My kids are whiners

My kids are whiners. Where did I go wrong?! And guess who they are the whiniest with?...ME. At least they are better in public and at other people's houses. But, it doesn't make it any easier on me. They are SO WHINY with me. It totally gets on my nerves. I pick them up from daycare... Julie, my daycare provider, says how great they were all day. And then, the whining begins. The whine about EVERYTHING. It's a nightmare. We are sick of it. So, Jack and I have taken a new stance and are going to be much stricter about the consequences of whining. From now on... if they whine too much... time out. They may be living in time-out if this keeps us. We have had enough. Wish me luck- I gotta stick to my guns. Kyle's been in time-out 4x today and Devin has been in once. Let's see how tomorrow goes...

Hanging in there

Well. I'm back to Arizona. Back to work. Back to my wild children. Still feeling sad and down. Took the kids to the Phoenix Zoo this morning with the Mom's club. Didn't really feel like going b/c I just don't really feel in that great of a mood- but I did it anyway. My kids were really good last week. They deserved a nice day out- they were stuck inside all last week. I was sad and probably not the best mom last week in terms of giving them lots of attention. Thank God for Jack last week- he really helped me a lot by watching the kids when I was sad or trying to help my family. The kids had a nice time today and burned off some energy. Kyle didn't take a nap today- totally bummed me out. I really look forward to those 2 hours! Devin is awake then- but she can watch a DVD or draw or play quietly to give Mom a "time out". :)
I went back to work yesterday. I tried to stay focused to keep my emotions in check- but did cry a little when we first went out on calls. Then, things got hectic and I ended up euthanizing my first two patients. So, no time for crying. But, it was good to be busy and take my mind off my Dad. My dad was buried yesterday in West Virginia. My mom and 3 sisters went- plus about 15 other relatives in that area. Would have liked to go--- but had to get back.

The Angels are Crying today

Someone told me today that it is raining b/c the angels are crying. Today was my dad's funeral. They say the angels are crying with us as we grieve the loss of our father. It seems fitting that it should rain all day b/c it doesn't feel like a sunny day. I am sad. It has been rough. I spoke today at my dad's service. I miss him already and it feels strange to be at home where I grew up without my dad here. You can definitely feel the void of his presence. My mom is so sad... I grieve with her and for her as well. She hasn't been without my dad for 52 years. She doesn't remember what life was like without him. I wish she lived close by so I could stop by and see her more often. So sad today.

Big Girl Bed

Well, we finally did it. We got a "Big Girl Bed" for Devin. I have been looking and looking for just the right bed. I looked in several stores and have also been looking on line for a few weeks. We were desperate for a new bed for Devin. She literally has outgrown her toddler bed. Her feet are about to stick out the slats at the bottom. She has gone through a huge growth spurt in the last few months. I finally found a really nice maple twin bed on Craig's list. It has a headboard with cubby spaces, drawers underneath, and a really high quality/ barely used pillow top mattress. I would probabaly cost $800-1000 brand new. I was stoked to find it for sale in a swanky neighborhood in Scottsdale. They needed to move to a smaller house and were down-sizing. So, we scooped it up the first day it was on sale. :)

Since we were moving furniture around, it motivated me to clean her room, get rid of some toys, put away some other toys, and de-clutter. I asked Kyle if he would like Devin's toddler bed. He said No. He wants to sleep in his crib still . Oh well, we will try again later.

Kyle & Devin talk

Here are some interesting things the kids have said lately...

Devin:
When I picked her up after work..."Mom, you smell. You need to take a shower."
"Dad, don't look at Mom when she's changing, she needs her privacy."
When blowing a dandilion... "I wish I could touch the moon."
Crying.. Devin, what's wrong?... " I had a bad dream last night. I dreamt I drank a bad potion and it turned me into a bat."

Kyle:

Thank you.... tankoo
Please.... pease
Truck... fruck, twuck or fwuck
Excuse me.... cuse me
Don't like it... just says "like it" when nodding back & forth, or "no like it"
mine... MINE!!!!
Mac truck... MAC!!!
sprinkler... spinker
fish... Jingle (our fish's name)
potato.. tato
bottle... ba
water... wawa
motorcyle... momo
tractor... tactor
swimming...simming

It's so cute to see Kyle learn how to talk. He is learning new words everyday and starting to put two words together now. We finally weaned him off his bottle last week. It's been about 1 week. We have slowly been only letting him have bottles at night and at naps and sippy cups/juice boxes during the day. Well, he has chewed through all the nipples on all his bottles. So, I gave him warnings if he chewed through all the nipples, no more "ba". So, I finally said, no more ba's. I put them all in a bag and put them in the garage. He has done better than I would have thought. He has asked for his bottle several times, but we have been holding our ground. Course, then he went on a milk strike and wouldn't drink milk for 5 days. But, now he is finally starting to drink milk out of a sippy cup. I figure one week without milk won't hurt him. We wanted to do this a while ago, but he kept getting sick and then we went on a trip. Not good times for changes.

The other new news is he is starting to use the potty. Course, it helps to have an older sister encouraging him. We have a talking potty chair. He has been using it at least once a day for the last few weeks and has pooped 3x! I have not been pushing him yet. I wanted to wean him first. Then, we will start encouraging to use the potty more. I think he will potty train much faster and earlier than Devin (she was '3 yrs 4 months). Part of the reason it took Devin so long was b/c she was at a daycare she was unhappy at and they didn't help me potty train during the day!).

We are looking to purchase Devin a "big girl bed". She truly has outgrown her toddler bed. I am looking at a twin bed on Craig's List. Put in a request last night. Once we buy her bed, we will move Kyle out of his crib into her toddler bed. Then, it will be easier to potty train him. Plus, he is now climbing out of his crib anyway. So, it is time.