theVandermarks.com » chaos

Back to the crib

Karen — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:11:30 +0000

After about a week of letting the boys run like manics and a week of sitting in the room for up to an hour at a time to get them to fall asleep, we decided the boys just aren’t ready for beds yet and put the crib fronts back on. Now we’re having fun playing the “put the baby back in the bed” game, complete with the “let’s hide from Mommy to see if she can find us” bonus game. It’s taken as much as 2+ hours to get them to go to sleep, but I think in the long run, this is the right thing. We sure can’t wait until they get the idea that they’re supposed to stay in though!

Some new pics in the Sept-Oct 2007 album include another example of the mess the boys made when they should have been napping, a special breakfast made by Debbie and Cole, and dressing up as Pooh (Zach) and Eeyore (Alex, of course!) for Halloween.

Yikes, that didn’t take long…

Karen — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:35:49 +0000

Just four days after Zach started to figure out how to get out of the crib, we had to take the front of the cribs off to turn them into toddler beds. We just couldn’t get Zach to stay in, and Alex was quickly catching on too.

With that, all of their good sleeping habits seem to have gone right out the window. They’ve been having a blast running around (and running into things until we put their nightlight back on), climbing, and pulling everything out of every drawer possible. After they broke a dresser drawer and pulled down a radio and some books from the top of the dresser, we’ve put locks on the drawers and moved a bunch of things out of the room.

When they finally do fall asleep, it tends to be on the floor where they happen to pass out from exhaustion from all the fun.

Pictures of the toddler bed milestone and the following day’s naptime have been added to the Sept – Oct 2007 album. Enjoy!

They’re having a ton of fun, but we can’t wait until the novelty wears off and they start to actually sleep again…

Uh oh, we’re in trouble now!

Karen — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:02:04 +0000

Zach has figured out how to climb out of his crib. Debbie heard some noise in the boys’ room at the end of naptime, when suddenly the door opened! He did it again yesterday evening with a big thump on the floor when I was trying to get Alex back down at bedtime and this morning with a really controlled climb out of the crib once I went it to get them. So much for having a place where we know they can be contained.

A family trip out west

Karen — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:46:46 +0000

At the beginning of the month, we took the three boys out to visit Grandma Pam, Auntie Katie, and Auntie Mary Ann in LA and Grandma Marilyn, Grandfather Dan, Great-Grandfather, and Auntie Amy in Tucson.

It was an interesting trip to say the least. I would highly recommend avoiding traveling with 2 small children when they are sick, teething, and overtired. Alex cried for about half the flight out to LA and a good part of the car ride out to Tucson. Both got treated for ear infections about halfway through the trip. We switched hotels after trying to put the boys down to sleep the first night in LA because of water problems and the need for a suite so we had a place to go when putting the little guys down (lucky for Cole, he stayed with Grandma Pam), and then they were up every couple hours. We took the boys on drives up the 605 to get them to take naps.

From a travel perspective, it was the trip from hell. But honestly, it was a fantastic trip. Cole had a great time going to the beach with Auntie Katie and Auntie Mary Ann – he found a huge shell there, the kind you rarely find on the beach. He played lots of great games and pool with Grandma Marilyn, Grandfather Dan, and Great-Grandfather. And Zach and Alex were able to meet Grandma Pam, Auntie Katie, Great-Grandfather, and Auntie Amy for the very first time. For as many challenges there were, it was worth every second of that to spend it with family.

Check out the photos from the trip in the LA and Tucson 2007 album in the Vacation album.