3 Things Thursday

1) Pink eye sucks... no I haven't got it yet, but Noah did share his cold with me and not being able to take cold meds, all while dealing with cranky kids makes me want to quit breastfeeding on the spot. But I won't, because that would be crazy, but I am going crazy and not feeling great!!  Not to mention the whole disinfect the whole house, including all the toys... can we just call in the haz-mat?? I will start tomorrow when M gets home from work. We are just past the whole goopy, yucky stage, so I will give it tomorrow and then it's going down! I'm excited to try my new on guard cleaner!!

   

       2) We were able to break quarantine last night, technically we were only under quarantine for the first 24 hours after we started antibiotics, but we gave it an extra day and noticed a big change in Em yesterday. Noah seems to just have the cold, as his eyes aren't really weeping, but we are treating him anyways just to be safe.    

 So anyways, I had made dinner reservations two weeks ago for dinner with the Paw Patrol at Boston Pizza. Sky and Chase were there, Noah was excited, but honestly our last dinner at Eastside's was way better. We waited over an hour for our food, they screwed up my order, my lettuce was not fresh. The kids did pretty good considering we didn't start eating until after 6 PM, which just doesn't work for us! I only managed to get one dark photo of Noah giving Chase a hug. And they just disappeared without announcing they were done, which really annoyed me, considering how long we waited and we told Noah he could see them when he was done.

3) The time change has been great for the most part, with only one problem going down... this girl hasn't napped good ALL week. Now yes, we are dealing with pink eye and hopefully that is the culprit, but I'm thinking we may begin to try dropping the morning nap! She is sleeping in until 8, and if she naps too late in the morning, than she doesn't nap well in the afternoon and Noah naps in the afternoon, so clearly I would rather her nap while Noah does! Hello-Mama-time!! So we will

 likely give that a try? I don't love changing the kids schedules, I overthink it and chicken out. 

In the meantime, I will soak up the snuggles and cringe through the screamfests, and hope that we will get a solution figured out soon!!

 
 

Quarantined

Yes, you read that right... we are officially under quarantine! Pink eye is the culprit... both kids... Em is way worse than Noah somehow. Noah has a bit of a cold, but yes, pink eye... soo not fun!! I will give kudos to the kids for being generally happy while under the weather. 
   

 

 So our weekend was pretty low key.

      Saturday morning Noah had his last swimming class, at this point we thought Em's eye was just a blocked tear duct. We quickly went to Walmart to make some returns and I ended up spending exactly what I returned, coincidentally- probably couldn't do that again if I tried!!

     We spent the rest of the day getting the mudroom put back together - the good news is, our custom cabinetry will be installed tomorrow night!! We played together, and did some household chores. Before we knew it was bath and bedtime.    

 Sunday the kids slept in!! Thank you time change!!! We were smart and let them stay up a bit later on Sunday and then they slept in until 7:40 this morning... amazing!!!     

 On Sunday we got the dining room back to order, finished decorating Noah's room:

 I promise a post on this to come, now that it is mostly done for now. 

Mikes parents came home from St. Maarten on Saturday night, so we had them over for a roast beef dinner. 

Yesterday I too Miss Em to the doctors to confirm the diagnosis and then to pick up meds. We are treating Noah for it as well, although his isn't as bad. Can I just say how hard putting eye drops in our little girl is? It's a two man job, Noah screams when we do it - trying to protect his sister. It's just all over drama and chaos. I'm dreading cleaning all the toys. Luckily Noah takes the drops like a champ!   

Noah's First Day of Preschool

 

He did it!!! He survived. It was not easy, but I managed to get away without witnessing any tears.

 

Right now we are on an on-call basis, so he will go when they have an opening at this point, which works for us. As soon as a day opens up, we will get Noah in once or twice a week at this point. 

 

We are hoping that this will help with his separation anxiety, all the while giving him some time away from the house and my care, letting him play with friends, outside of our regular play groups we attend, not to mention it gives me one on one time with Em and time to get some stuff done! 

 

The program runs from 8:30-11:30 AM and it just around the corner from us. I love his teacher soo far and the program from what I could see. I think it is a good match for us all together. 

 

I love that the teacher sent me text updates, as well as photos, so it did help my wandering mind and gave me peace knowing he isn't crying the entire time. He did cry off and on for the first part, but still engaged with other kids. The teacher explained the clock to him, and she said that really seemed to help him. When it came time to go play in the gym, he was super happy and having a blast!! 

 

When I picked him up, he came running, soo happy to see me, he did tell me he was crying, but that he did have fun and he does want to go back! I'm glad to hear they worked it out! 

 

While he was at school, I managed to get Em down for her morning nap and organized the pet cupboard, vacuumed, and tidied up a bit before Em woke up and we played together. It was a nice morning. Of course, I missed Noah and constantly wondered if he was upset, or having fun, but it worked out! 

 

He did break my heart a little when he woke up from his nap with a nightmare. He was just screaming "I want to go home, I want Mommy", so we talked about it a bit and I told him how proud I was of him for being such a big boy, but it was soo hard to hear him soo upset, just as I imagined he would have been. I know it will get better with time. I am soo proud of him. 

St. Maarten - MANEV Winter Vacay 2017 - Part 1

Vacation is never long enough, and this trip was no exception! Although, as sad as were to see it over, we all welcomed our separate rooms and beds, as well as all our fur babies when we did get home!!   


Let's break this vacay up into bullet form:  


Tuesday: - we left the house at 6:30 AM - the kids were amazing in the airport and the airplane, so that was a big win! Our flight was quick and we landed early!!

- Noah didn't nap, so we had a tired boy on our hands, but he snoozed a bit on the way to our apartment, as that seemed to take forever, but I think we were all just tired and hot by then! Our rental car was a Ford Explorer, this is the vehicle I thought I wanted as my next vehicle, but after having one for a week, it is not big enough!!  


- We went for a quick swim before dinner. There is an hour time change, which threw the kids off a bit when it came to bedtime and meals 


- we rented a studio apartment and it only had a shower with no tub, so we made showers work for everyone, which Noah was used to because of last time we were here, but we were super nervous about how bedtime was going to go with all being in the same room! But it couldn't have gone better!!! It did take time, as one of us laid with Noah until he fell asleep and one of us rocked Em to sleep, but once they were down, they were down and we were able to go sit outside, relax, play cards, etc.   


Wednesday:
- was an early start... both kids were up before sunrise. Luckily M is a morning person and could handle waking at that hour, because I certainly cannot, so he took the kids outside with their milk and they had quiet time outside. I had not slept well at all.   


- after Emilya's nap, we decided went to visit friends of Mike's parents. They were such a sweet couple, their rental was gorgeous, the kids had fun swimming and they got the cutest little gifts from them, along with some yummy snacks.

- we headed to the grocery store next. I was able to buy me some sugar cane syrup, something you can't get here, so I brought 2 bottles home!!  

- we pushed naptime again, but they managed to get a small nap in. We learned that the kids really had to eat no later than 5:30! The time change and early start were not our friends. 

- Noah went to bed as a two year old for the last time!     


Thursday:
- Noah turned THREE!!! 


- the kids woke up extra early again, but after Em's morning nap we headed to the beach!!!

- it really was not the best beach day, but Noah requested going to the beach in his birthday and well how often will he get to do that in life?? So we made it happen!!! 
 

- it was crazy wavy, and a strong undertow, but we made the best of the morning. I will say Noah had fun and that is all that matters.
   
- after nap we threw a little birthday party up at the pool, with decorations, balloons, presents and cake!

- our dinner plans of pizza was a bust, because none of them opened until 5:30, so we would be looking at a late dinner, which we knew wouldn't work, so M's Mom threw something together quickly. We did cake up by the pool.  Check out this birthday sunset:

- I still can't believe he's 3!!!     


Friday:
- we had a morning by the pool.  

  - after nap, we got ready to go out for dinner! M wanted lobster!  

Yes, the boys all had to dress in matching shirts. The people staying above us were soo sweet and gave Noah this orang shirt to match Grandpa's for his birthday!

The first picture was too funny not to share...

  - we walked the strip, but most of the shops weren't open yet. So we found a little restaurant right on the beach, I enjoyed ribs  

- seriously they KNOW how to make ribs in St. Maarten, Noah had chicken and Mike had his lobster.   

  - on the way back to the car, we decided to be spontaneous, as Noah wanted nothing more but to go in the water on the beach. Of course we only had the clothes we were wearing, but we all went in the water, but we had fun. It's these little moments that I love, the look on Noah's face when we said sure was priceless! These are the memories I hope he remembers, because I certainly will!! 

Weekend Whirlwind

Our weekend has been CRAZY!! And our idea of a 3 day project... will actually spill into Monday, why? Let's find out shall we??   

 M took Friday off to get started on the closet, while I attempted to keep the kids busy. So while Em napped, Noah and I went to check out his new preschool!! We are on a wait list, but no one is ahead of us, is that much is good. 

 

The lady that runs it, said she would try to squeeze him in whenever she could to get him started. The program runs from 8:30-11:30, is just around the corner from us and is run by the school board.      He did love it!! He was a bit shy with the teacher, but had no problem socializing with the other kids! I know leaving him will be an issue, so I tried to bring his attention to the fact that no parents were there, just lots of kids having fun! But we will see how it goes!   

 

 It was long after we got home that my cousin came over for a lunch date. The kids played for a bit, before we got them ready for a picnic style lunch in the great room! It didn't work out the best, but it worked, the kids and ate and Noah slowing began to fall apart as nap time was behind schedule. Once they left, we got both kids down. The key was trying to be quiet while working in the mudroom, as it is right below Noah's room!!        

 

 After nap, Noah really wanted to help Daddy, so we let him, which of course slows things down a bit, but he was really good!!       

 

 M and I were toying with the idea of moving the washer and dryer, but in the end, we decided to just move them down on that wall and then have a laundry cabinet custom built.        

 

 Saturday was crazy! We started off working on the mudroom, before Noah's swimming lessons! He sure does love the pool!! I have him signed up for gymnastics on Saturday mornings and swimming for both Em and him on Sundays! It will be a big transition time for him, as he will be on his own without us parents in the class with him, so we will see how that goes!! After swimming, we grabbed lunch and a few groceries, before heading to a first birthday party for my cousins son! 

 

Yes this is officially in naptime territory and a Em did sleep on M's shoulder for a small amount of time, as she also missed her morning nap due to sleeping in! But both kids were doing soo well - we could hardly believe it! 

The rest of the day was spent working on the closet, making supper and entertaining these two!! 

Sunday was spent at home working away on the closet. Noah and I FINALLY watched Finding Dory! Loved it!! 

Miss Emilya turned 11 months old and we re-introduced her walker and she did soo well with it! Crazy the difference a couple weeks make?? Clearly she is going through a growth spurt right now because she is not going to bed very well or settling very easy.... but she is soo stinking cute and I can hardly believe she is 11 months. Party planning is in full force over here!!

These two had one heck of a good play outside and we have been working on training Maggie, she is getting pretty big (as you can see) and very trainable, she is just stubborn, but we will work it out! 

Depite the chaos in the house, we did make a roast beef dinner!! We let the kids stay up a bit later, to see if it would encourage Noah to sleep later (news flash, it didn't, he woke earlier) and then I attempted mudding the walls and corners in the mudroom, because well, let's just say it's not Mike's strong point. Mike built the closet organizer at least while I was doing that.    And then Miss Em decided to wake up at 11 and stay up until after 2 AM... fun times I tell ya. And then Mr. Noah woke up at 6 AM...   So I am trying a new essential oil blend today from DōTERRA called cheer and soo far it is helping!! It might just become my new fave!!