Naptime Disaster!!!!

So for all of you moms and dads out there that forget what it's like to have an 8-month-old who has just learned how to stand up in his/her crib, this is for you...and to all of you moms and dads who have a child who hasn't gone through this yet, I'm sorry!!! This is what's to come.

Long story short, Lincoln failed to take his morning nap (which he desperately needs) this morning due to the fact that he had to be put back down 9 TIMES. Then for the afternoon nap, it was 14 TIMES!! He finally fell asleep after over 1 hour of frustration and crying. Poor boy. He's absolutely zonked. I can't wait until he learns how to get himself back down without the assistance of myself or Rob. My tip, stay consistent. Go in the room, place them back down without talking and leave quickly. (I was talking in the video only because I knew he would be getting out of his crib for a diaper change and I wanted to inform my viewers of how many times we had counted him getting "stuck".)

Gymnastics

The kids and I had a fun time this morning at gymnastics. It was our first try and they loved it. Avonlea jumped on the trampolines, swang on the rings into a giant pit of soft blocks, went down slides, climbed up rock walls and ran around. Lincoln enjoyed having a huge floor space to crawl around with no limitations. He was quite jazzed about that. It's a toddler open gym on Wednesday mornings and it's $5.00 per family so I'm sure we'll be back for more fun in the future.

Making Good Choices

Avonlea is learning how to make good and bad choices lately. The teacher in me just had to make a visual representation of the choices she makes during the day and so far, it's working quite well. Every time Avonlea makes a good choice during the day (and these are harder to pin point as a parent so I have to always be on the look out), I tell her she can put up a green smiley face and when she makes a bad choice, she has to sit in time out and put up a red, frowny face. When Rob gets home, he can see what choices she made during the day.

TV Time

I heard an interesting statistic today and it goes something like this...Americans spend approximately 63 days out of their lifetime watching tv! A friend at Bible study told me that this morning and my jaw dropped. This leads me to my blog entry today:

Rob and I have always enjoyed watching certain shows at night when the kiddos go to bed. It's our relaxing time together and we usually wind up watching something on Discovery Health or the Discovery Channel (it's amazing to see nature at it's finest on high def. tv), so somewhat education right? =) Well, ever since Avonlea became a toddler, I've really felt compelled to limit her tv time (I guess a child under the age of 2 isn't supposed to watch ANY tv, so our pediatricians tell us...how possible is that? We have to get dinner made and take showers don't they know!) Anyway, I've been working on a little project (the teacher in me...and yes, it's laminated!) to help Avonlea choose her tv priveleges. She has four little tvs (see picture above) in which she can choose tv shows for the day (4 20 minute programs). Two tvs are for after breakfast (when I'm getting Lincoln down for a nap, showering, getting dressed and clearing breakfast dishes) and two tvs are for when I'm cooking dinner and getting Lincoln fed. The rest of the day is spent on outings, outside playing, board games, puzzles, toys, etc. Ever since we started implementing these rules (and we've been VERY consistent with it), she knows exactly what to expect and she doesn't ask to turn on the tv at times where she knows she isn't allowed to watch it. Mind you, these rules still exist on weekends, although she usually doesn't watch as much because we're out as a family all day.

So it works like this...each morning she will choose her tv shows and place certain characters (I got them off the internet, cut them out, laminated them and placed sticky tac on the backs) on the tvs (1 per tv). We've had great success and it's a great, visual way for her to have limitations and learn how to entertain herself without the use of tv.

If any of you try this, let me know how it turns out for you and your little darlings. =)

Lincoln is His Finest Moments...

Rob, Avy and I heard squeals coming from Lincoln's bedroom as naptime was approaching it's end and here's what we saw. It's pretty cool when you can actually catch a "first" with your camera. This is his first time standing up in his crib.

Mealtime is always interesting at our house. Here is the Linkster eating peas. He was spitting them at me, but by the time I grabbed the camera, he had stopped.

I LOVE SATURDAYS!

It was a miracle that Avonlea let Rob show her how to properly hit the ball with the putter. She was very adament about hitting it her OWN way.















Lincoln had a blast!
















Rob got a hole in one on hole 6! Go Rob.


















Mommy and Lincoln enjoying the scenery.

The four of us had such an enjoyable day today. It began around 9:30 this morning as we headed out to the zoo. We thought we had picked the perfect day since it was a little overcast and not incredibly hot. Well, God had other plans. It RAINED! The trip started out with us enjoying the first 30 minutes of visiting the zebras, elephants, monkeys and not to mention, Avonlea got to feed a giraffe. She handed the man her tokens in exchange for a cracker to feed this adorable giraffe, but as I looked away for a split second, she managed to put the cracker in her mouth and take a bite! I grabbed it out of her mouth and explained that this cracker was for the giraffe. She cried because apparently she was hungry and the cracker looked appetizing, but we had to feed it to the giraffe. Needless to say, we headed over to eat lunch and just as we sat down, it downpoured! We stayed under the tiki hut and finished our barbecue lunch. Then we bundled up the kids and made a run for it. Rob and I are pretty adventurous so we laughed the entire way to the car splashing through "rivers" of water flowing through the zoo's sidewalks.

We changed the kids in the car and made it home safely with two sleeping and quite zonked out children. Naps were nice and long (hooray!) and after a quick dinner, we headed out to do some put-put golfing along the beach. It was Avonlea and Lincoln's first time and they had a blast (as you can see in the pictures). We got a quick icecream cone from McDonald's on the way home and I'm happy to say that after jammies, the brushing of teeth, a bedtime story, prayers and a song, our children are happily asleep and Rob and I are about to sit down to a nice, quiet evening and watch a movie. Ahh! Sheer relaxing.

I LOVE SATURDAYS!

(PS-Not sure why the pictures are blurry.) ???

Haircolor and Bathtime

I decided to go with a box hair color yesterday to bring out the brunette in me. My hair is normally light brown, but dark brown sounded fun. =)

Lincoln loves to watch the water trickle out of the faucet as we're getting ready for bathtime. Not sure why he looks so serious here because he's usually grinning from ear to ear!

CRAWLING!

Here's a glimpse at what Lincoln has been up to lately. He's into EVERYTHING! The latest trick has been for him to pull himself up in his crib. He gets stuck and can't get down. It's actually funny to watch, but so far, I haven't been able to record or take pictures of it yet. He'll just sit there bouncing up and down like a little monkey.

I have more pictures to update the blog with, but Blogger is giving me trouble today. =(

Old January Pics...

Future All-Star!















Ready, Set...Hike!
















Gotta love grub.















This picture is funny because Lincoln looks just as big as Avonlea. I think he's just sitting farther forward than she is. There's still only about a 12 pound difference between the two of them!















Wrestling with Daddy before bed.














Avonlea and the Donovan girls. Best buds.

Videos of the Kiddos...Finally!

I finally figured out how to upload video to Blogger so here you go Bates fans! =)

Bible Verse Challenge

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 says:
"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. WRITE THEM ON THE DOORFRAMES OF YOUR HOUSES AND ON YOUR GATES, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth."

At Bible study the other day, I was challenged to work harder at memorizing Bible verses and help my family to memorize verses as well. I got a fun idea! I spent the afternoon searching for verses that were dear to my heart and placing them around our house on notecards. The verses that I chose were specifically chosen for the placement in our house that they would receive. For instance, on our telephone, I have chosen the verse from Proverbs 20:19 which says, "A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much." This verse will help keep our family accountable for gossip and unnecessary talk. I chose the verse from Proverbs 13:24 which says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." This verse is placed by our "Time Out" square in our living room. I chose Romans 12:2a for our TV which says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Here are a few more examples:

Shoeracks in closets...

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:15b

CD player in the kitchen...

"Sing joyfully to the Lord you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully and shout for joy." Psalm 33:1,3

Above our beds...

"On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 63:6,7

By my clothes in my closet...

"I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." I Timothy 2:9,10

There are many more, but these are just a few of the verses that have helped me think before I act the past few days. Avonlea has enjoyed helping me place the cards in the house and she is intrigued by what they say and mean. Of coarse, she doesn't totally understand them yet, but she knows they are from the Bible and are God's words and we are going to work on memorizing them.

testing video...never done this before!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is Valentine's Day and I hope that everyone received something special from a loved one whether it be a valentine card, flowers, an act of kindness or the words "I love you". The kids and I had a fun time visiting with their great, great grandmother this morning. She is from Iowa, but comes down in the winter time to get away from the snow and cold. She's staying at my grandmother's house and we always enjoy spending time with her. Avonlea sang her some songs and Grandma loved watching Lincoln "crawl" around on the floor (it's more like a scoot, but he does it very fast now so he's pretty close to crawling). There is more to look forward to tonight as I'm surprising my hubby with an outing. We didn't think we would be able to get out (and he still thinks we're staying home tonight), but I was able to find a babysitter and so we'll be picking up some dinner (to-go) and heading out to the beach for a nice, relaxing time together. Can't wait. Got lots to do so Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

"For God so LOVED the world that he sent his only son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everylasting life." Praise Jesus!!!

Lincoln is 8 Months Old

Lincoln is 8 months old today! He's doing all sorts of things:

- rolling around like crazy

- scooting across the carpet to get things (not quite crawling yet)

- no actual words yet, but he tries to immitate "mama" here and there

- no clue on the weight or height...we have a 9-month checkup next month

- he's eating all sorts of foods including babyfood (fruits, veggies and meats now), blueberries, Cheerios, biter bisquits, Gerber's wagon wheels and cut up banana.

- He's on two naps a day (9:00a.m. and 1:00p.m.)

- Goes to bed at 7:00 and sleeps through the night

- Loves his big sister Avonlea and he's very entertained by our Golden Retriever, Riley

He's such a happy baby and is hardly ever fussy. Gotta love him!!!

A Cherished Week With Family

Don, JJ, Rob and Kristine (Rob's brothers and sister)
















Auntie Kris playing marbles with Aleah and Avy
















Madeline, Izzy and Zander watching their dads and uncles play Guitar Hero

Making Valentines!

Rob's Aunt Charanne and Great Uncle Kenny (the funniest man I've ever met!)

The grandkids (minus two...Abigail and Sammy)

Although we miss grandpa Ron Bates, we did enjoy spending time with family that we haven't seen in a long time (or ever...for me). We really enjoyed having Rob's sister Kris (and her daughter Aleah...age 19 months) here from London this week. We also had Rob's Aunt Charanne and Great Uncle Kenny here at our house and what a great time we had eating meals together, watching the kids (they were quite the entertainment!) and just talking. We also had a Super Bowl party last Sunday night with lots of friends and family. We found out some good friends of ours are expecting a baby boy (congrats Steve, Lisa and J.T.) and I think most of us wound up talking and hanging out versus watching the actual game. It was a nice, full house this week, something we've never been able to do (our house was either too small or we were under construction). So, now that all company is gone, we're busy cleaning up and getting things back in order. We look forward to another visit from Londoners this summer as well as Rob's mom.

Gardening

Avonlea and I have really enjoyed planting our garden out back. We've been reading books about gardening and she understands the things it takes to plant a seed (water, sunshine, soil and seeds). She really loves the book Messy Bessie's Garden. She is great about helping water the garden, pick weeds and she can't wait to harvest the actual vegetables it (hopefully!) will produce. The seeds/plants we have planted are: peppers (bottom picture), tomatoes, strawberries, watermelon, squash, chives, cucumbers, beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, thyme, peas, pumpkins and some Skyscraper Sunflowers that grow to be 12 feet high. Everything has sprouted so far (these pictures are well over a week old...I'll post new garden pics soon) and is growing well. The one thing I am fearful about is unwanted pests (bugs, caterpillars, etc.) because I'm not an expert at managing them, however my dad has a VERY green thumb and has been gardening and landscaping for many, many, many years and will help me I'm sure (he is where I get my love for the outdoors and growing things). Hopefully, this summer we will have things to harvest and eat. =)

Sorry for the confusion folks! I've been experimenting with different colors and settings for our blog. =)