Friday, April 9, 2010

A few pictures from around the yard:
Words can not express how giddy I was when I saw this bleeding heart sprouting up by the garage. I purchased it on clearance at our weird local hardware store last year on a whim, thinking it would never grow. Not that it had a chance to, since Steve mowed it over with the weed whacker. But, lo and behold, I saw little purple shoots springing up a last week and it popped up super fast. It's still tiny (maybe 5 inches high), but it surprised me even more when I checked it out yesterday and saw:
It had started blooming! Woah! The hearts are miniscule, which just adds to their adorableness.


Cursed ferns. I hate these things. They're in a bed filled with cacti on the edge of the driveway. Apparently the family who rented this place before us for 16 years were obsessed with Southwestern/Native american culture and decor. And landscaping. It's terrible.

The snowdrops finally sprang up. They need to be on their game a little better next year.



If you look closely you can see Finn off in the distance. He likes to stand by the pine trees and taunt the cows next door. He wiggles his bum and yells "MOOO! MOOOO!" Sometimes I worry about him.

I'm taking a litte break right now from the pre-vacation hustle. We're leaving bright and early tomorrow to drop Finn off at Nana and Pap's and then heading to Buffalo from there. Part of me is sad we're not bringing him with us, but the other bit of me is overcome with excitement at the thought of four nights of sleep. Plus, I think making small children have a passport is ridiculous, so seeing as he'd need one for the second bit of our trip, he'll be staying behind this time. How in the world do you get a two-year old to sit still for a passport photo, anyways?

Okay, break time over. I still have a few things to pack and dinner to finish up. Updates later next week, with tons of pictures.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Bedspring time

Hallelujah! The worst is over, the storms have cleared, and all is right with the world. Finn is sleeping through the night again.  Praise Ikea. 
About two months ago, Finn started getting really, really bad about sleeping. He was up more than he was when he was a few months old and nursing constanly through the night (gotta love growth spurts). First we'd have an hour long struggle to go to bed. Screaming, kicking, all-out battles. He'd be so tired that he would have his eyes closed and be half asleep while throwing punches.  Then he'd be up around midnight. He'd get changed, snuggled and back to sleep he'd go. Then at 2 he'd be up again, wandering into our room. We'd try to put him back in his bed and all hell would break loose. He'd scream. He'd cry. He'd tense up so much he'd shake like a leaf. He'd yell "Big bed! Big bed! Sleep in the big bed!" until we'd cave and tuck him in with us. Unfortunately, he didn't want US in the big bed with him. He'd flip and flop and kick and hit until one or both of us ended up on the floor, the couch or in the spare bed. And after all of this, he'd still wake up at 5:30, still tired but refusing to go back to sleep anywhere.  Needless to say, we've all been exhausted.
We'd been thinking of getting him a twin bed for awhile now, but this sleep mutiny gave us the push to actually do it. With the grandparents chipping in, we headed to Ikea this past Saturday to get this child a big boy bed of his own. I'll skip the details, because I'll just end up more peeved. They didn't have the bed that we drove two hours to get. They refused to sell us the floor model. They wouldn't ship one from another store. They can't tell us when they'll be getting more of them in. They were completely rude and gave us just about the worst customer service ever.  Ugh.  Anyway, we left there with everything but a bed frame and a ridiculously tired toddler (we had decided to push naptime back a bit not realizing that A) he wouldn't catnap on the ride down and B) that we'd be there for several hours dealing with completely unreasonable people). Once we got home, I set to disassembling his toddler bed, which he found quite entertaining, and hemmed the curtains to the right length. His new room looks pretty darn nice. I imagine it will look even better once we have a bed frame, but for now he's enjoying the mattress on the floor.
And his sleeping....oh, it's so much better. He doesn't even fight going to bed now. He happily marches in and snuggles down in bed. He asks "Mommy, stay here?" and I agree and snuggle with him for a few minutes before he drops right off.  He's been waking just to get changed in the middle of the night, but he doesn't come wandering into our room and he goes right back to sleep. And best of all, he's been sleeping in. Okay, I know most people don't consider 7 a.m. to be "sleeping in", but when your toddler usually wakes up at 5:30, 7 seems like a godsend.   It's pretty darn miraculous, really.

And now for a few extra pictures from our lovely spring weather:
Figures the first seeds to sprout would be the hollyhocks that Steve picked out. You know, the flowers that won't bloom until next year. :eye roll:
"'Laxin" is his new thing. He'll plop down in a chair and grab his drink and say "Oh, I'm 'laxin. Ahhhhh!"
A stress filled Easter with a teething toddler. Holidays should not be this hard. Seriously.
And the first of the yellow plague, I mean, daffodils. They actually beat the snowdrops this year, which is unheard of.