How to eat yogurt.....

She has to have her own spoon,uses it a couple of times, then sticks her hand in it......

then straight into the mouth and all over her clothes, hair and face.

My wonderful angel of a daughter refuses to let me EVER feed her. Anything she eats she has to do it by herself and if you try to do it she screams (TYPICAL!) She especially loves eating yogurt because she gets to make a huge mess. Trevor was so different, much slower. He barely learned to feed himself when he was 2 and even then would have much rather have had me feeding him. This stubborn little thing, I don't know what I'm going to do with her (except love her to pieces). She just started biting a couple of days ago too and she wants to bite anything and everything, I mean everything (couch, crib, end table, mommy, daddy, Trevor....she's not picky). Trevor knows not to bite so he thinks it is funny to put his arm in front of her mouth and have her bite him so he can tell on her and get her in trouble. I have been flicking her mouth but it doesn't seem to be working. Someone told me to bite her back but I don't know if I am ready for that, she is only 17 months old, BUT, I definitely don't want a biter!!! Like I always say, "it is a good thing she is so darn cute!!!!".

Zoo Fun!!!

Trevor and Auntie Kelly at the elephant exhibit.

TT being her usual self, not wanting to sit in her stroller, cooperate, or be a good girl. She just wanted to run and jump off of every curb that she could.

Trevor watching the rhinos with his cousins Emily, Ethan and Christy,

Today we went to the LA Zoo and it was absolutely perfect. Actually, perfect would be if my 18 month old daughter actually listened to me and went with the flow. Trevor loved the zoo (he is so into animals right now) and was on his best behavior. I brought the stroller (double stroller mostly for TT) and he was perfect!!! He would crawl in it when I told him to and it was perfect for the taller exhibits. I keep telling myself that Taylor is just at that age (I remember Trevor and not being able to take him anywhere). I sometimes feel so bad that Trevor is missing out on so much because I am always having to pay so much attention to Taylor. He is sooo much fun right now. Luckily, he is so easy going (like his mom) so hopefully neither will miss out on too much.

Merry Christmas

Trev singing karaoke on Christmas Eve (he wouldn't give up the mike)

Trev and Taylor with their cousin Emily (who happens to have food).

TT dipping her fingers into a beer, licking it, and worst of all loving it!

TT opening her dolly!

Trev and Brady playing with Trevor's first gun (his cousin Christy hid it, until she leaves that is).

Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas just as we did. Don had to work which was unfortunate (the first time I can remember in a looong time). Luckily, our kids don't completely get it anyway so not that big of a deal (we are crossing our fingers for next year). Trevor was very much into opening presents but didn't understand the whole "santa" part of it. TT just wants to do everything he does so she was pretty much just a pain!!!! The kids got way too many toys but loved every minute of it. I did have a chance to clean out the toy box and get rid of all the old toys so that we have some room for the new toys so we will see how long that lasts.

We have some of our family that is visiting from Boston so both of the kids are in heaven (and so is their mama). They are having a blast and can't get enough of Emily and Ethan. Tomorrow we are going to go to the zoo.

By the way, I am TOTALLY over potty training!!! It is horrible and unless I want to sit at home for 2 weeks straight I just don't see how it is going to happen. Somebody want to take Trevor for a couple of weeks from his lazy mom?????

What a great kickoff..

Christmas break has officially started and my 2 children have made it a great night and a great start. They both ran around and played so well together all afternoon and most importantly, were both fast asleep by 7:30. The best part was putting Trevor to bed and he wanted to have a "who loves you more contest". After our whole 3 song routine he wanted to keep telling me how he loves me more (impossible, by the way), but so refreshing to the hustle and bustle of our busy lives. He is the best!
Now on to more important things, we are starting some "hard core" potty training on Saturday, do we teach him to pee sitting down or standing up??????

Thank you to the veterans.....

I just have to thank all of you veteran parents for the advice on the door lock. Trevor has now gone to bed so easy for 8 nights in a row. I take him into his room between 7 and 7:15, sing him 3 songs (about 5 more minutes) and then he just goes to bed. It is the most amazing thing. He still sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night but just for a few minutes then goes back to sleep. My stress level has gone down tremendously and my happiness level has gone up tremendously. It is amazing what a good night sleep will do for you.
I took TT to school with me this morning and Trevor's nanny brought him to school to see me. We had a holiday assembly this morning and Trevor loved it. He sat there and watched the whole thing. TT on the other hand doesn't ever like to sit so she decided she wanted to be part of the show. I wouldn't allow it and so of course she threw herself on the gym floor (head first and all) and started screaming.....it is sooooo cute when she does that. She finally was able to control herself and ended up enjoying it too. I'm planning to take Trevy to DIsneyland tomorrow to see the parade, we will see if it actually happens.
Thanks again for the door lock advice.....you truly saved my sanity!!!!

Nothing is easy anymore......

TT's new thing is to put a bowl on her head like it is a hat.

Don and I at our Christmas party!

Don and I were going to a Christmas party on Saturday night where we were doing a gift exchange. I was getting ready to wrap my gift and forgot something in the other room and this is what I came back to. My children had rolled out the brand new roll of wrapping paper and Trevor was using it as a slip and slide and Taylor thought she was walking down a runway. Of course at this point I was running so late and got so angry (I can finally laugh about it). The party was great. We had a great time eating, drinking, playing catchphrase and finally poker. We got home way too late, but when you don't go out often you take advantage of a night out. Needless to say, I never made it out of my pajamas today and I'm getting ready to go to bed as soon as I am done!! I don't even mind going to work tomorrow because I only have 3 1/2 days until Christmas break (can't wait).

Cutest Angel Ever

Trevor getting ready to perform at his Christmas program. He did so good!!! He had a hard time concentrating on singing, dancing and watching his family in the audience, but I think it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. As soon as he walked on stage TT started screaming (a happy scream) and he looks at her and says "TT watch me!" as he is pointing to himself. They performed 3 songs (for a total of about 2 minutes). I did record it but I'm still trying to figure it out. Most of his family came to watch him and he impressed everybody. I left there with the best feeling and can hardly wait to watch both of my kids grow up and do this kind of thing more often. Next Christmas we will have 2 kids performing (oh my gosh), trust me on this, TT will own that joint, she already thinks she goes there!!!!!

I will work on getting the video on here, I think you will all enjoy it!

Daddy's police car

Taylor and Aubrey

Don at work with kids (please excuse Trevor's PJ's, I was told by Kelly and Angie that they were too girly!!! I guess I will save them for TT next year).

I finally took the kids to see Don at work. He works in Laguna Hills which is a small city but their is an area in Laguna called Nellie Galle and they have these multimillion dollar homes that go all out for Christmas lights. My friend Angie lives about 2 minutes from this area so we left right after school and went and hung out with her and her two kids until Don started work. It was so cool to see Don in his police car (first time for me too). Trevor was so excited and it was all he talked about the whole time driving through Nellie Galle.

Trevor is in a Christmas show tomorrow night at school. Now that I have my new camera I promise to get pictures and maybe even a video.

Better sleeping, new camera, and lots to do before Christmas!

TT is smiling and laughing, I have to cherish these moments!

TT eating the pizza Trevor made or dipping it in ranch, whatever you want to call it!

Trevor making a pizza, or eating it whatever you want to call it!

First of all, I know you are all wanting to know how my sleeping arrangements are going. I really don't want to jinx myself , but Trevor has been doing so much better. Whoever invented that $2.00 plastic lock is a genius (and probably millionaire). It went very well Saturday and Sunday although by Sunday night Trevor had a horse voice from all of that screaming. I really thought I "was over it" and that I didn't mind his screaming until something came over me in the middle of the night Sunday when I heard the most pathetic "mommy" cry for about 20 minutes. I couldn't take it anymore and went in and laid with him. Last night was great (asleep at 7:15 and up at 6:00) and tonight he also went to bed with no tears.

We didn't do too much this weekend, lots of hanging out inside because of the cold. I did go and finally get my new camera yesterday. I was so excited to take a bunch of pictures and get my kids on video (because they are so hilarious) and the chip that came with the stupid camera holds like 12 pictures, what a joke!!! Why do they even bother? They should just say that you need to buy a separate chip with the brand new camera.

I have so much to learn but I'm hoping to get some better pictures from now on. By the way, I forgot to mention that these pics are from Jeana's house where the kids made pizza and cupcakes.

So far so good!

Ok, the nap went well, he slept over 2 hours, only waking up once. Bedtime was better. He cried for maybe 5 minutes and Iam catching up on Greys Anatomy from 3 weeks ago. Say a prayer for me for the night, I am not loking forward to it.

I'm trying the lock

Trevor is in bed screaming his head off as I am writing this. I just cannot do it anymore, I went out and bought the lock for his door. I feel bad, but you gotta do what you gotta do. With Don not home 4 nights a week I need a fast solution. I will keep you all posted. He can't cry forever right? On a brighter note, Taylor has been a good girl today. Look, she is actually smiling!!!

I need sleep!!!

It is 5:20 am on Thursday. I am fully ready for work because I have been up since 4:00 (two days in a row by the way). Trevor is almost 3 years old (in March) and he is waking up 3 times almost every night. He won't stop screaming unless I lay next to him until he falls asleep. I know that I have created this horrible habit and now I don't know how to stop it. My biggest concern is him getting enough sleep because I don't want him being a pain while he is at school. In the mean time I'm getting no sleep and I'm just as grumpy as ever!!!! I keep telling myself we will work on it over Christmas break but I don't know if I can wait that long. I know this is somewhat normal and it is all part of being a parent, but please can't he just sleep one night so I can catch up??? Maybe I should start taking a nap at lunch.

Isn't she cute!

This is what my daughter does best! She is reaching out for me, wanting me to hold her (like always) and cries when I refuse. I only refuse because I have been holding her all weekend. My back for someone is always worse on the weekend, I'm sure it has nothing to do with my 28 pound sack of potatoes.
Besides TT crying all weekend we did have a great couple of days. On Saturday we got all of our Christmas decorations up, including our tree. It was busy, but so much fun knowing that Trevor is starting to understand a little more and they both get so excited to see all the lights. Speaking of lights, are they not made worse and worse every year? I could swear this is 2007 but we have to buy brand new lights every year because that is all they last nowadays. I had to go to 3 different Targets on Saturday (that made me real happy) to get lights that matched. I think we decided we are going to be one of those houses that leaves them up all year long in hopes that they will still work next year.
We had a couple of friends over on Saturday night and more importantly both kids stayed with my parents for the night for the first time. The kids did great, we had a blast and we slept until 10:00 am, I cannot remember the last time. We were up pretty late so we probably didn't get any more sleep than normal but it was nice to be able to not wake up at 5:30 am.
Needless to say, Sunday we were in our PJ's most of the day.
It is now the busy season. I am really starting to get stressed out about Christmas shopping, Christmas pictures, Christmas parties etc..... I'm sure everyone else is too.

What a morning!!!!!!

Do you sometimes get to work and wonder.....did I just go through all of that this morning???? My morning was such a joke (it is a good thing it is Friday). I get up at 5:00 every morning so that I can spend 15 minutes on myself getting ready, yes, that is right I get myself ready in 15 minutes (which is why I look like crap everyday). My perfect son likes to wake up between 5 and 6, after he was awake 3 times in the middle of the night and refuses to let his dad go lay down with him. TT woke up at 5:20 and literally cried all morning because she wanted me to hold her. She is so rotten with me but as soon as I walk out the door she is great for everyone else. Don is home with her today and they are home having a great day (he likes to rub it in by sending me pictures all morning). I don't get it, she has such a love/hate relationship with me, she loves me the most but is also the worst behaved with me. It drives me crazy!!! Trevor just wants to switch from one movie to the next all morning and then loves to scream his head off when I'm trying to feed both of them, pack lunches, clean the house for the house cleaner, get myself dressed and Trevor dressed, changing 2 poopy diapers and he is upset because I don't have time to switch his movies after he watches them for 10 minutes.........I get to work and wonder ......did that just happen??? I love my life! Thanks for letting me vent.

Weekend Fun!!!!

TT sleeping on the way to the swap meet

Trevor sleeping on the way to the swap meet!!!

My digital camera sucks so the only pictures I can post are from my cell phone, that is why the pics are boring and bad. I should be getting a new camera in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping it will get better.

We had a very small Thanksgiving this year (only 8 people thanks to the Shultzs) but it was very nice and very good. Don had to work that night so he slept most of the day and just had dinner with us.

Trevor had his Thanksgiving program on Wednesday and he did great. He didn't sing but he looked adorable and he stayed up on the stage. He has a Christmas program in December so we are going to start practicing now.

We took a family trip to the swap meet on Saturday to look for bedroom furniture for Trevor. He was great, TT on the other hand is at that horrible age where she doesn't want to sit in her stroller and when you put her on the ground she runs away. Needless to say, we didn't last very long and Don and I had to trade off holding her (and she is no light weight). Don and I also had a night out on Saturday!!!!! It was our 6 year anniversary so we went to this little restaurant in Belmont Shore, it was delicious!!

Sunday was a very lazy day, lots of laying around, lots of foot ball, and most importantly 2 poops on the potty!!!! We have been bribing Trevor for weeks now and he actually did it. Unfortunately, now we have to take him to Chuck E Cheese today.

His sleeping habits in his new bad are still horrible, I'm so sleep deprived my eyes are crossing. He did have a better night last night but for the most part he is doing terrible in his bed. I'm looking for any suggestions??????

Night number two

So the second night in our big boy bed did not go so well. I say "our" because he woke up two times wanting me to sleep with him. It was nice to just lay with him for 10 minutes and go back to my own bed but I'm sure that is not a good habit to get into. Not sure what to do but it is only day two so hopefully it gets better.
Tomorrow he will be performing the "turkey song" at school and dressing up as a pilgrim to feed the parents at the "Thanksgiving feast". It should be interesting and I will make sure to get some pictures to keep you all updated. I'm not sure how they are going to get 12 two year olds to stand in front of a group of people and perform. Although these preschool teachers can do amazing things.... I never thought Trevor would fall asleep on a cot with 12 other kids in the room and they say he is the first one asleep everyday. (I'm sure it has nothing to do with how hard he plays)

Big Boy Bed

OK so we finally did it!! Trevor has still been sleeping in a crib, until yesterday that is. He is way to big for it but Don and I have just been dreading the whole process (taking down the crib, putting the bed in his room, being able to get out whenever he wants, etc....) Well on Saturday night we were visiting Angie and Brian and Brady came runnung downstairs saying Trevor needed help. I go up there and he is inside Aubrey's crib.Brady had climbed in and of course Trevor followed. We go home a little later, put Trevor to bed and about an hour later he comes stolling out into the living room. We decided to let him sleep with us so that he doesn't break his arm crawling out and decide we will tackle the project in the morning. So Don takes the crib down, we put the bed in there, go get a side rail so he won't fall out....and attempt our first nap. Don puts him down, he gets up and runs right past him back into the living room. He tries it again and Trevor whines for about 30 seconds and then takes a 3 hour nap!!! Later that night he goes to bed around 8 and wakes up at 6:30 this morning! I cannot believe it. I know it has only been one day but a pretty nice start. He probably loves it because he can actually move around without hitting his face on the posts. The unfortunate part is that now we have to buy new furniture.

Family BBQ

We went over to my cousin Kevin's house for a little family BBQ on Sunday. He is moving in with his girlfriend in a couple of weeks and so that means there is going to be an end of an era. All of you who remember that cool apartment I used to live in on top of Belmont Brewing Company, that is the one he is leaving. I believe I moved in there about 9 years ago and ever since then somebody in our family has lived there, we LOVED it! Not that we get to go very often (not very child proofed), it was always nice to have the option---NO MORE!!!! Trevor enjoyed looking off the balcony and waving at everybody, but most of all he loved dancing while looking at his reflection from an old TV (as you can see)! TT of course loved eating the most, surprise surprise. She especially loved dipping her pretzel into this dip and licking the dip off, over and over, and then getting it all over her face and her brand new Roxy outfit. I had a great video of Trev but I tried for 30 minutes and couldn't get the stupid thing to work. When I figure it out I will post it. Don's work week just started so I now become a single mom for the next 3 days so that means it is bed time (after I watch the Hills!!)

Just go to sleep!!!

I'm going to try this....I enjoy reading everyone else's blog so I'm going to see if I can keep you all entertained. It is the middle of the day and both kids are in their beds screaming their heads off. Trevor fell asleep in the car for 15 minutes this morning so he thinks that is his nap. Taylor has been in talking to herself for the last 45 minutes. I really want to watch Ohio State lose (sorry Kollens but it would really help Oklahoma), but I'm sure I will be stuck watching the WIggles in another 10 minutes. We were planning on going to Disneyland this afternoon but definately not attempting it with two tired children, maybe tomorrow. So I guess we will sit home and wait for the kids to go to bed. That is the only good thing about no naps- they go to bed early, unfortunatley they will just be rotten all night. Good thing they are so cute.