Happy Baptism Anniversary!

Three years ago today Jac and Mia were baptized (actually yesterday), so we made cupcakes to celebrate!

What is Afoot in the Household?

Childhood is really a bunch of phases strung together.  Some are good, some are not so good and all must come to an end.  I always tell this to myself when we are in a particularly nasty phase.  Poop in pants, super sloppy eating, running away from mom like it is a game, all of those lovely things.  However, the one phase that seems to be a recurring theme in our household are sleep issues.  We have had them since, dare I say Day One?  If not Day One, it must have been by 12 weeks when I went back to work and Jac got his first cold while meeting his teachers - three days BEFORE he started daycare. 

Since then we have had it all, you name it.  Nightmares, night terrors, bed wetting, sleep walking, teeth grinding, throwing up in the middle of the night, trouble going to sleep, trouble staying asleep, kids joining us in bed, us joining kids in their beds, throw in the random ear infection and it is a wonder Jeff and I aren't walking zombies.  Jeff seems to have adapted.  We have a rough night and the next day he gets up, gets ready and goes to work.  Like nothing happened.  He might take a nap on the weekend, but I am pretty sure he has always napped on the weekend.  I however, have not adapted.  I get crabbier and crabbier as the saga continues.  Surely this too must pass? 

So currently we are going through a phase where Jac is waking up again in the middle of the night.  The problem is that when he wakes up, for some reason Mia is waking up also and then we have two kids awake in the middle of the night.  Jac normally goes back to sleep either in bed with us, or me in bed with him in about 10 minutes.  Mia on the other hand, once disturbed she may take up to two hours to get back to sleep, ouch.  Why is he waking?  I have no idea.  His diet is great, he is getting a lot of exercise, our routine is pretty solid, he isn't have nightmares, terrors or falling out of bed.  His teeth grinding seems to have stopped.  So what is the deal?  What gives?  He is restless for no apparant reason.  He is stressed about something, would be my best guess.  He does start Kindergarten in less than two weeks, this is big and more than likely the reason for his angst. 

I really am not sure what to do, if anything.  Continue our routine of course, continue to feed and water well and get plenty of exercise.  And then after that, how do we help our five year deal with stress?  If anyone has any bright ideas, let me know! 

Tummy Troubles

It seems that with a Golden comes tummy troubles, at least that is true for both of the Goldens we have been lucky enough to own.  Most of the time, we know what Trucker got into - usually it is a rubber duck or a wiffle ball.  He loves plastic and rubber.  But today, he either doesn't have an excuse or he ate all of the evidence.  I am betting on the latter.  He had been walking around gagging, eating as much green stuff as we allowed, drinking 13 gallons of water and of course just the constant licking - like he has something stuck to his tounge.  Jeff needed to give him some love to make up for the tummy problems.  I was SHOCKED to see him gather as much of Trucker as he could on his lap - and here's the kicker - on the couch!  Yes, on the couch. 

We have been the lenient dog owners in the past, before kids.  That changed with Trucker.  I told someone, I now know the difference between dogs and children.  I don't want Trucker on the couch, the bed or surfing the counters; and if you start with these rules in place it is easy to establish boundaries.  Once you open Pandora's box, just try to get that box closed again.  For families where the dog is the child, this must sound cruel.  But seriously, a girl can only clean up a finite number of messes everyday, before going NUTS.  So I show affection to my dog in less indulgent ways - you know, the old stand bys, walks, playing ball, teaching tricks, or just a quick scratch behind the ear.  So the fact that my DH just pulled the 66 lb dog of which 30 lbs must be hair on to my couch, I was shocked.  I have no doubt, that a day in the not so distant future, I am going to walk into the cars room and find my lovely Golden grinning from the couch where I just woke him from an afternoon nap. 

Little Artistes

Jac needed help outside with the "artist" as they like to call the easle.  I giggled when I saw that the top of his outfit was his old bike helmet.  I guess he needed a place to sit and it just didn't feel right until he had on his helmet.  They worked on their creations for over an hour and somehow the garage got all wet!