Our first big snow came and Oliver was very excited to get out and play.
We didn’t really have any snow gear for him, so we had to borrow from friends and neighbors. So Oliver is a patchwork of colors for his outerwear.
His snow boots were a couple sizes too big, so it was funny to watch him try and walk in them.
Later on Dad and Oliver put together a snowman.
I believe this is also a type of food, but for us it has a different meaning.
My goal today was to put away the Christmas stuff. Oliver didn’t take a long nap, so I was trying to put stuff away while he was up.
First he managed to grab one of Bella’s hair tie bags and dump them all over the floor.
Then he proceeded to “play” with Bella. Which is a form of wrestling/hugging her.
Some days she doesn’t mind it. Today she didn’t want anything to do with him. I think she was upset that her alone time with mom was cut short.
This little boy can’t stop pulling down his pants and diaper. I’m not sure if it itches him, or what is going on, but he constantly does it.
Therefore giving you the “Christmas Crack”.
And because of the Oliver antics I had to cut short my idea of getting things put away. To be finished when he is asleep.
Jesse and I actually got out of the house and saw a movie last night. We went to “This is 40”. It was funny and actually made us re-think some things that go on in our house.
#1 – We need to stop yelling.
We don’t yell a lot. But enough that we are worried about Oliver and even Bella learning from our behavior.
My number one aggression outlet is the dogs. I might be frustrated by Bella, Oliver, etc, and the dogs will do one little thing and I turn on them. I always feel bad afterwards.
So I personally need to do a better job at letting my frustrations/anger go. Probably a deep breath and leaving the room for a minute would work.
The number one reason I yell. When I am crazily trying to make lunch or dinner for Bella and Oliver, get everyone served, and then shortly afterwards Oliver is taking the food I prepared for him and feeding it to the dogs. And there in lies the reason I yell at the dogs…because they are constantly begging. Most of the time Oliver isn’t feeding them because he doesn’t want to eat it or he is finished, it’s because they are there and he is sharing. I know this because he will continue to eat what is on his plate when the dogs have been removed.
Besides locking the dogs in a room I don’t know how to change this behavior, because it is so ingrained in them to beg. So advice for anyone getting a dog in the future….do not feed them from the table…EVER. It will turn into a nasty habit that you will regret.
And I know Oliver is learning from me. He yells at the dogs too. Most times right after I have finished yelling at them in a string of words I can’t understand. Whoops…nice one mom.
He also loves to torment them by ramming his pushing toys into them. He actually isn’t trying to torment them, he is trying to play chase with them. But sometimes they don’t feel like running from him.
Notice how the dog bed is not even a safe haven for the dogs…he will take his toys up there to get them. As of now they are his best friends (which is why in his mind they deserve so much of his food).
He is also sporting the one and only piece of clothing I have made for him. The little football raglan shirt.
We started Christmas morning out like this….
Bella was still sleeping and since she was up during the night, we debated whether to wake her up for Christmas presents from Santa or not. In the end we decided to let her sleep and let Oliver open his presents.
When Bella finally woke up she got to join in the action.
Oliver also gets to enjoy Bella’s presents.
Oh and in case you were wondering…Santa did not bring mom and dad a uninterrupted night of sleep. I guess we were on the naughty list.
Otherwise known as Christmas Eve.
We did our family celebrations prior to Christmas this year. So we were able to attend Christmas Eve service tonight, spend some time playing around the house, watch a few Christmas movies and then send the kids to bed. Where we hope and pray they will stay asleep until morning. At least that is what Jesse and I are hoping to get from Santa, a full nights sleep!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Let’s be honest. I’m a procrastinator. I did well buying gifts that I was able to pick up around black Friday time frame. And then I got busy doing other things. I still have family gifts to buy and we are celebrating starting tomorrow.
It didn’t help that I ended up not having a sitter at all this week, and Bella kept me up all night not to mention she didn’t go to school, so I was unable to run errands.
Looks like tonight I will be running out to buy gifts once Jesse makes it home. Or in reality once the kids go to bed. Bella did better last night, and Jesse stepped in to get up with her, so I finally got some sleep.
That means I had the energy to make cookies this morning. I dragged Bella’s blanket into the kitchen with me. Bella was laughing and having fun, and Oliver thought Bella being in the kitchen was fun.
I got half the dough baked into cookies before Bella’s fun time turned into a coughing nightmare. Guess I will have to bake more cookies later if I get a chance.
Another night of no sleep. Or I should correct myself, a night of sleep that didn’t start until 4:30am and therefore for me ended at 6:30am when Oliver was up.
Bella actually continued sleeping until noon.
Today was supposed to be Bella’s holiday party at school. I was in charge of creating a craft for all the kids to do. The previous night I had put together some “woodland trees”.
Except, Bella didn’t go to class today, and since she slept through the whole thing, I wasn’t even able to drop them off for the kids at school. I was assured they came up with something else to do and had a wonderful time at their party.
Oliver helped me decorate one this morning. I guess the rest will have to be boxed up for next year.
I’m still terribly tired, but luckily Bella seems to be doing a little better, especially since she finally got some sleep.
We have hit the major roadblock called Bella’s coughing. As mentioned she has been coughing since the end of September, so every night we are up 2 or 3 times. Monday night it wasn’t 2 or 3 times, it was continuous. She literally didn’t get any sleep, and I barely squeaked out a couple of hours.
That next morning I sat Bella up in her bean bag chair, so she would be upright and could get some relief from coughing.
She still wasn’t very happy with it. She prefers to lay down on most occasions, and even while sitting up she was still coughing.
Oliver thought her chair looked pretty cool, so he had to do what she was doing.
The kids watched a little Curious George and I tried to lay my aching head down and shut my burning eyes. This calmness lasted for maybe 20 minutes and then Oliver was up and all over the place.
