Week of Daddy

Ryan gets 3 weeks of paternity that must be used within the first year of having the baby and must be used in week increment.  He took the second of those 3 weeks this last week.  It was fun to have daddy around.

We didn't leave town, but did get a lot done.  We opened bank accounts for the kids, got Jonathan's passport (and birth certificate), made a couple trips to the library, enjoyed free krispy kremes on national donut day and free ice cream cones from burger king all week, went swimming, worked out at the ymca, had an FHE about money (tithing, savings and fun money...Kherington bought her ballet pj shirt from me that she has been saving up for).

Taste of Irving

This weekend was the Taste of Irving.  Ryan takes the kids out to donuts on Saturday morning and heard about it on the radio and that it was going to be just a couple blocks away from us a the rec center.  We arrived right at noon when it started and in the time it took me to feed Jonathan, the kids had gotten their faces/arms painted (the best face paint they've had and it was free), a tattoo, and had gone on most of the bounce houses (Kherington was tall enough for the zip line).  We hadn't thought ahead and didn't throw the stroller in the car and I didn't think to grab the a carrier, but the sun was starting to come out from behind the clouds so Ryan ran back to the car for it.

Ryan had to leave to help someone move but I decided to stay with the kids and keep on having fun.  Kherington did the trampoline thing.  You had to step on a scale and weigh at least 40 pounds.  The scale said Kherington weight 60...I'm not sure she even weighed 20.  Kevin wouldn't even step on it.  We also enjoyed the petting zoo (Kevin was afraid of the animal though) and rode the ponies (Kevin was going to be put on the biggest one so I had to ask to downgrade him so he'd actually give it a try).  For being so daring in other ways, this little man is really afraid of animals.

After spending a couple hours in the sun we got a snow cone to share, then played on the playground. When we first moved to Texas I thought it was nice to have covered play grounds for the rain...even nicer for the sun. Some nice mom (sarcastic) lifted my kids up and spun them on the swing after I repeatedly told them no. She spun them super fast and when Kevin got off he threw up. I got him to drink some water then he laid down on the sidewalk for awhile. When Ryan got there we headed to Sonic for some slushies and Kevin didn't want one. Uh-oh. We pulled out of Sonic and he threw up all over the car seat. After throwing up he asked for a slushy and started acting normal again.

Kherington and Kevin both got a little sunscreen put on in the morning, but it wasn't spread very evenly and we forgot the back of Kevin's neck. We were all pretty crispy by the end of the day except for Jonathan since he had his car seat shade cover.

Swim Lessons Recap

The kids finished the last of 8 of swim lessons today.  They can down float on their back and are more comfortable around the water.  I definitely would not say they are swimmers yet, but they both like to practice and now that I know how to help them practice maybe by the end of the summer they will be swimming (even when that happens I plan to require water wings until they are tall enough to stand and now have their head under the water).  The finished off swim lessons with a safety day where they talked about being around water and had to swim with life jackets on.  Not sure I was really a fan of that.

Lets Go Climb a Pole

We went on a bike ride to the park and instead of playing on the playground, Kherington decided to climb the light pole (in wedge heels).  I didn't think she could get up the pole, but she did.  Kevin, on the other hand, couldn't get up.

The kids are both also loving the binoculars.  They do a decent job sharing them too.  They are both so excited when they can actually see something through them.

A different day we were planning on going on a bike ride to the playground to have a picnic, but ended up only making it as far as the bridge (not even half way there) before the kids were 'starving' so we stopped in the shade and ate.  The kids like to explore near the bridge and started yelling for me to come see something.  There were lots of turtles under the bridge.  I saw one huge one then a bunch of foot long ones.  I think they liked it there since the bridge provided some shade.  An elderly lady from a nearby nursing home and her daughter joined us at one point too.  Our entire outing lasted over 2 hours and while we didn't do what we had planned we all had a blast.

Jonathan Sleep Training

Jonathan likes to hold something when he sleeps or eats.  It is usually the collar of my shirt, but he managed to find the edge of a blanket instead.

A couple days ago I commented to Ryan that I couldn't keep nursing so often especially at night and his response was, "I guess it is time to let him cry."  I don't know why that hadn't crossed my mind with Jonathan.  So I setup the pack n play in the playroom and put him to sleep there.  My goal was to have him not eat midnight to 5.
Night One:
The first night I woke up to him crying at 2am and totally forgot my goal, fed him and went back to sleep.  Then when he woke up again at 4am I let him cry.  And cry he did.  From 4 to 5:30 when I fed him again and he went back to sleep.  Not so successful.
Night Two:
The next night he went down at 8.  Woke up at 11:45 and ate then went back to sleep.  Woke up at 3:30am and went through a couple cycles of putting the pacifier back in before I decided to just close the door and let him cry.  I'm not sure how long he actually cried, but he didn't wake up until 7:30 AND he woke up happy and played on his own in the pack n play.  I can't remember him ever doing that.  I finished eating breakfast and folded some laundry before feeding him.  I tried to feed him both sides, but he burped up most of the second side so I'm thinking I won't do that again.
Night Three:
Jonathan went down at 9pm, I woke him up to feed him at midnight then he slept until 7am. I could get used to that.

Last day of school

School was at our place the last two school days.  One of them we did some gluing.  I had a bowl of smarties that the kids had unwrapped along time ago and some alpha-bite cereal I got for just a couple cents so we used that.  Some of the kids were able to find the letters to spell their names with the cereal.  Aside from that the kids just played together.  Having this little school group has been such a blessing the last couple months.  It gave me a mini break and helped us make some friends.  I'm hoping we can find something similar for next school year...we'll see where we end up (we are planning on moving to a house before school starts in the fall...ideally in the same area but we'll see if ti works out).

Getting Crafty

I have been huge slacker in the craft department lately, so it makes me happy to see my kids get into and quietly enjoy creating things.  Usually it is just paper and tape (we go through a lot of tape).  This time they found pipe cleaner and made all types of jewelry including a bunch of rings for me and daddy.