Lydia's Birthday Party

Owen & Lydia watching for the cupcakes to get finished. (above)

Cupcakes on display and Lydia's larger cupcake. Grammie baked all them Friday at our house and Friday evening I frosted them with homemade frosting.

Lydia on her new tricycle bike from Grammie. (Dont mind washer/dryer behind us...we partyied in the basement-lots of room down there)

Saturday evening we had Lydia's 3rd Birthday party with mommy's family. 22 people to be exact, some of our closer friends were unable to make it ot the party. But it was okay. We had plenty leftovers that went to the freezer for later on when we get busier. Lydia had a great time as did the other children. We had 3 new kids join us (Doug's son Mikel-which is peanut's boyfriends son, Then there were Marc's 2 daugthers-which is Jessica's boyfriend). WE all had a good time. And were all sleeping by 10pm! We were EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dentist appointment day.....
1 down 1 more kid 2 get cleaned! Lydia did great!!

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Birthday Parties.....

Well as parents Troy and I have decided this is the LAST big birthday party! (yeah right?!?!?). It is so much hard work! I know why can't I keep our basement cleaned up for occasions like this? BECAUSE we live in our house, I'm busy and we have 2 kids that like to play down there. So I think we're going to from now on do JUST cake & ice cream with family and then if the kids want to have a few friends over for their Birthday's we'll do it. I know I'm a tad disappointed, and this may change in time. But I don't know it kinda makes sense. It truly is hard on me. I am so stressed out by the time the day of the party rolls around that I question myself "is this truly worth it?" I mean yeah sure the kids have a blast and I feel horrible for being in a bad mood. But it is so much fun! We will see. Time changes everything.......

I still cannot believe Lydia Ann is 3 YEARS OLD~! She's our baby, our baby girl at that. She's really started talking ALOT since right around Christmas. I like it, but she sure does yammer away at orders! lol She is full of everything. She is lovable, loves her dolls and animals, observes your facial expressions before she reacts most times, loves to dance, is in aww over sparkly princess things.....she's ALL girl. But isn't afraid to run with the big dogs-and I love that! She holds her own when it comes to fighting with her brother. She does have a 'sound' problem. when she cries, yells at Owen, upset with Molly....you will here it for sure loud and clear!!!
So.....one last time for your 3rd birthday baby girl...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONKEY! Mommy, Daddy and Bubby love you very much!!!

In almost 2 weeks her and I will start our Mommy & Me class. It's rough Friday mornings getting 3 of us ready. Drop Owen off at school, kill and hour and a half, go to Mommy & Me and try to figure things out after that. At times Owen stays at daycare to have lunch, or he gets picked up by daddy or grandma. But all of this is worth it. The look on her face with disappointment when I tell her each time we drop Owen off for school-not your school today. she loves going and she even loved daycare a few weeks ago.

Both kids asleep and in

Both kids asleep and in their own beds 945pm! woohooo. tomorrows a big day!

Momma's furbaby!

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Sleeping update....

Well sleeping and binky update.....
Last Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday night the kids both slept in their beds. I usually don't have a problem with Owen, he's a great sleeper. But I think we had a problem around age 3 where he wanted in our room, until he got his single bed. Lydia got hers mid October. And still isn't 100% sold on it. lol So...last night they were both sleeping in their beds by 945pm. This is a big change for us, since October we've really been trying to get bedtime down pat. But seems like some times it's alot of BS! Yes BS!!! From crying, whining, continuously putting HER back in her bed,etc. I was so proud of Lydia for last night falling asleep in her bed. I awoke at 628am crying, shaking,etc I had a nightmare about snakes chasing me....looking over...there was Lydia beside me!! I never heard her slinker into bed. So what's Troy do? Well he milks 10p and doesn't get in until at least 3-4am (I hate it), he either sleeps on the couch or if Lydia's made her way to our bed...he sleeps in her bed. (Hilarious to see a 6'1" grown man all snuggled up in a Tinker Bell comforter!! LMAO).
Last evening we as a family cleaned up the basement a bit for Lydia's party. The kids are growing more and more excited for the party. I truly think they LOVE company!
Mommy on the other hand is trying to stay busy cleaning....I just need some motivation.
OK now to binky's....Lydia's 3 yr check up last Thursday the dr said no more binkys. Well you can't cold turkey something like that. So the last 3-4 days they're not allowed in my car, and we've been trying to hide them during the day. Makes bed time easier if we have them. But each is down to 1 a piece, so Im hoping by Valentine's Day we can have a celebration of NO MORE BINKY's....we'll see.....

Date

Yesterday Owen and I went on a "date" and what a busy one it was. First we decided to head to Stone Arch to eat, because seriously do you want a 1st date to be at McDonald's or Pizza Hut? ha ha ha.....He ate all his mashed potatoes and gravy, but decided he wanted his yummy cheeseburger to come home to daddy. And he stole a few of my fries. Their cheeseburgers are out of this world!! He chattered the whole time we ate, talking about different things, going to the bathroom alone, what we were doing next. Here he has a notepad and pen, and was making a grocery list. He practiced his name and did 2 letters of his preschool teacher's last name. As we got out of the car when we arrived he asked "mommy can I order my own food". Why sure!!! He did well!

After lunch we were off and running to Giant Eagle (Saved $19.00) where he decided he was going to be a plane, a boat and I swear every movable thing....sound effects and all. Aldi's was our next stop with of course yet another potty break and some elderly men parking their carts in the middle of the isle...SERIOUSLY does there need to be a grocery store etiquette course for men??? lol Then to walmart, we were doing GREAT on time til we got here....ran into a few people we knew, couldn't find some items I had in mind, Owen being distracted by the 'try me' video games as I was looking for an ethernet cord at walmart (still haven't found another one).....so 1 hr and 20 mins later we departed walmart!!! YAY!!! Luckily Lydia went to spend the afternoon with Grandma!

We ventured to Tara's to pick up this absolutely adorable cupcake Tinkerbell stand she found for me, deliver stuff to the sister-in-law's house and the post office. All the stops of course were filled with questions....the best...Owen wanted to know what all the little doors in the post office were....Post Office boxes, now try to come up w/a quick one for a 5 yr old...I didn't know what else to say other than there are people out there who steal mail and people get those boxes, but you have to pay to rent them. WOW that was wrong...it was filled with responses of "mom, will someone steal our mail?", and "that's not very nice".....geez........

Lydia of course wasn't ready to come home and some things had to be discussed......so finally 5 hrs after Id dropped Lydia off....we were back home, I put the groceries away, and had just sat down when I realized at 504pm that Owen's haircut was at 530pm!!!!!!!!!!!! We were off and running again. Lydia acted as if she didn't feel well, so she fell asleep on the way to the haircut until 830pm, but was back sleeping for me by 11pm. Thankfully. I really wish we could stay on task/schedule,etc.....

I'm already dreading bedtime in the fall because Owen will have to get up earlier than usual, daddy will have only had a few hours of sleep and Lydia will start 2 days of preschool.....hoping daddy understands that bedtime routine is important and that mommy's going to need lots of help or him outta the house by 730pm!!! or at least til the kids are sleeping. I don't want to be one of those parents that doesn't do well with the kids in the morning, and we don't have time for breakfast...I understand breakfast is a key to a good health and education!

Well Owen's at school, Lydia's finishing her bath and Ive got TONS of work to do in the next 3 days to prepare for Lydia's party!