"C" is for Cut

I've been wanting to get Tully's hair cut for several months now.  He had these precious curls in the back though, so my mom and John always vetoed.  I thought the curls were cute too, but the rat's nest above them was more than I could handle.  Even when the area was brushed, it still looked like a fuzzy mess.  Tully doesn't exactly like it when we comb his hair...he'd rather do it himself, so I had a gut feeling he was going to HATE his first hair cut.  No amount of explaining or bribing was going to work, which meant we couldn't just pop in to Super Cuts.  I didn't want to be apologizing for his toddler tantrum.  A quick Google search led me to Kuts for Kids by Mr. Will at 81st & Lewis.  I found several reviews and blog posts that said there were tons of toys, if you had to wait, and that Mr. Will was fast and good at what he did.  Bonus? Three miles from our house.

Here was the starting point.  Taken last weekend.

We stopped by Kuts for Kids about 11:00 am today, and there were eight kids waiting.  Tully naps around noon.  Not happening.  So we went back around 4:00 pm, and not a single person was there.  Perfect.  We let Tully play while I snapped some "before" photos, and then Mr. Will strapped him in the tractor chair.  Tully screamed, turned red, kicked, and cried--snot and tears everywhere.  I have no idea how Mr. Will didn't cut his own fingers off with the thrashing around Tully was doing.  John jokingly said, "So I bet he's the first one that's acted like this..."  Mr. Will assured us he enjoyed what he did, and I was thankful I didn't feel guilty for having him cut my kid's hair.  Once the scissor cut was done, I got Tully to watch his favorite Supercats video on YouTube, and John stuffed his face with goldfish.  Cats + goldfish = happy Tully.  Mr. Will finished up with the trimmers while Tully sat quietly.  After a little touch of gel and a total of about five minutes in the chair, we were done.  Tully ran around the salon and happily played while I got some "after" shots.

And here's the tantrum in all it's glory in case you missed it.  Future wedding slide show worthy for sure.

 
 Hopefully Tully's next haircut won't be this traumatic, but at least he played before/after, sat quietly for part of it, and most importantly I wasn't that mom with that kid that everyone stared at in a public place.  Baby's first haircuts are $10, and the next ones will be $17.  Worth every dime.  We'll be back for sure.

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"C" is for Conversation

John goes to bed before me, so he's usually asleep or almost asleep by the time I get there.  He's talked to me in his sleep before, but sometimes it's in the middle of the night, so I'm too out of it to remember or make sense of it.   A couple nights ago I laid down, and he said something about putting Zach, our dog, to bed.  I thought he was making sure I brought Zach from the living room to the bedroom, but then he continued to mumble something.  I realized he was asleep, so I asked him several more questions:

Do you want me to make sure Zach is in bed?
Where do you want him to sleep?
Are you sure?

He answered all of my questions, but he was mumbling and getting more frustrated each time I asked something.  He finally told me to put Zach to sleep on the floor but not in his bed where he usually sleeps.  I started laughing hysterically, and that's when he woke up asking why I was laughing in his ear like a hyena.  I could tell he was still really mad about answering the questions and even more upset that I had woken him up.  Then the confusion set in.  He's a deep sleeper (I'm not), so it always cracks me up when he tries to act coherent at night.  At least this time he wasn't talking to me about parts they manufacture at work--boring!

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"C" is for Child (cont.)

October has been a big month for Tully.  In September he got his adenoids taken out and tubes put in.  I'm happy to report his sleep, appetite and mood are all greatly improved.  He is a much happier and well-rested kiddo.  Unfortunately mommy got the brilliant idea to take away the binky since sleep is going so well.  We decided to have him stay at school until 3:00 instead of 12:00 starting in November too, so he'll be taking his nap there.  I know he could have his binky at school, but I thought my big boy would be ready to sleep without it.  He starts napping at school next week, so we cut the binky this week.  He did pretty well the first night.  It took him about an hour to fall asleep on his own, and he only woke up once.  He immediately went back to sleep with some comforting (no binky though!).  Night two was a different story.  We had a party from 2:30 am to 5:30 am.  I'm hoping he's half as exhausted as I am and sleeps all night tonight.

Tully's 18 month checkup went really well.  He weighed 24 lbs 6 oz (54%) fully clothed and is 33 inches tall (70%).  His little bean head is growing too: 19 in (74%).  We'll have to go back in November for his flu shot, so I'll be curious to see if there's a big jump in his weight or height, since he is eating and feeling better following surgery.

We visited a local pumpkin patch/carnival area, and Tully really enjoyed all of the free activities (climbing on pumpkins and wagons, playing in toy houses, watching the lawn mower "train", etc.).  Lucky for us he had no idea he was missing out on the blow up slides and horse rides that cost money.

In those last two photos, he's trying to pick up the pumpkin and then signing for help.  John reached down to help pick up the pumpkin and jacked Tully in the face with it.  He thought it was going to be really heavy based on the effort Tully was putting into it, but the pumpkin was actually very light.  It was a funny/sad moment.

We've had some beautiful weather, so Tully and I ventured to the neighborhood pond last week.  He is obsessed with poop right now, especially our dog, Zach's poop.  He doesn't understand the difference between poop and dirt so everything on the ground that is brown and clumped is poop.  Here he found some dirt on the sidewalk and is pointing out the "poop" to me.  He kept squatting over the area and saying, "poop!"  I tried to tell him it was just dirt over and over, but he was convinced he was making that mess.  A little later he climbed up on the bench by the pond and sat there for several minutes to watch the ducks.  The kid never sits still.  I was amazed.

Words (26): dad/dada/daddy/aDa, Mama/aMa, Zach (our dog), boots, poo poo/poop, hi, bye, help, bug, hat, hot, ball, up, eat, bite, no, cat, doggy, sleep, bus, blue, leaves, balloons, bubbles, baba/baaboo (binky...now gone!), banana
Signs (24): eat, sleep, milk, thank you, all done, mower, ball, tree, fish, dog, shoes, socks, book, help, train, bus, hot, hat, cat, airplane, more, please, where is it? (palms up, questioning look on face), thank you
Sounds (6): moo, quack, vroom (truck), woof, hoo hoo (owl), neigh, woooOooooo (siren)
Phrases (6): where is it?, where is daddy?, where is mommy?, where did it go?, can I have a bite?, aye-yi-ye (i'm thirsty/water...thanks to our nanny for the translation)

Basically he's adding new words and phrases every day and continuing to sign and make the same sounds as he did a couple months ago.  For anyone wondering whether or not to teach their infant/toddler to sign, I HIGHLY recommend it.  We used the first two Baby Signing Time DVDs. Tully's language development has been right on track, but signing has enabled him to communicate with us better and show us he knows many, many more words than he could actually say.  The words are definitely catching up with the signs, as expected, now, so I don't think signing has delayed his speech in any way.

We had parent teacher conferences last week, and we found out Tully enjoys playing with water at the sink, so they are creating a pouring "work" for him there.  I love the Montessori-style of teaching where they keyed in on his strengths and interests and are using those for him to learn.  He just isn't ready or interested in sitting down at a table to focus on pouring dry objects.  He also likes music time/dancing and is a good example to other kids for signing.  I think he pretty much runs around like a maniac most of the time, but he's little, and they are very patient with him.  I'm really happy with our choice to put him in the school.

I think the next big milestone will be potty training, and we've decided to wait for more signs of readiness before pushing it.  Ideally we'd have all major transitions (toddler bed, binky, diapers, etc.) done before Clare gets here, but my gut instinct says it's best to wait on the potty training.  He will still sign for potty or ask to go on the big toilet sometimes, but it's not consistent.  In any case, my baby is quickly growing into a independent little  human.

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"C" is for Child #2 (cont.)

While we were babymooning in Jamaica we met the sweetest couple, J&S, from Oklahoma.  They were on their honeymoon, and we decided to meet for dinner one evening.  During dinner J told us she was an ultrasound technician and offered for us to visit the school she graduated from for a 4D sonogram.  We barely made it back to Oklahoma in time to catch the 20-30 week window, but here is Clare in all her glory at 7.5 months gestation.

Sweet Clare has a nose that looks just like Tully and little narrow lips too.  We were able to see some hair around the sides of her head, so I'm expecting she'll come out with a "horseshoe" of barely-there-hair just like her brother.

When we were leaving the ultrasound room John saw his boss' wife talking to some students.  We had no idea she was the director at the school.  She was excited to see us when we said hello.  Small world.

Next time we see Clare's face, it will be the real deal in December.

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"C" is for Child #2 (cont.)

Another month down and only a few more to go.  I'm not sure if it's possible, but it looks like Clare is actually bigger at 6 months than 7.  Maybe it's the time of day, or my shirt, or...who knows.  All I do know is this girl better come out weighing like 10 lbs because momma is getting huge.  My stupid belly button popped, which totally grosses me out.  That didn't happen with Tully.  It stayed nice and flat.  So now in addition to worrying about finding a shirt and pants that fit, I have to find something that doesn't show the huge elastic maternity band AND my belly button.  I should invest in muumuus. 

And here I am with Clare vs Tully at 7 months.  Major difference.

Have you seen those Halloween shirts for pregnant moms? Or pictures of painted pumpkin pregnant bellies?

Not going to happen.

We got all of Tully's clothes moved to his new closet and dresser, so Clare's room is ready for her stuff.  As soon as we buy a mattress this weekend, I'm going to put the bedding together, arrange the furniture and figure out what I'm going to do about a rocker.  The rocker from the nursery is currently in Tully's room, and although he doesn't require rocking to sleep, we do sit in that chair to read to him, and I really enjoy rocking him sometimes before bed.  He's pretty busy and has never been a snuggly baby.  Sometimes when I rock him, it's the only time I can get some snuggles in.  We are planning for Clare to be downstairs with us in the master bedroom, so I really need a rocking chair there for nursing while she's little.  Then I'll need the chair in her room when she transitions upstairs.  So that makes three rooms with three rocking chairs.  Seems a little absurd and not budget friendly.

Other than finding a baby book for Clare and picking up some newborn diapers, I think we have everything.  We'll be ready to meet her in December for sure!

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"C" is for Caribbean

 We took a "babymoon" to the Caribbean in September to enjoy some quiet time together before Clare arrives.  We stayed at Secrets St. James in Montego Bay, Jamaica for almost a week, and it was really nice to get away.  We had everything we needed at the resort, so we spent our time sleeping, eating, laying at the pool/beach, reading, snorkeling, and sailing.  John also found a lot of time to play beach volleyball.  I was an excellent cheerleader.

There was a little concierge-type lounge near the main lobby of our hotel, and we made good use of it between meals.  If we didn't feel like walking down to the restaurants, we could make a meal out of the food there.  I felt like I was a bit of a waste at an all-inclusive resort, but John did enough drinking for the both of us.  He also got a kick out of the Jamaican paper, which was a copy (literally) of several other papers folded together.

John also enjoyed teasing the fish outside our hotel.  He doesn't even have any food, but they always reacted like this.

It rained several days while we were there, but that didn't stop us from reading books on the patio.  It didn't really matter to us where we relaxed, as long as we didn't have to chase a toddler around.  (Thanks, Grammy & PawPaw, for keeping Tully while we vacationed!)  John also captured some beautiful sunsets when it wasn't raining.

Funny story on the second to last day of our trip--I wanted to print our boarding passes to skip the lines at the airport because we only had carry-on luggage.  I tried to log in to the computers in the main lobby, but they make you use one wi-fi username and password for the entire stay, and it only works on one device at a time.  As much as I love Apple products, especially my iPhone, it didn't allow me to log off of the wi-fi even if I disabled the wi-fi and turned off the phone completely.  The only way to log off of the account was to wait 24 hours until it automatically kicked the phone out of the system.  I tried explaining this to the lady at the front desk and kindly asked her to use another wi-fi account to access the main computers in the lobby.  Clearly I cannot print from my iPhone, and I'm thinking to myself--shouldn't they have one account for ANYONE to use at those main computers??!!  Anyway, she told me I could call the internet cafe for help.  This wasn't the type of resort where you get told to figure it out yourself.  They are VERY service oriented, and I was shocked she didn't offer to just print our passes out quickly from her computer.  Printing our boarding passes seemed like a simple enough request to me.  Anyway, the lady's lack of helpfulness combined with my pregnancy hormones resulted in me asking John to take care of it while I stormed off to the room and viciously texted my mom (from my iPhone that was still obviously connected to the wi-fi...ha!).  I was telling my mom how I was going to need the address so I could write a letter when I got home.  She listened to me vent, asked for the resort info, and then I put my phone on the charger while I took a nap.  I didn't get any further texts from her or John because the wi-fi only worked from the balcony in our room, and my phone was charging inside.  Next thing I know, John is back in the room telling me the general manager was in the lobby helping him, and the GM was there because John's mother-in-law had called.  He questioned/corrected the GM saying, "You mean my wife?"  GM: "No your MIL...in Oklahoma"  I checked my phone texts and sure enough my mom had called the hotel (honestly to get contact info for my letter writing campaign), but she ended up talking directly to the GM.  I'm sure John wanted to dig a hole and bury himself, but that's just how my mom rolls.  All I could do was laugh.  She knew we wanted a super-relaxing stress free vacation, and some biddy at the front desk couldn't take two seconds out of her day to help me.  Mama bear in full force.  It took some patience on John's end, but they eventually kicked his phone from the system, got him logged into the main lobby computer, added paper and toner from the neighboring resort to the printer, and printed those gosh darn boarding passes.  They also sent up an over-priced bottle of champagne as an apology.  Just what this pregnant lady wanted.  (Our neighbors thoroughly enjoyed it!)

So minus the boarding pass debacle, we had an excellent trip.  We will definitely be taking more kid-free trips as long as we have infants and toddlers.  Susan, a friend of mine from college, is a travel agent, and she helped up narrow down our options in the Caribbean.  We're thinking Turks and Caicos or Dominican Republic for our next trip.  Better start saving now! 

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"C" is for Craft (Door Wreath Update)

This summer I participated in a little Pinterest Challenge to actually DO something I saw on Pinterest.  I made a wreath for our front door, which I thought turned out pretty good.  (See "C" is for Craft for tutorial.)  Unfortunately, the "C" fell off after only a few weeks (days?), but hey...I tried.

Since summer is officially over I decided to update the front door wreath for fall.  Here's the before and after.

Click photo to zoom for details.

This time I bought smaller, cheaper flowers at Hobby Lobby, and I used plastic loops for retail price tags to secure the "C" to the wreath.  The hot glue and wood glue didn't work.  I suppose you could use fishing line, since most people don't have tagging loops around.  I picked up some dark yellow paint and added a coat over the existing light green.  It took me longer to cut the wire stems than it did to actually arrange the flowers, so this was a pretty quick and easy update.  We're now ready for cool weather and trick-or-treaters!

If you're wondering about the small, black and white sign to the right of the door, I ordered it on Etsy with custom text.  "Baby sleeping.  Knock, if needed.  No solicitors."  Not one solicitor has bothered me since I placed the sign outside, and you have to actually lift the sign up to get to the doorbell, so UPS and FedEx have cut that out too.  There's nothing worse than the doorbell and a barking dog while kids are trying to sleep.  I leave the sign up all the time to cover naps and Tully's early bed times.  I figure this thing will be near the door for a few years.

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