We decided to make these changes right after Christmas.  December 28 to be exact.  And today is January 23.   And we are still fighting her on it.  Here’s a little summary of our journey.

I had the brilliant idea that we should take away Molly’s ga-ga at the same time that we moved her into a big girl bed.  I thought we could help her see that she’s now a big girl in a big girl bed and big girls don’t use ga-gas.  At first it seemed brilliant…but that was before bedtime.  We also had heard of friends who’d used the strategy of snipping the ends off the pacis instead of just taking them away cold turkey in hopes that it would help wean the child off the paci.  That’s the strategy we chose to employ…for better or for worse.  We sat her down and explained the excitement of the big day.  She seemed cool with it all.  She didn’t even freak out at all when Travis snipped the ends of her precious ga-ga.  Inwardly I was praising my wisdom as a mom…I’d waited until she was ready!  I’d come up with a master plan about ga-ga removal and big girl bed transition and the child understood it!!  This was going to be the smoothest transition yet!

And then it was time for naptime.  She didn’t sleep.  Not a wink.  She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed.  We heard her sobbing these words, “WHY DADDY CUT MY GA-GA????” It broke my heart.  Poor kid had never known a night without her beloved ga-ga and was having to learn to sleep all over again.  But naptime only lasts a couple of hours and then they get up and life goes on.

But then came bed time.  And it was ugly.  UGLY, I tell you.  The child had become a monster.  She didn’t just sob in her pathetic little sad voice about her grief over her chopped off ga-ga.  She screamed.  Like a big old lion roar of a yell.  “NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”  And it wasn’t a sad yell…it was mad.  The girl was furious with us.  She kicked the wall.  She threw her stuffed animals across the room.  She threw any and everything she could get her hands on.  And she just kept on going.  The first night lasted 2 hours.  And then she slept.

This pretty much has continued for the past 31 days.  It’s gotten better.  In retrospect, I’m glad we did both big transitions at once.  At least we didn’t have to get all the way through ga-ga removal only to enter a new level of parenting insanity and transition to the big girl bed.  We just did them both at once.  She really stays in her bed quite well.  That was only a problem for the first few days.  But when faced with the consequences of getting out of bed to announce to us that she was “going to wake up now”, she really hasn’t done it since.  And nap time has gotten so much better.  I was worried that she wasn’t ever going to sleep during the day time again.  And this made me very very very sad.  And tired.  But the naps have returned.  They’re much shortened…going from close to 3 hours to an hour and half tops.  But I can’t complain.  I know there are kids out there that are done napping by 2 and a half.

But bed time.  It’s still nightmarish.  There have been a couple of nights in the last 31 that she’s gone to sleep without crying, but I’m pretty sure the only reason for that was pure exhaustion.  Every other night she’s screamed for up to 2+ hours.  I’d like to say that I feel like it’s getting better because the crying will only be 10 minutes one night, but then we’ll have another 2 hour night and we’re back.

We’ve tried having her take a special toy to bed in place of the ga-ga.  She gets excited to pick it out.  But then that fun ends quickly.  We actually let her have her ga-ga in her bed with her and she clutches it in her hands.  That doesn’t seem to help.  And the thing about it is, I know she can go to sleep on her own.  I KNOW she can. She’s done it for 2 and a half years.  She just hasn’t done it without her ga-ga.  So now that it’s been 31 days, I feel like my little stubborn, strong-willed daughter is making this into a power thing.  Because I’ve caved on many nights just to get her to STOP YELLING, I’ve gone and sat with her until she fell asleep.  Now she wants this every night.  I’ve created a monster!

We’ve also learned another fun fact about our little gal, without the paci in her mouth at night…she talks in her sleep.  But it’s not really talking…she yells.  Loudly.  She screams NO! in a very defiant voice while she’s sleeping.  We’ve run in her room numerous times at night to see what’s wrong only to find that she’s sound asleep and yelling NO! in her dreams.  I think she’s dreaming about ways to challenge me…little stinker.

So…this explains the lack of blog posts.  We’ve just been dealing with our head-strong daughter.  And trying to catch a few winks of sleep between her sleep-yelling sessions.  Parenting…it’s not for the weak.

Here we go…

First, Owen made a handprint Christmas tree on a 16×20 canvas for Mimi and Dada.  And Molly made a footprint/handprint reindeer for them with a red thumbprint nose.

Next, the kids and I made a handprint/footprint wreath platter for Nana and Bubba.   Owen’s handprints were in dark green and Molly’s handprints and footprints were in lighter green.  Then I drew the bow and q-tipped the holly berries…and voila!  I had a hard time giving this one up…I may need to make one for myself.

Last, Abbey and I got together and made presents for friends and teachers.  My mom and mother-in-law were also the recipients of these presents.  We made neckwarmers and handwarmers out of flannel material stuffed with rice that we scented with peppermint essential oil.  And we also made sugar body scrubs for the shower.  These were SO easy and I love the way they make your skin feel in the shower!  We made peppermint body scrub, lavender body scrub, and brown sugar spice body scrub.  These gifts were so easy, fun to make, and budget-friendly.

There you go…crafty Christmas 2011.

On Christmas morning, we woke up at our own house.  The kids were super excited to see what Santa had brought them.  They were excited to see that Santa ate their cookies and cake and that Rudolph gnawed on their carrot.  But they were even more excited to see the presents under the tree.  It was like a hurricane of presents…fast and furious.  And with crazy bedhead.

My parents and brother came over for Christmas breakfast and then we all headed to church.  Afterwards it was time for Christmas at Mimi and Dada’s house.  Here’s a family shot pre-presents:

After attempting to let everyone have a turn opening presents, we opted to let the kids go crazy and the adults would open presents during naptime.  This proved to be much more relaxing for the adults!  This was one year when I didn’t go crazy with picture-taking during present time, but here are a couple of my favorites…

Owen was so proud to give his handprint Christmas tree to Mimi and Dada:

Uncle Nate’s gifts were a big hit.  Molly’s princess tent was probably her favorite gift of Christmas.  She loves to make the adults go in and play with her.

The SWAT team costume and nerf gun Uncle Nate gave Owen were a favorite of his, too.

Christmas with my family was so much fun.  And then the day after Christmas we had Christmas #2!  Jeff, Julie, and Grandpa Lane drove in that morning bringing a whole lot more presents for the kids.  But the major present was…..

…a trip to Disney World!!!!  They are taking us over Molly’s birthday week in April!  We are so excited.  The kids don’t really know what to expect, but they really loved all their Disney-themed presents!

Christmas was fabulous.  It was the first Christmas in our married life that we stayed in St. Louis and didn’t travel.  It was so relaxing and being in our own home was so special.  But goodbye 2011…hello 2012!!

1.  Our family read advent scripture in church the first Sunday of December.  We each had a part to read, including the kids.  Owen said, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God” and Molly said, “Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”.  They both said the words loudly into the microphone, Owen more clearly than Molly…but both were adorable.  It was a great way to start the Christmas season.  Here’s a picture of them before we left for the service in their Christmas clothes.  I know I’m biased, but aren’t they just adorable??

2.  We’ve watched lots of Christmas movies, including one new one this year.  We took the kids to see Arthur Christmas in the theater…it was so cute and the kids loved it.  And praise the Lord for popcorn.  That’s the only way we can get Molly to sit through an entire movie.

3.  We’ve looked at lots of Christmas lights, but my favorite was when we all bundled up and went on a walking tour of our neighborhood’s Christmas lights one evening after dinner.  It proved to be a great way to see the lights…and a fantastic way to wear out some kids with severe cabin fever.  We also took the kids to see the Wild Lights at the Zoo.  They loved it, but Molly was really confused about why we weren’t able to see any animals.  She didn’t really understand that the point of this trip to the zoo wasn’t about the animals, rather it was about enjoying the Christmas spirit while we looked at the pretty lights.

4.  We made gingerbread houses with Mimi.  This has become one of our favorite yearly traditions.  The kids both got really into it this year…I think they might have actually stuck more candy on the house than in their mouths this year!

And the final product turned out pretty cute!

5.  Our church’s Children’s Ministry had its annual Christmas program.  This year it was called “Arrest These Merry Gentlemen” and Owen got chosen to be a wiseman.  He took the job very seriously and had to walk up our church’s long center aisle carrying his gift for the baby Jesus.  Here he is with his two other wisemen buds…

When he wasn’t playing the part of a wiseman, he was belting it out with the preschool chorus.

6.  This December marked the end of my 18 month run as Assistant Director of Children’s Ministry at our church.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time working with the children, but I miss being involved with adult aspects of the church.  It’s also gotten very difficult to juggle my odd hours with Travis’ increasing work and travel schedule.  It was a good run, but it was time for me to resign.

7.  Owen’s Pre-K class had a morning for moms on December 16.  All the kids participated in a reenactment of the nativity story.  Owen and his friend, Nick, got to be shepherds (which was evidently the coveted role according to him).

Everyone in his little class had a role.  Here they all are, gathered around the manger.

Afterwards all the moms got to decorate Christmas cookies with our kids.  As you could tell from my previous post about Jesus’ birthday cake, Owen is a big fan of sprinkles.  And that held true for cookies, too.

8.  Trav and I went to his annual work holiday party.  It was at a great restaurant downtown called Copia.  This was his 9th holiday party with his company.  Crazy.  We’ve gone from being the young ones at the parties to being considered some of the older ones there (advertising tends to draw a pretty young crowd)…not to mention I’m the only stay-at-home mom and probably the only female in the room that drives a minivan.  That being said, I was still able to have some great conversations with some of the girls he works with.  Here we are…my one occasion each Christmas to buy a new dress and look fancy.

9.  One more thing worth mentioning…I let Owen and Molly pick out something to give the other for Christmas at the dollar store.  They each got to have “dates” with me to the store to pick out their gift.  It was cute to see them picking out a toy for their sibling.  They often picked out things they personally would enjoy (I giggled as Owen tried to convince me that Molly would enjoy some wrestler action figures…who am I kidding…she probably would).  What they ended up picking out was great.  Owen chose a baby alligator figurine for Molly because “she likes to play with animals and she like alligators”.  And Molly chose a microphone.  You’ve seen them…the ones that are echo mikes that take no batteries but somehow magnify your voice.  Once she decided upon her gift, she proceeded to test it out through the remainder of the store yelling “I AM A BAD GUY!!!” into the mike.  Over and over and over.  I splurged and secretly bought another mike just for her…I could see the fights they’d have over that silly thing and decided to make my life a little easier by spending the extra buck.  I can’t wait to see them give their presents to each other on Christmas morning.  My guess is Owen spills the beans before she gets the wrapping paper off.

That pretty much wraps up December!  Have a Merry Christmas!!

They were abnormally happy to pose for pictures with their cake.  They were simply thrilled about their creation and couldn’t wait to taste the sprinkled goodness.

After dinner we had a full on birthday party.  We sang to Jesus and then the kids blew out his candles.  (Molly liked it that Jesus got to have her leftover pink candles from her birthday party.)

The kids loved every minute of the cake.  Trav and me?  Not so much.  I looked over at Travis after my first bite and said, ”Well, it sure is crunchy.”.  Owen and Molly, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed it.  Owen even told me that this was the best cake he’d ever eaten and asked to have it for his birthday.  I guess I should stop putting so much effort into fun shaped cakes for him and just give him loads of sprinkles instead.  Here’s Owen post-cake…he looks like he had some fun with red lipstick.

And Molly looks like she’s straight off the set of Twilight…with a little gangsta flair.

All the sugar made the kids crazy animals.  They ran around like wild banshees during the whole first half of the Mizzou/Illinois basketball game until Trav and I corraled them into bed.

We’ve done the whole Santa thing with the kids this year.  We visited him at the mall, we’ve read books about him, and the kids are excited about getting presents from him on Christmas morning.  But I want my kids to understand that Christmas isn’t about Santa, Rudolph, or the presents.  Christmas is about the precious gift of Jesus.  We give gifts to people we love because God gave us the best gift ever…Jesus, his Son, and the promise of eternal life.  My prayer is that, as we start these next two days of Christmas fun, Owen and Molly will remember the birthday party that we had last night and know that Santa is a fun tradition, but Jesus is the reason we celebrate.

Merry Christmas!

Molly never stopped grinning the whole time we were there.  Actually, grin is probably and understatement.  She smiled so big that I’m sure her face hurt.  She couldn’t help herself…she just couldn’t wait to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.  But before they told him what they wished for, they smiled their little faces off so we could get a few pictures.

This Santa visit was a drastic improvement upon last year’s visit.  In 2010, we had to wait in line for at least a half hour to see Santa, and then Molly screamed the whole time she sat on Santa’s lap.   These pictures are evidence that Molly harbored no remaining fear of jolly old St. Nick…in fact she kept looking at us while she was sitting on his lap saying, “I not crying!”.  It proved to be a much better year for the photo op.  Moving on…after smiling for pictures the kids moved on to sharing their wish lists with Santa.  Owen told Santa that he wanted Optimus Prime, and Molly asked for Belle and the Beast.  Might I just add that my children own BOTH of the gifts they requested…I’m seriously considering rewrapping their own toys and letting them reopen them under the tree.  Budget-friendly Christmas in this house!  Here’s a shot of Owen as he chats up Santa…

And before we left, Santa gave the kids a big squeeze…which was awfully generous of him to do considering we were those cheap parents who didn’t buy any of the overly priced professional pictures they offered.

And that was 2011′s visit with Santa.  Lots of smiles, no tears, requests for presents already owned, and no line.  Success.

Owen got to hang the first ornament on the tree and he chose his Prep and Landing elves.  He took his job very seriously.

After we got the tree up and the stockings hung, Owen and I did a little crafting one afternoon and made this fun wall hanging.  I love how it turned out…and I’m sure I’ll love it even more as the years go on.

And then I got even craftier and made the kids matching jammies.  I’m becoming addicted to my sewing machine now that I’ve figured out how to use it.  After making the pants, I decided to do little appliques on the t-shirts.  Because these were my first ever appliques, I decided not to buy new t-shirts but use ones the kids had.  Owen’s had a small design in the middle so I cut a circle of fabric big enough to cover it and…voila!

I had a little fun with ric rac on Molly’s jammies…until I realized that ric rac doesn’t stretch.  It was an ugly scene last night when I was trying to get the shirt over her head.  After lots of screaming, crying, pulling, shoving, and finally cutting…it was on!  I ended up having to cut a slit in the back of the shirt and sewing around the rough edges to make it work.  Live and learn.  But the final product was well worth the effort…aren’t they cute??

Not too long ago this table was considered the “kids’ table”!

It didn’t take Molly long to become obsessed with Mila.  She LOVES babies and wanted to kiss her all the time.  Whenever Mila would cry Molly would say, “What’s wrong with the baby?  I go check on her.”  Such a little mommy.

After gorging ourselves with Julie’s delicious Thanksgiving feast, we decided to get out of the house on Friday and go up the mountain to see the train.  We’ve done this in the summer and taken a train ride around the top of the mountain and you see some really pretty scenery.  This time…not so much.  The fog was so thick you could barely see 10 feet in front of you.  And it was cold.  And windy.  But the kids still managed to spend some time exploring the big train.

We opted not to take the train around the mountain (even though it was still running and taking passengers in the nasty weather!), but the conductor offered to let the kids sit in the train before it left again.  Molly was all over it, but she kept saying, “Why it not moving?  The train is broken.”  I think she’s actually mid-question in this picture…the girl just doesn’t stop talking.

Molly and her Bubba.  This one’s a framer, no?

Besides eating and hanging out on foggy mountains, we spent a lot of time watching Grandpa Lane and Bubba do this…like father, like son.

We also got to spend some time with our good friends, Annie and Walt and Chloe.  Chloe is simply adorable and she and Molly became fast friends.

We took advantage of Walt’s photography skills and got a group shot.  It’s near impossible to get all five kids looking at the camera at the same time.  Three out of five isn’t too bad.

And a few fam shots…all four of us looking at the camera!!  Don’t be surprised if this makes an appearance on the annual Christmas card.  I’m not sure we can beat this one…

And one with Nana and Bubba.  We didn’t have the same luck getting the kids to look at the camera for this shot.

And one final picture of Grandma Renie with her grandkids.

It was so fun having everyone back together again.  My first Thanksgiving with Trav’s family was when we were just dating.  It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come since then.  I loved this Thanksgiving.

And in honor of turkey day on Thursday, Owen’s preschool class had a Thanksgiving feast this afternoon.  Their preschool class dressed like Indians and the other preschool class dressed like Pilgrims.   Such cuties!  This makes me miss my teacher days…there’s so much fun stuff to do around the holidays!  Can you find Owen?  Back row…far right.

Enjoy your turkey day!

If you have no idea what this Pinterest thing is, here’s a quick explanation.  Basically it’s website you can join (similar to Facebook) where people share pictures of things they like in different categories (crafts, kid stuff, recipes, home decor, travel, music, movies, books, etc…).  I thought it sounded lame when I first heard about it.  I honestly thought it would be another time waster that I didn’t need.  But then one night while Travis was out of town I decided to see what all the fuss was about.  After three hours online I had to MAKE myself stop…and I was hooked.  My one worry was that I wouldn’t actually create anything that I saw…but I’ve already made a few things that I’ve seen on Pinterest and I have a long list of projects waiting in the wings.  Here are some of the things I’ve made….

1.  My new knife block.  My first project.  It used to be boring a boring butcher block, but add a fun paint color and a last name initial…Voila!

2.  My second project…Thanksgiving handprint plate.  A cheap plate, some enamel gloss paint from Hobby Lobby,  and my son’s hand made this one happen.  It’s not food safe, but I’ll just display it every year at Thanksgiving and remember how sweet and little Owen’s hand used to be.

3.  My newest project and the one I’m most excited about…pajama pants!  I got a sewing machine for Christmas last year but never had time to learn how to use it.  Now that Travis is traveling so often, I’m having time to figure it out.  Jo-Ann’s had flannel on sale for $3 a yard last week and I bought three different materials to make him some new jammies…and it was about time.  His had become capri pants…not cool for a four- year-old boy.  Here’s my first pair…army guy pants.  I wasn’t crazy about the fabric but knew Owen would love it and I was right.  He wore them for 24 hours straight when I finished them.

My second pair…robots.  And a $2 shirt from Goodwill.  Cheap jams.

And the third pair…sports theme with a $3 Walmart shirt.

I also made teacher gifts for the kids’ teachers, but I won’t share that quite yet because some of my most loyal readers just might be getting the same thing for Christmas.  So if you haven’t already…go check out Pinterest.  It will change your life forever.  Seriously.