Day 282 | Turkey Thicket

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It's a beautiful day and I can't wait to get outside to work on a special Valentine surprise for the boys...but first, a photo from our morning. 

We ventured over to Brookland to visit the Turkey Thicket playground. It's a family-favorite. There's no doubt about it. Did I mention there's a train to climb in? Yeah. That's right. 

Day 280 | Sharing the Love

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Chase has been all about sharing the love the last few weeks. He's constantly pausing mid-conversation or mid-playing (and I mean about 10 times an hour) to look right into my soul and say, "I love you, Mommy." He does the same to Daddy and Robbe. It's probably one of the sweetest, most heart-warming sentiments ever.

The scene above occurred for the entire last five minutes of our grocery trip this afternoon. See? Sharing the love. 

Day 277 | Books for the Babies

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With two birthdays right around the corner (and two more if you include mine and Chris's), I've been pretty deep into bday planning mode around here.

One of the items high on my to do list for these birthdays is updating the babies' books. Seems simple enough, right? I've done a pretty decent job keeping up with the task along the way (I'm not even starting from scratch!) but the process of reviewing scribbled notes, writing everything out, and finding the perfect corresponding photos is crazy time consuming. 

Some tips I've learned along the way:

  • Jot down notes along the way. It's impossible to think you'll remember when things happen by memory. There are just too many milestones! Have a sheet of paper in a convenient spot (ours lives behind our calendar in our kitchen) that you can quickly write down the date when something fun happens. 
  • Keep photos organized. I know it's hard but it's worth it. It makes picking and choosing the right ones much less of an overwhelming task. 
  • Go with your instincts. Don't hem and haw about the ideal thing to write down for the questions. Your voice will shine through if you don't over-think them.
  • Know your style. I've realized after working through Chase's book that I prefer a fill-in-the blank type book, which is what I got for Robbe. Chase's is more free-flowing and open-ended. I've realized I'm much better at just filling in the "answer" and can do that much quicker. 
  • Start a box, too. There are a lot of random baby memories that can't live in a book. Claim a box for the sweet baby mementos (think: the hat he got in the hospital) so you know everything is in the same place.
In case you're interested, this is Chase's book (on the left) and this is Robbe's book (on the right...and this one even comes with a keepsake box).

Fingers crossed I can get these both updated in the next month!

Day 276 | We're Getting Closer

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Not to be outdone, Robbe added to our week of big (huge!) accomplishments last week.

Example #2: Robbe is no longer eating in the middle of the night. That's right: we're down to just three feedings a day (8am, 1:30pm, 7:30pm). Woohoo!

I'd like to say he dropped the feeding/waking on his own, but I decided it was time to nudge it along a bit. He's handled it remarkably well. He has still woken up most nights (though not last night!), but he goes back to sleep on his own and isn't starving when he wakes up. Progress indeed.

Day 275 | He's Kind of a Rockstar

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Remember when I mentioned last week was a big week?

Example #1: We're well on our way to a fully potty-trained toddler! Can you believe it? We can't either. It started on Tuesday night when Chase decided he wanted to wear his Thomas undies (that had been sitting in his drawer for a couple of months). Full disclosure: credit goes to Chris for broaching the subject again.

We spent two days changing pants a lot. I started to get a bit worried, I'm not going to lie. Did we start to early? Is it going to be like this every day now? Ahhh! Then, Friday he had no accidents. None! We did put a diaper on him for an outing and lunch and he came back dry. On Saturday we went all in. No diaper except during sleeping. He did it! Stayed dry all day again. And the same thing happened today. Three days seems pretty good, right? We're pretty stoked. I know we can slide backward but I think we've made good progress so far. Chase even earned his "potty train" (Get it? It's a train he gets for using the potty) in record time by getting a sticker every time he used the potty. Quite the motivator, I have to say.

We still have some work to do...I'll spare you the details, but hopefully everything continues as smoothly as the last couple of days have gone. Yippee!