Big Boy Beds!

{I tried to post this last night, but the internet was out . . . so, we’ll try again!}

First, I must include this sweet picture from the park today.  Look at these adorable children!!  When we moved here and became friends with these families, not one of these little ones was born yet.  Isn’t that wild?  And, there are three sets of twins here . . . can you find them?  We are just so thankful for the friendships that the Lord has given us here—what a sweet thing to have so many kiddies in the same stage of life!  {In case you are worried about Baby Anna being the youngest, the little boy who is staring at her like she should not be in the picture will be welcoming his baby in July—he he!} 

When the boys got up from their nap, we started to get their room ready for the big transition.  Hudson knew he’d be working hard tonight, so he went ahead and pulled out his drill and {backwards} hard hat so he could get all warmed up and ready for the action!

Step 1:  Taking apart the cribs!

Daddy loves his helpers!  Slow and steady, slow and steady!

Baby Charlie was here to lend a hand, too, and we were so glad to have him!

When he wasn’t hard at work, Mr. Precious entertained Little Sis—he adores her!  It is so cute to watch!

William and Hudson were in charge of collecting all of the screws from their beds.

I love this picture.  Oh, I just love it!

Mommy helped, too!  Team work, as the boys say!

Sugie came to deliver waterproof mattress pads, which mommy neglected to buy . . . and, she was able to lend a hand with Baby Annabug Bananabug, too.  

Taking cribs apart is very hard work, you see.

You have to hold on to all of the tiny pieces, so it’s best to carry around your tool box.  {By the way, I received these tool boxes and aprons as a baby shower gift—best gift ever.  These boys LOVE them!}

 

Daddy and Bumps put the beds together while we were having dinner, which the boys were not  happy about.  They were able to help mommy get their new sheets on though, and that was exciting!  I mean, who wouldn’t want to sleep on diggers?

This was a trial run of the bed . . .

And, sweet dreams, my little loves!

When the boys got in bed to go to sleep, Hudson stretched out his arms and legs and just relaxed.  It was so cute!  Hatch and I both agreed that this big boy needed more space!

Although we had already said goodnight once, the boys called us back in their room because they needed something—we went.  William said “Why I in big bed, Daddy?  Where my crib?”  Hatch said:  “Because you are BIG, William.  You are a BIG BOY.”  And, that was it!  

Although, Hudson woke up about 10 minutes ago crying, and we could hear him saying “I sleep with WEEYUM!  I SLEEP WITH WEEYUM!”  Although their beds are up fairly high and there are rails all of the way down, I wouldn’t be surprised if we found them snuggled together one of these days!

Let the adventure begin!  {or, continue . . . }

{And, an update:  both boys woke around 5am, had a little party in their beds, and then fell back asleep until around 8ish.  We let them play in there while we got ready and right before we walked in the door, we heard Hudson say “I get down.  I get down!”  We walked in the room just as he had pushed his bedrail off the bed and bumped to the floor!  This is what he said:  “Me up dere.  Me get down.  Me okay, Me OKAY.”   So much for these two waiting in bed until mommy comes to get them out!}

Oh My Heart: Taking the Plunge!

Because we have had a few too many days of Hudson sleeping on the plywood in his crib instead of on his mattress . . . and, because we have had too many days of this:

and this . . .

 

with very little remorse . . .

and much mischief,   

and, of course, some drama . . . {he was actually yelling “NO TAKE MY PICTURE!” here :) }

We have decided that today will be the last day that my boys sleep in their cribs.  I have been very stressed out about this and have talked to anyone and everyone who would even remotely incline their ear to hear of my twins-in-beds-woes.  After going around and around about it, I have come to the conclusion that as the boys’ mother, it is my job to do what is best for them.  And, we think that putting them {specifically, Hudson} in a bed is what is best.  That said, I have also determined that putting them in beds is not best for me.  My days of containing the rascals in their cribs are over.  And, in honor of the chance that I will never have a decent amount of afternoon naptime freedom again, I decided I should take a minute today to post this on the blog—lest you never hear from me again!!  :) 

Underlying the anxiety and drama about what my life may look like with two two year old boys in big ole beds, I have realized, is this small little sadness that my babies are indeed growing and growing, and we are, yet again, saying goodbye to one more part of them being babies and ushering them one step closer to being big boys.  I try not to be sad about such changes, but sometimes I cannot help myself!  We’ll see if I make it though the night without any tears shed (either because my children refuse to sleep  . . .  or because they are getting oh-so-big oh-so-fast).  For now, I have their new “things that go” big boy sheets in the washing machine and their new “tiny pillows” {one with a car and one with a train} ready to go so that when daddy gets home, these babes can sleep soundly in their big ole beds.

Since I have to document such changes, I thought I’d share our pictures from today!  A’ Monny and Uncle Freddie {as William calls him!} popped by for a visit as they were passing through!

Handsome men!

A Monny, Anna, and Hudsey!  {We had been to the park—please excuse Hud’s wild mane!}

And, we took a few last pictures of life as we know it today . . . in cribs!

This baby is so sweet to me!

Hey, Hey little rascal!

So precious!  Look at those crazy curls!

While the boys got ready for naps, Little Miss played on their floor!  And, guess what?  TODAY she is 5 months old!  It’s really too much for me to talk about the boys moving to bed and my baby-baby being five months old today, so I am going to close my eyes and pretend it isn’t happening, and we’ll deal with that subject at another time! 

She is such a doll!  And, isn’t her dress lovely?

Peek a boo!  Look at those chubby legs!  OH, MY HEART!

 

Sleep tight little men!  We love you so!

{Please note the toes poking out of the end of the crib!}

Fear not:  their blankies are on their toes.

Here’s to a restful night of sleep for us all . . . and a change from 1 bed and three cribs, to 3 beds and one crib for this crew!  It’s going to be great.  :)

Life as we know it . . .

Just thought I’d document a few of our recent events:

1.  On Friday night while I was at our church’s women’s weekend and Hatch was home alone with all 3 rascals doing the bedtime routine solo for the first time, the boys were playing in their beds.  Hatch was there, and they were goofing around and dropping from a standing position onto their bottoms.  William did it a few times, they laughed, and Hudson did it a few times.  The third time Hudson did it, he dropped down and then the bottom (plywood part) of his bed also dropped down.  The child broke his bed.  And, he did so in the presence of his father.  To Hudson’s credit, he was not being disobedient.  To Hatch’s credit, he swiftly scooped Hudson into a pack and play (which the boys call a “plack and play”) for the night (and, William slept in it the next night, because we are all big on equity around here.)  My resourceful husband used his tools and some 2x4s to fix the bed.  Now, the question remains:  should we continue to contain this strawberry blonde tornado in his mini crib, or should we take the plunge to the big bed (thus allowing his tornado to sweep through the bedroom in its entirety)?  I have very mixed emotions about it.  We’ll have to wait and see what we decide . . . after all, I think his brand new mattresses should come any day now, and I’d hate to not use them at all! 

2.  In my fury of laundry-washing yesterday, I accidentally washed (and dried) what used to be known as Hatch’s only “good” khakis with his wallet still in the pocket.  The wallet seems okay, the pants do not.  Oopsie.  Let this be a lesson to all who have clothing in my house:  If there is something in the pockets of your clothes, it will be washed.  And, dried, if you are lucky.

{photo below:  William “swimming” in the tub while holding his ears, of course}

3.  William and Hudson are very into jokes right now.  That said, they create these jokes themselves, so they are often more bizarre than they are funny.  Hudson’s latest and most long-standing joke is one in which he tells you he is going to eat whatever it is you are talking about, and then looks at you with his crazy blue eyes, thinking he is totally hysterical.  “I eat baby Anna!”  “I eat your shoes!”  “I eat the birdy!”   Creative? perhaps.  Funny?  Not so much.

Today, when I picked them up from school, a concerned mom said to me:

“I was reading a book about using the potty with your boys today, and they both said they were going to ‘eat the poop.’”

I rolled my eyes and said “I am so sorry.  They like to say that they are going to ‘eat things’ because they think it is really funny.”

She said:  “I just wanted you to know so you could be aware.”

IS THIS REALLY MY LIFE?  OH MY GOSH!  I called and told Hatch, and he started cackling he was laughing so hard.  I am now that mother with the adorable, odd children who alarm and disturb other parents.  OH MY.

4.  I am putting away some of Baby Anna’s baby clothes and it makes me sad—it is SO CRAZY to me to see how quickly Little Miss is growing up!  She is just so sweet and chubby!  She is doing a great job taking her naps, but we are still working out the nighttime kinks . . . the time change does not help us, you know.  And, for the record, I think she is going to be blonde.  Her Sugie thinks she may be red.  We’ll see!  She is so precious, I could just eat her up.  (I now realize this may be the origin of Hudson’s horrible jokes.  I am to blame.  OH NO!)

5.  ALL FIVE OF US TOOK A NAP ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE SAME TIME.  IT WAS AMAZING. 

+++

Last weekend, we had a visit from Nonna and Pop Pop, and for some reason, I don’t have many pictures to show for it!  But, we went on Saturday to one of our favorite places—Maymont.  Charlie came with us, and he rode in our car so that he could take care of Baby Anna for us:

He was very serious about his job.

For the first time, the peacock showed us his feathers! 

No one wanted to smile or look for mommy’s group photo, but I took a picture anyway!

Here’s to hoping that all of your beds are intact, your khakis are clean, your wallets are dry, and your jokes are actually FUNNY (and not disturbing!)      

Regression {times two}

Baby Anna is really good at sharing.  I am so glad that we brought her Bumbo seat out so she can “practice sitting!”  Hilarious!

And, with the photo below, I will accept my award for Mother of the Year.  Please notice:  a) mattress on the floor {yes, he as slept on the wooden part of his bed this week!};  b) notice how much of the plastic he has peeled off of his mattress!  It’s the grey shining through!}

I spent part of my “free time” this week discussing this mattress issue with the manufacturer.  Hudson has torn through TWO of them.  My email to the company went something like this:  While I realize this is not appropriate behavior, I have great concern that the mattresses are not safe and are being destroyed by 2 year old boy . . . I am writing to see if you would send me a new mattress that cannot be torn to shreds by a toddler. As every parent knows, sleep is necessary for our children, and having concerns about whether my child is ripping through his mattress (plastic, foam, etc.) SHOULD be the least of my worries. 

New mattresses are being shipped to us.  We’ll see if they can stand up to The Destroyer.

Happy Friday!

Regression & Chattin’

. . . good thing we have two of these!

***

OVERHEARD

William:  {Crying!}  OH NO!  HELP, MOMMY!  I CAN’T FIND MY CHIN!

**

Mommy:  How was Wellsquirts, today?

William:  Good.  My life is Good.  {Thank you, Uncle Brett}

**

William:  “Daddy!  I tinkle on the potty!  Plop!  I show Hudson!” 

**

Daddy:  “What’d you do today?”

William:  “How’s life?”

**

to the tune of Holy, Holy, Holy
Hudson:  Digger, Diggerrrr, Diiiiiigerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

**

one of my sons:  Anna needs to DANCE!