on our own ~ we survived

rob went back to work on monday.  which meant it was time for me to be mom of two on my own.  i'm not going to lie, i'd been kind of dreading monday.  wasn't sure how things were going to turn out.  was liam going to be a terror because i was feeding averie when he wanted my attention?  were they both going to gang up on my and never nap?  what if they were both having a meltdown,  what do i do?  these are just a couple of things that i was having nightmares about.  i'd be lying if i said things have been perfect and there have been zero problems.  that's just a fantasy world right?  seriously, where is that world and how do i get there?

true we have had our meltdowns, time outs and sob sessions.  but for about 75% of the time things have been pretty good.  liam and i have been able to have some quality time together, playing playdough, he's helped make dinner and we baked some cookies.  of course this was all done while averie slept the day away.  i do feel bad for him when i have to nurse because that seems to be when he starts to act out, especially in the late afternoon after he's had a nap.

we've been getting out of the house more and more.  a trip to chapters was in order at the beginning of the week to add to our ever growing children's library.  seriously how many books does one child need?  i don't think we'll ever visit the library due to the excessive number chapters gift cards we've received (one of the perks of being a teacher).  don't get me wrong ... keep 'em coming.  i'd much rather have books than a ga-zillion toys everywhere.  our chapters outing was mildly successful in terms of behaviour.  liam thought that all the toys and books were his and he could take them home.  talk about disappointment when i told him they weren't.  tons of tears and a little bit of screaming later he helped me carry his new finn mc-missile car and averie to the till to pay.  all became right again in his little world.  we've also been out for a few walks this week and found a wicked awesome park not to far from the new house.  great news because we can go and run around and blow off some steam.

liam has been adjusting to all the newness fairly well.  we've had some pretty nasty tantrums over the last two weeks, but i'm not sure if it's because of all the new that's in his life or if it's because he's two.  time-outs are getting more serious.  sometimes he flat out refuses to sit on the stairs which then requires a move to his crib ... usually where he gets even more angry.  but we always tell him that once he calms down we will come and get him.  resulting in a much shorter screaming fit.  he's also moved into the "hitting my parents" phase.  luckily he isn't doing this to averie.  really hoping this one doesn't last too long.

averie is a very very very different baby than her older brother.  liam was so easy going and she is the complete opposite.  especially at night.  for some reason at around eight pm, averie turns in to an unhappy ball'o'baby.  she screams, wants to eat, doesn't want to eat, wants to be held, doesn't want to be held.  unfortunately this has meant many tears on my part.  at one point rob got out of bed one night this week and just sat in the nursery with me while averie was being super fussy and i was bawling my eyes out.  partly due to lack of sleep and partly due to not knowing how to sooth her.  then we tried something new.  a soother!!  i never really thought about this because liam refused a soother every time we offered it to him.  we gave one to averie and immediately she calmed down.  the last couple nights have been excellent.  she's calm and content ... soothed if you will.  i really feel like the entrance of the soother has been life changing, for all involved.  other than these fussy bits, averie is a great baby, she's staying awake during the day more is a lot more alert and interested in things.  she's already started to change and no longer looks like a little old man.  she looks like a baby girl.

i'm happy to have made it through the first week on our own with no major disasters.  i'm also happy that it's friday and rob will be around for the next two days.  we're off to a wedding this weekend with averie and liam is spending saturday with gramma.  he's totally excited already.  here's hoping next week is just as good.  with the exception that we actually have snow in the forecast.  we'll see about that one, fingers crossed it'll just stay as rain.

happy weekend

wordless{ish} wednesday ~ playdough

monday was the first day at home on my own with both kids.  it was pretty good.  no significant meltdowns which is an added bonus.  i think the key is going to be making sure that liam has activities to do.  i will admit that there has been more t.v. watching going on then i would ideally like.  but, that's just the way it goes.  we have, however, been doing a lot of painting, colouring and playing playdough while averie is napping.  i'm not sure who is enjoying this time more ... me or liam.  i love that we get to spend some mommy and liam time together.  it was one of the things i was most worried about while pregnant.  i'm sure there will be many more "craft" days ahead as the weather cools down.

happy wednesday

family of four outing = success

the passed three weeks have flown by so quickly!!  between moving and having a baby i feel like i've blinked and missed the end of august and beginning of september ... and here we are at the end of the month!  not that we haven't been doing anything, rather we've been doing a heck of a lot.  but sadly not as much family time as we have liked.  instead we've been focusing on getting our new house into some sort of organized chaos, and we are nearly there.

that being said, we decided to head out for a morning at the zoo and spend some quality time with both of our children.  i've been super lucky because rob has been home for the last three weeks and it has made our transition into all this newness easier.  i'm pretty sure that i would've spiralled into a state of craziness had he not been able to take the time off work.  {husband you rock!!}  as a result,  we were able to spend a perfect fall wednesday together.  the zoo was relatively quite so we finally got to see the new penguin exhibit.  we've been trying since it opened in february.  every time we've gone there has been a line up with an hours wait.  not compatible with for a two year old.  the exhibit was worth the wait.  liam absolutely loved the penguins and continued to talk about them for the rest of the week.  i would have to say that our first outing as a family of four was a huge success.  there was not a single meltdown, myself included.  now let's see how my first outing with both kids goes.