and splashes all around!

I wish that I could remember the time in my life when simple things like puddles made my day!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

I wanted to send out some special birthday wishes to my godson Ethan! He turned 8 today. Happy Birthday Ethan!! I love you!

Logan the Goldfish

I'm convinced Logan is part goldfish. No, he isn't slippery or orange or a cracker. He grows fast. In fact, I think he grows very quickly into whatever size clothes I put him in. I just moved him up to the nine month size clothes about three weeks ago. He's already outgrown them and is starting to wear twelve month size. He's FIVE months old!!!!!! Now, Josh was in twelve month size clothes when he was about four months old. All we have is summer clothes from Josh. No long sleeves, no pants. And I know that my friend gave me a bunch of her boys clothes, but if I remember correctly, Josh outgrew her youngest, who was one year old when Josh was 4-5 months. They were wearing the same size!

Anyways, Logan is growing fast.

I went to Austin yesterday and went shopping with my mom and dad. We got Lauren a bunch of summer clothes and Logan a few long sleeve pants outfits to hold him over until summer. My mom was gracious enough to buy half of the clothes and then treat Lauren to some princess beads and Josh to some toy cars. Boy, my kids sure do get spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa!! I guess that's what grandparents are for.... Then today my neighbor brought over a bunch of clothes her boys have outgrown! YAY!! So, I feel better about Logan's clothing situation. I'm still convinced he is a goldfish and am trying to hold him back in the nine months size clothes as long as possible since I KNOW once I put him in the next size up he will grow like crazy!!

A Few Recent Pictures....

Joshua in all his princess gear - and yes, he did dress himself in all of it

The three muskateers......... Logan looks like he's going to cry!

Lauren lounging on Dixie

Tummy time for Logan.......and Lauren and Josh

Sweet Logan lovin' his Jumparoo

Potty in the Pot-TY!

Joshua has officially started potty training. We are not in the blitzkrieg (lightning war) stage yet, as we lovingly refer to it here in the Kraby house, but we are in the beginning stages and THAT is a big deal.
Josh went #2 in the potty on Monday. I think that it was not on purpose, but more of the fact that he was already going and Brian put him on the potty quick. But we made a big deal about it, of course! Even Lauren was very excited for Josh.
Then Josh went #1 at school on Tuesday! Yay!!
With Lauren I had just found out that I was pregnant with Logan so I was on a mission to potty train her quickly. Blitzkrieg. I did not want three kids in diapers. But with Josh there doesn't seem to be that panic or drive to get him potty trained - other than saving a TON of money on diapers! It will come when it will come. Until then we will celebrate the small victories!

To Nap or Not to Nap.....

We are in the middle of a transition here in the Kraby house. Little Lauren's nap time. What a double-edged sword. On the one hand, when she doesn't nap, she is a terror in the evening. From about 4pm until bedtime (which usually comes much earlier on non-nap days) she is terrible! She is mean, bratty, and generally unpleasant. She usually spends a lot of time in those late afternoons in her room....to keep her away from us and to give her some time to herself.
However, the days that she does happen to fall asleep in the afternoon, she will not fall asleep at night. I don't know that I really care that much about the not falling asleep in itself because she does stay in her room. But she is a bear in the morning to get up, especially on school days. On Monday she took a nap for only 45 minutes to 1 hour and didn't fall asleep until after 10pm. She was a lot of fun at 7am getting up for school!
So, I guess it's time to completely give up the nap. I think I will miss it more than she will, but I'm still not totally convinced her little growing body and mind doesn't need it.
Anyone with any advice, please feel free to share!

Nicky!

Our nephew, Nick, just left after staying with us for a week. He came up for some dental work, but left with his own fan club/paparazzi. Lauren and Josh love Nick so very much! He was so kind and caring with them. He is 22 years-old and I'm sure the last thing that he wants to do with his time is hang out with a 2 and 3 year-old. But he spent time with them, listened to their stories, played with their toys and they ate it up! Every time Nick was not in sight, Lauren became concerned. Then when he would walk in the door she would yell "NICKY!" as would Josh and they both would go running for hugs. I'm sure that he does not really like being called Nicky, but he let it slide with Lauren and Josh. He has to come back in a week or so and I know that Lauren will be counting the days until then!