Sunday, November 25, 2012

Binky Free!!!

Hallelujah!  That's all I have to say about it.

Actually that's not true.  I have to share how proud I am of our little sweetheart.  She never ceases to amaze me and always seems to surpass my expectations.

I was really nervous to get rid of "binky" because of how attached she was to it (and like I admitted before, I was pretty attached to it too and loved the ease of getting her to sleep with it).  I thought for sure she'd have a conniption without having binky.  I tried once a few months back to wean her from binky during nap time and then let her have it at night and that did not go over well.  She screamed for 45 minutes straight, would not let me rock her or sing to her, and as soon as I gave in and let her have binky she was asleep within a minute.  Little stinker.

So, here's the story:
Last Monday morning while Aurora was distracted watching something on Disney Junior I sneaked into her room with the scissors and made a cut in the binky.  I seriously almost cried.  No joke.  I intentionally went to run errands with her before nap time, hoping she'd get worn out from being out and that it would make things easier for both of us.  Nap time rolled around and she asked for binky so I gave it to her.  She tried to suck on it for a good 5 minutes or so but I could tell from her effort and the look on her face that the clipping had worked.  After a while she took binky out and looked at it like, "What's wrong with this thing?"  She showed it to me and I said, "Uh-oh, binky is broken."  She then said, "Fickit, Mommy," wanting me to fix it.  She also stuck it in my mouth so I could test it out and see that it wasn't working too.  She asked me to fix it a few more times but I told her I couldn't.  I honestly felt really bad, but she was handling it like an angel!  I tried to get her to sleep but she was completely wide awake.  After playing in her crib for almost an hour, I took her out and fed her lunch (usually I feed her before nap time) and tried again.  This time when she put binky in her mouth she kept it in for a couple of minutes and then said, "Garbage," so we went to the kitchen and threw it away.  No crying or anything!!  (Dar actually had me get her binky out of the garbage that night after she went to sleep so we could put it in her keepsake box :) )

She never did take a nap that day, but went to sleep that night like a charm!  She was seriously out within like 5 minutes.  I was worried that she'd decided she was done with nap time since she no longer had her binky, but luckily we're back on schedule like normal.  She has asked for binky a few times, but usually right after reminds herself that binky went in the garbage and we had to throw it away because it was broken.  She has honestly done A-MAZ-ING-LY!! I couldn't have asked for a better weaning processes.  We've been binky free for about a week now and I'm astonished at our little trooper.

Way to go, Aurora!  Mommy and Daddy are SO PROUD OF YOU!!

P.S.  Thank you, friends, for your suggestions and support on this :)

P.P.S.  Blogger is telling me I've used up all my space for pictures and won't let me upload any more.  Has anyone else had this problem, and what did you do to solve it?  I'd rather not pay for more storage space if there's a way to get around it.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Snow!

Maybe this post should be titled "Pregnancy Insomnia."  It's almost 4:00am and I've been awake since just after 2:00am with not much drowsiness in sight yet.  Guh!  I swear the only time I have such a hard time getting back to sleep is when I'm pregnant.  But, I'm so SO glad to be pregnant, so I'll take it!  And, since reading wasn't helping me get back to sleep I decided to blog. . .

Our snowy winter was pretty much non-existent last year.  It was a total bummer and Aurora never got the chance to experience playing in the snow.  She even got snow pants for Christmas last year and was never able to use them.  I think the first snow storm of this season brought more snow than all the snow we got last winter combined!  Bring it on!!

One thing I love about big storms is that there's a local guy who does these amazing snow creations for everyone to enjoy.  The first time I drove past he was just getting started and I drove past again before he completed it, then the third time I drove past I was super impressed with the finished product.  What a fun talent to share with the locals!
Pretty cool, huh?
The first snowfall of the season just happened to correspond to our favorite Mr. P's 2nd birthday, so these first few pictures are of that :)
 Aurora checking out the planes she just gave P 
 Rori loving P's Madagasgar card singing "I like to move it, move it!"
*Note to self: get Aurora a singing birthday card*
 The little planes we gave him were pretty lame compared to some of the remote control planes he got, but ours might be good for keeping him occupied during Sacrament meeting at church :)
 After most of the family left we bundled up and headed outside to play in that glorious white stuff.  I thought it was pretty classic that there's proof of Aurora eating snow in the first picture I got of Aurora ever playing in the snow.
*Side note: She still fits into her 12 month coat (which still drowns her) and her 12 month snow pants.  Way to go, tiny little princess!*
 Most of the pictures I got of her she's either eating the snow or trying to crawl through it, always away from me.
 Love this picture of my two sweeties!  I could just eat them up!
 Mr. P wasn't a huge fan of the snow.  He takes after his mom, I guess ;)
 I LOVE this picture of my baby girl!!
 Sitting on the snow wall Dad made by dragging his feet through it to make a walking path
 Jared and birthday boy!
 I told you, he wasn't a fan.  Especially when his dad plopped him in the snow and just laughed at him.  Poor little guy.
 Aurora on the other hand LOVED the snow!  She's only closing her eyes in this one because she dropped snow in them trying to get her snowy glove in her mouth again.
 Like daughter, like father.  It's more fun to eat snow together :)
I'm so glad Aurora loves the snow.  She seriously LOVED it!  We don't have all the proper snow attire for her yet - we still need to get good snow boots and better gloves for playing in the snow, but she certainly didn't care about that this first round.  When we stripped her down one of her boots was full of snow, but we didn't know it before that because she didn't complain one bit!  Her poor toes were all red and freezing from it, but not one complaint from our little sweetie.  She never ceases to amaze me.  Love you, baby girl!  Thanks for making it so much fun to watch you and be a part of your new experiences!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Halloween - Finally!

We were able to do lots of fun things for Halloween this year, and I've been putting this off until I thought I'd really have some time to get it done (as I sit here listening to Christmas music :) ) because it's going to be a long post.  I have to get it out of the way so I can catch up on some of our other fun stuff we've done since Halloween.  I already posted about Hee Haw Farms and our Cookie Decorating with our Aussies, but here goes everything else. . . 
October 20, 2012
Kid Halloween Party
Our upstairs neighbors moved.  So sad!  But luckily they still live pretty close and invited us to their Kid Halloween party a week and a half before Halloween.  It was totally fun.  Thanks again, Lonny for inviting us.  You did such an amazing job putting it all together.  We miss you guys!!
The kids got to pick out a prize every time they participated in a game
 Me & my skeleton girl
 Pin the bow-tie on the skeleton
(Aurora took the bow off her own head at one point and wanted to wear the skeleton's bow-tie on her head instead.  Silly girl.)
 Pumpkin bowling - It was hard for her to push it hard enough to knock the TP over
 I helped a little :)
 Pushing a balloon across the yard with a broom
 She did pretty good on her own
 Wrapping Aurora like a mummy
 She did so good and held still for me to do it :)
 Dar played the doughnut on the string game
 Aurora thought he was pretty hilarious trying to eat his doughnut like that :)
 Good job, skeleton Daddy!
 Our cute skeleton family :)
*Sidenote: Aurora was voted as having the best kid costume at the party.  Probably because she was just so stinkin' cute, because there really were some pretty cool kid costumes there!

October 23, 2012
Neighborhood Kid Party
Another friend and neighbor, Lalani, organized another Kid Halloween party at our church.  She did it last year too but Aurora was just little still so this year was much more fun for us!  Thanks, Lalani for all of your effort and planning fun things for the kids in the neighborhood!  To help with the party everyone brought either a treat to share or a game for the kids to play.
I brought "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin"
Aurora didn't use a blind fold but still put the pumpkin's nose on his eye 
 Decorating a plate
 Rori's green and purple jack-o-lantern
 Racing superheros on a string (or something like that)
 My cute skeleton girl
 Aurora with a couple of her favorite people in the world:
P (superman) & R (a witch)
 Cuties!!
 Pumpkin bowling
 Crawling under a spider web - Rori LOVED this one and kept doing it over and over again
 At the end the kids did a costume parade so all the moms (and a couple dads in attendance) could see all the costumes
 Love these two babies, who really aren't babies anymore :(

October 27, 2012
Ward Party
We had a ward chili/pie cook-off the Saturday before Halloween.  I brought chili last year and didn't win, so I decided to contribute my favorite pie this year instead.  We were a little disappointed with the attendance, but we still had fun because the food was yummy and some of our BFFs in our ward were there too, so that's all that mattered :)  When we got there we were the only ones in costumes.  Seriously!?  A ward party the weekend before Halloween and nobody wears costumes?  Luckily Dorothy, Tin Man, and the Lion showed up, and eventually a few other people showed up in costumes too.
Our good friends Robert, Denise, and Carson
(hope you don't mind I stole this from your blog :) )
Aurora and Carson are good buds.  Luckily they're learning to be nicer to each other after fighting a lot like brother and sister.  They both need younger siblings :)
 
 
 Cuties :)

October 29, 2012
FHE with McSweeney's - Pumpkin Carving/Painting
Fun FHE activities with the McSweeney's two weeks in a row is totally a bonus!  We had fun decorating Halloween sugar cookies with them but ran out of time to do pumpkins so we decided to do that together the next week.  Thanks, Trace, for sharing your pictures!!
My cute girl excited and ready to paint her pumpkin
 Aurora was so focused and totally into it :)
I'm totally envious of how Tracee got her to smile - she NEVER smiles for me when I ask her to!
 
She went a little crazy with the paint, and this was after I had wiped her hands down
Mr. P was really into it also.  Such a cute boy!
 LOVE the lips :)

And Little Miss R did such a great job, as always.  She's so artistic!!
 A few group shots
Aurora was trying to paint Jared's pumpkin so he was giving her "the look."  Love it!
The kid's pumpkins
R's, P's, and Aurora's
Dar's pumpkin turned out really cool too!
Good job, guys!  We should turn this into an annual Halloween tradition!

October 31, 2012
Halloween Night!
Aurora's very first time trick-or-treating was to "Bampa and Gramga" Deming's house.  Grandma was still at work, so we got to treak-or-treat at their house twice!
 I think this picture is cute.  So Grandpa, and so Aurora :)
 Putting her candy in her monster
 Hanging out on the porch waiting for Dad
 We went trick-or-treating at my cousin's in the area but we didn't get any pictures because we were trying to hurry to meet up with the McSweeney's.  This picture is awful, but I wanted to remember the coolest costume we saw - the headless horseman, riding a real horse!  So cool!
 Tracee was a genius, yet again, and brought the wagon to pull the babies in.  Genius!
Trick-or-treating!
 Dar being silly :)
 Last house - Bob and Grandma Trease's house
The group at the end of the night
 
Aurora's loot.
Not much, but perfect!  I had to take out all the chocolate and especially the M&Ms after taking the picture

What a fun Halloween month!  We decided it's way more fun to celebrate holidays with kids of your own.  We're totally loving it!  Dar and I also realized this was the first time we've been trick-or-treating since we were in junior high school.  A long time for me, and an even longer time for Dar ;)  Here's to many more years to come with lots more trick-or-treating!!

Halloween Words Aurora can say:
Happy Halloween: Appy Ouween!
Trick-or-Treat: Teet!
Candy: Cany

*Sidenote: Aurora officially made me sick of one of my favorite movies this Halloween season, "The Nightmare Before Christmas."  Some days we watched it 2+ times!  I bet we watched it over 30 times in the month of October.  She even begged to watch it again this morning (11.16.12) before we head out to go to our Family Life Conference at UVU.  Argh!