POWER WHEEL

Kevin bought a power wheel from some guy at work for Trent.  I envisioned something way too big and advanced for Trent but was pleasantly surprised when I saw it in person.  Its the perfect size for him and he enjoys it!

toy access

Alicia Asks: I'm SURE you'll be getting a million more toys for Christmas, you already got a bundle for his birthday, how do you plan to manage them in your house? I hear of a lot of parents who circulate through toys - storing some in the basement and X number in the play/living space. Any intentions on doing anything like that, or just keeping them all within arms reach for Trent?

Answer: NO IDEA. Until recently we never had to consider this question. Trent just never had "too many" toys - we just kept them all in the living and dining room. Even now, after receiving all of his birthday presents, all of his toys are right there in arms reach. A few items (bouncy seat, play mat) have been put away because we believe he outgrew them. Then there are are a few toys he is not big enough for, so we have those in his bedroom. We tend to keep his stuffed animals in his bedroom on the shelves, along with his blocks. And we purposely have a toy box in our dining room for the other smaller toys, which is great for tidying the house quickly. The rest of the toys (medium to large in size) are strewn across the living and dining room floor.

Right now he has 3 or 4 large toys, which happen to be vehicles, that take up a good bit of space. I guess you could say we just haven't gotten around to putting them away yet, because we certainly don't plan to keep them all where they currently are (dining room and kitchen). Sometimes we put all the big toys together against one wall when we want the house to have some sort of order, and it's super cute!! It looks like Trent needs his own little 4 car garage. You got the wagon, the jeep, the coupe, and his "bike" all in a row. The first time I noticed the theme, i cracked up. Maybe it's one of those things only a mother would find cute, but I think it's hilarious.

Back to the question - what will we do after xmas?!?! eek. Honestly, we haven't talked about it AT ALL. I never heard of the circulating technique you mentioned above, and honestly, i don't like that idea. Not for our family, at least.

Maybe we will re-finish our basement sooner than planned?! I'd love to use that space as a play room, especially when the kids are a little older/bigger. Right now the basement is too gross - I don't like taking Trent down there even if I just have to grab something and go back up. The previous owners "finished" it, but they did a half-ass job. I don't think the walls are insulated at all, the carpet is the cheapest stuff on the planet (no padding), it smells like cat & musk, half the walls are paneling.....I could go on, but you get the idea. It needs some work.

As me this question again AFTER Christmas :-)

...speaking of eating your placenta

my friend (the one who is all about taking her placenta home from the hospital) sent me this link. As I said before, some people eat it, some people throw it away, some people donate it.....then you have the rare person who turns it into a teddy bear?!?!?

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/placenta-teddy-bear-turns-heads/story?id=9043347

long weekend with my boy

Daycare was closed on Friday so I took a vacation day from work! Trent and I lounged around the house for a few hours (after getting an early start), before getting ready for the day. Once we were cleaned up and dressed we headed to the mall to do some exchanging, returning, and minor shopping. Miss Alicia and Mister Jude joined us on this little trip, and Jude got a few new pieces for his wardrobe as well. After shopping (which didn't take long) we grabbed lunch from the fancy new food court then split ways. I intended to go to JoAnn Fabrics and a few other places but Trent really needed a nap so we just went home. Once Kevin got home we all took a nice long nap (ahhh!) then headed over to the Kennedy house for a couple hours of good conversation. All in all it was a wonderful day off.

Needless to say Saturday felt like a Sunday, so when Sunday rolled around I was thrilled to NOT have work! Every weekend should be a long weekend.

We finally lowered Trent's crib!! FINALLY. He hasn't tried standing up in his crib (not that we know of, at least) but we knew it would be coming very very soon. So, Saturday night we went ahead and put it on the lowest setting. Don't you know, the very next morning Kevin found Trent sitting in his crib, and the morning after that I found him standing in it! I think it was the fact that it was lowered that helped him do these things (Megan said it was the same with Kayla), but I'm definitely glad we finally got that out of the way. Since I'm only 5'-0" it's pretty difficult for me to put Trent in the crib now....but what can you do. Even a tall person would have difficulty, I think.

Since Trent has been pulling himself up non-stop lately we decided to buy him a......well, i don't know what it's called. I guess it's alot like an old-person walker. Unfortunately it moves too fast for him on the hardwoods so I plan to play with it on the carpet upstairs and see how that goes. I will get a picture of it soon.

This walker thing doubles as a little.....well, i don't know what that part is called either - it's basically a thing for him to sit on and use his feet to push himself along - Flinstone-style. Here's a picture since my descriptions are terrible.

It's a cute little thing that makes non-intimidating lion noises.

toys

Alicia Asks: Now that Trent's getting a little older and starting to explore, what are some of his favorite things? Toys? Things around the house? has he started to get into things that he really shouldn't be getting into? have you had to really baby proof yet? In addition to what things Trent likes to play with, what do 'mommy and daddy' like to play with, with Trent? This might be the same answer, but I know there are some things I love and think are adorable that Jude could care less about.

Trent has very few toys right now - which is the way Kevin and I purposely have it. Kevin is more anti-toy than I am, however, I obviously agree with Kevin to an extent or else I would be buying toys left and right anyway. A couple weeks ago we were at BRU and Kevin took Trent over to the toy aisles. The plan was for Trent to show interest in a toy or two, and we'd buy it/them. Well, Trent was equally bored with each toy - so we left toyless. In the meantime, at home, Trent is still playing with the same toys he's been playing with for 4+ months. Right now his favorite toy is probably his blue putter. He bangs it on the floor, puts the end in his mouth, etc. He still shows some interest in his music table thing, and the bright colored shapes he got at Christmas time from Gore (thanks grandmom), but that's about it. He'll focus on some other toys but only for a minute or two before he moves on. Sometimes I feel like he needs new toys to keep him interested, but other times I wonder if he's just too distracted by the world around him to sit and play. His main interests right now seem to be climbing people, trying to stand, and crawl around. "Crawl around" includes finding new items (a.k.a. ANYTHING) to "play with" and chew on - be it a shoe, a hammer, Maggie's foot, Maggie's ear, paper of any kind, etc. Last night I removed a piece of dogfood from his mouth (thanks to Maggie - the dog who brings her food into the living room to eat).

I think our most favorite thing to do with Trent is try to make him laugh. There's just nothing better in the world!!

As far as baby proofing is concerned: we've padded the hearth, installed one baby gate, and moved all the chemical stuff that was stored under our sink to a high shelf. We plan to get tamper-proof receptacles for the living room and another baby gate for the stairs....and I might put padding on the corners of the coffee table as well. Oh, and we really need to lower his crib. He hasn't stood up in his crib yet, but I'm sure it's going to happen sooner than later.

yard sales

Today is our neighborhoods community yard sale. We decided not to partake in the yard sale on the selling end, but as shoppers. I hit the ATM early this morning then the 4 of us walked the neighborhood stopping at several houses. So many households were selling baby things...i was pleasantly surprised. The main item I was looking for was a beach cabana. I've been looking for a beach cabana lately but haven't had any luck (surprisingly) finding one in stores. I've only been able to find them online, but since our vacation is quickly approaching I didn't want to risk ordering one and it not arriving in time. You can imagine how pleased I was when I found this at the first sale we stopped at. It's smaller than I wanted, and it doesn't offer as much privacy as I'd like (since I planned to nurse Trent in it) but it was only $10 so what the heck. I'm not much of a haggler but I kind of wish I talked her down in price. She was only charging $10 for it (which is great compared to the $40 target charges and the $80 at some websites) but I think I could have gotten it cheaper. Oh well. The woman selling it struck me as a richy rich snob....obviously not rich, as she lives in MY neighborhood, but she was very snooty and actually said, "that tent is clutch for the beach". It was hard for me to not laugh at her. Who's uses the word "clutch"? It reminded me of that blond chick in Mean Girls who kept trying to make the word "fetch" catch on.


The next house didn't have many things, but everything they did have was only $1. I couldn't resist the Timberland's. They are a size 4m so they don't fit him right now, but I'm sure he will be in them before we know it. Hopefully during the colder months.

Also, for $1 each (a $30 value)

I purchased a few picture frames for $0.50 each. I plan to spray paint them black and use them for a little project I'm working on. nothing special.

The best purchase I made was on this Leap Frog Musical Table. It sells for $45 in stores but I got it for $5. At first I wasn't sure if I should buy it or not, so I called Chrissy to get her input. She said her boys love it so I went back and got it. As I said, I'm not much of a haggler but I went ahead and asked her if she'd be willing to sell it to me for only $5 instead of the $10 it was priced at. I was psyched when she said sure!

I got this sports center from the same lady for only $5 (a $30-ish value)

The most unnecessary purchase I made was this float for $4. We already have a brand new float that we plan to use at OBX this summer but I figured it might be nice to have a spare. I mean, what if one of them gets a hole, right?

I really was astonished at how much good stuff was out there. Toys, high chairs, travel systems, stroller, etc. I even saw 2 jogging strollers that looked to be in really good condition, but I looked right past them since I have a freebie coming my way....I just hope my coworkers pulls through.

first date

Christmas Day: very nice and pretty low-key. We relaxed around the house all morning and took our time getting ready for the rest of the day. Kevin made me breakfast! Our first stop was Mr & Mrs Woodlands house where everyone got so many great gifts. Kevin and I got an awesome baby food maker, a wii game, a bracelet & charm, etc etc. Trent got some diapers, wipes, toys and adorable outfits. I'll have to post pictures of Trent in two of the outfits he got once he grows into them. They are absolutely adorable.

After a few hours we headed to my parents house to exchange presents with my family and to eat dinner. There we got a gym membership (for me), another wii game, cookbooks, etc etc. Trent got more diapers, more outfits, and more toys. My favorite toy is this adorable plush rocking horse. When you pinch the horse's ear it makes horsey noises and the mouth moves. Unfortunately Trent won't be able to ride it anytime soon. Its for ages 2+

New Years Eve: We met some of Kevins family at Shady Maples Smorgasbord for an early dinner. Of course we arrived a little late but it ended up working in our favor. The restaurant didn't have a sling for the carseat and the place was so crowded that we really didn't have anyplace to put Trent. Luckily most of the family were just finishing up with their meals so Trent got passed around his great-aunts and great-grandmom allowing Kevin and I to eat. Thanks guys! After a while most of the family left giving Trent some time to spend with his grandparents. We got home probably around 9pm-ish and crashed. None of us were awake to see the ball drop but we were awake at approx 3am and again at 6am.

First Date: Today Kevin and I went on our first date since having the baby. We dropped Trent off to his grandparents (not as hard as I thought it might be) then went to the movies to see Bedtime Stories. Kevin and I had to compromise when deciding which movie to see; he wanted to see The Spirit and I was leaning more towards Doubt. In the end we decided to see Bedtime Stories and were pleasantly surprised. Overall it was an enjoyable Disney flick with some fun humor and a happy ending. Afterwards we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise for a late lunch/early dinner. We ordered a couple grown-up drinks, ate some ok food, and talked. It was a lovely day.

Ever since we got married Kevin and I have gone out for 'date night' on the 25th of every month and we plan to continue that tradition. We figure it will be good for us as a couple to have some alone time and I'm sure our families will enjoy spending a few hours with Trent