Growing Up

Tomorrow is Lillian's birthday, she'll be 2 years old already!! I have found that in the process of growing up not much phases me. I don't get emotional when my kids get out of their tiniest clothes, or when they start walking, or give up their pacifiers. I don't cry when they become potty trained, or when they stop sleeping with their little butt in the air. I celebrate with them in all those moments and am as proud of their accomplishments as they are. But, the day before their birthday.... I am a mess. Everything becomes a last for me. The last time Josh will kiss her goodbye as a 1 year old. The last time I'll put her down for her nap as a one year old. The last time I'll get to hold and snuggle and smell her as a 1 year old. The last time I lay her down for the night as a 1 year old. Now granted when she wakes up in the morning she's still going to be my same feisty little Lilli, wrestling Roy to get her babies back, spilling food during every meal because she insists on not wearing a bib, asking to watch Kipper the Dog, Angelina Ballerina or Zoe, giving me lots of hugs and kisses and "I love yous" throughout the day. But someday she won't she keeps changing and the day before her birthday is when I look back and see how different she has become. Tomorrow I'll celebrate with her and be truly excited about her growing up, but for today I'm sentimental and teary eyed.

newborn Lilli

Gorilla Mountain!!

So a few weeks ago I posted that Roy was working on saving his money because he found a really awesome but rather expensive toy that he wanted from Toys R' Us. Well after 8 weeks and many odd jobs (including washing the car, washing the kitchen floor, 'folding' laundry, picking up Lilli's toys, putting diapers in the diaper champ, giving Craig hugs, and a few other random instances where we may or may not have bribed him with quarters) he had earned a total of $37.10.

When we started this endeavor I knew it would be hard for him, the toy actually cost $43.00, that's a lot of quarters! And in the midst of his earning we discovered that Toys R' Us is the only place that carries this particular Imaginext Toy, that they closed them out and discontinued them online, and they only had 2 left in the store. I was nervous for him, I could just imagine after weeks and weeks of excitement and saving arriving at the store to find out it was gone. So of course I prepped him for this and reassured him that if Gorilla Mountain was gone he would be able to find another equally awesome toy to buy. I was determined to make him stick it out until he had all the cash but then I began imagining how I would feel if I worked that hard for something just to find out that I was $6 short and someone else bought the last one. So I caved... I announced to him yesterday that we were going to go buy it and that even though he didn't have all his dollars marked off of his saving chart mommy was going to help him pay for the rest. The giddiness and joy that this announcement elicited was absolutely priceless! So we packed up and he grabbed his little trash can of cash and went to check if the last one was still there. (We had visited it the week before and knew there was only one left.) As we trudged through the store, Roy's coins jingling away, we were asked if we needed help and I (giddily) replied, "Nope, we're on a mission for one toy." As we approached the aisle that contained Gorilla Mountain my heart started beating faster (it really did, I was nervous for him!) And lo and behold, there was still one left!!! Here are the photos that document this joyous occasion.

Sitting with Gorilla Mountain and his Oscar the Grouch trash can full of money. As soon as we put it in the cart he said "OK now let's go home." That's unheard of for a 3 year old in Toys R' Us! He didn't even want to look at the other toys he just wanted to race home and open 'his' Gorilla Mountain!

At the checkout ready to make it official!

The piles of money that I helped the cashier count.

Finally in it's new home all spread out and ready to be enjoyed. Once we got home he played with it for 2 1/2 hours straight until it was time for his nap... then he packed it up and put it in his closet. As soon as he got up from his nap he got it out again. He may have already gotten his money's worth :o)

Cousins

Here are some pics from Josh's family's recent visit to Texas (OK so not really that recent... I'm a bit behind) Somehow I forget to take pictures when we're all together... maybe it's because we all have the same camera and subconsciously I'm tricked into thinking my camera is the one taking pictures. Anyway... Josh doesn't have a very good track record for nieces and nephews liking him so the picture of him holding Wynton is pretty epic.

Lilli and Wynton eating their supper and giving the camera a really good "CHEESE" (Wynton is Josh's sister's youngest he's about 6 weeks younger than Lilli)

The epic "no he really does like me!" picture.

My bathing beauty playing in her Aunt Lissa and Uncle Jim's pool.

(Josh's brother who lives in Georgetown, TX.)

Roy and Lils chilling with their Nana or "Mans" - even though Lilli can repeat Nana just fine she has decided to call her "Mans" instead.

Wisconsin

Well we arrived in Wisconsing on Wednesday June 30th and will be here through the 14th of July. During that time we'll be enjoying the crisp breezes, cool lakes, plethora of wildlife, and many friends and family. Internet service will be spotty and depend on where we're staying so I'll have to post pictures like a mad woman when I get home :o)

The kids are having a great time with cousins and new toys and their grandparents' houses :o) This afternoon we enjoyed the Tomahawk 4th of July parade and I have to say I prefer a parade in the rain to a 90 degree parade in the sun. Although we're a bit wet we had a lot of fun and look forward to the rest of our stay here!

Saving

Recently Roy found a castle toy at Wal-Mart that he really wanted. Since we're a family who usually just buys toys for special occasions and his birthday and Christmas aren't in his near future I suggested that he start doing some extra jobs around the house to save up for it. He thought it was a great idea and began earning money by helping with the dishes, laundry, putting away Lilli's dirty diapers, and washing the floors. The beauty of this plan was that his toy cost $15 enough for him to begin learning about saving but not enough for him to get frustrated about not being able to get his toy. Well then a couple of days ago we went to Toys R Us to look at toys and he found this Gorilla Mountain by Imaginext. So he decided he doesn't want the castle anymore he'd rather save for the "waterfall." The problem is that the "waterfall" costs $43 at Toys R Us, quite a stretch from $15. So I drew out a savings plan for each showing him how many dollars he needs for each toy and how many dollars he has. He still chose the Gorilla Mountain. So now he has $8... only $35 more to go. At a rate of about $1.00 a day he'll be able to get his "waterfall" sometime in the end of July. I sure hope they still have it by then!!

And for those of you who think he might change his mind by then... when he was 2 1/2 he saved $25 from going on the potty to buy James (a train) and it took him a month... he was very persistent. He even remembers going to Barnes and Noble to fork over his $25 in ones and quarters :o)

Success!

Last night she went to bed with out a Night-Night and without a peep! When I laid her down she just rolled over and put her little butt up in the air and that was it... she didn't wake up until after 9 this morning!!!

Roy and I checked on her at 9 and he told me "Mom I'm so happy that she did such a good job with no Night-Night." And then when she woke up he told her he was so proud of her. :o)

To celebrate her success I took her to Wal-Mart and she picked a little Ariel doll that she can dress. She was so proud of herself that she told one of the Wal-Mart workers "No Night-Night I a big girl." Unfortunately he didn't understand her but he at least he smiled and waved.

After playing with her new Ariel she brought me some books to read so she could take her nap she didn't cry at all, just talked to herself for a while after I left and then went silently to sleep. I'm hesitant to say it but... I think we have conquered it! Yeah Lillian!!! We are a pacifier free family for the first time in 3 years and 4 months.

Night-Night Update

Take 1:

So day 1 went pretty smoothly...

She took her nap for a couple of hours without it.

She went to bed after crying for about 5 minutes without it but then...

she woke up at 4:00am hysterical, nothing could calm her down not even the extra pacifier we found hiding under the kitchen cabinets. When Lilli's angry she is really, really, really angry and you never know what will be the trick to calm her down everytime it's something different. This time she didn't want her pacifier even though I was weak and eventually offered it to her. When she finally got her self together we watched a bit of Elmo and then I put her back to bed about 5 - with the Night-Night

Take 2:

We resumed with no Night-Night at nap and she did great, then bedtime came along and she cried hard, really hard for 5-10 minutes then stopped. After a while I was nervous she threw-up and aspirated and wasn't alive anymore so I made the mistake of checking on her... She was fine but when I left the room the screaming resumed and was a bit stronger and lasted a bit longer but again after about 10 minutes she stopped. This time I waited a good 45 minutes before I checked on her and guess what... she had cried so hard she made herself throw-up. (not the first time this has happened) So we moved her to her pack n' play (without waking her up) and cleaned up the mess. Amazingly the throw-up was in her bed but not on her. During all this she never asked for her pacifier, I think she just really didn't want to go to bed.

When she woke up at 12:00 I again regressed and gave her the pacifier to get her back to bed... I couldn't stand the chance of her making herself throw-up again.

Take 3:

We're in the middle of day three and again she took her nap no problem, she cried maybe a minute but never asked for her Night-Night. We'll see how tonight goes....