Jonny Jump up you are now my new best friend!

We decided it was time to buy a Jolly Jumper or as this one is so nicely named Jonny Jump Up. Rowan has started to want to stand and bounce but my arms and anyone else's can only hold up 15 lbs for so long before they need a break, in which he gets mad and starts crying. My sister said he'd probably love one so I went and bought one because I figured its cheaper then buying an exersaucer and it takes up less room in our apartment, always a bonus. He ended up loving it and its my new way of getting some time to do housework and wear him out for naps at the same time, two purposes in one!

When we were moving, our single bachelor friend Kelsey made the comment, "Do you guys think you have enough contraptions to cage a baby?" ha ha. We have a jonny jump up, baby pea pod, carseat, high chair, bumbo, crib. It made me laugh because I said to him well, not really my sister has what her kids affectionately call "The Baby Cage" which is this contraption . . . .The Super Yard XT!

Which not only keeps baby out of everything else but also protects her one year old daughter from her siblings. Although I've seen on many occasions when all three of her kids are in the baby cage playing with baby toys lol. Kelsey replied that's all you need then get rid of the rest and get the baby cage and have baby POW's forever more ha ha. I don't think there would be enough room in my living room for that thing though so we probably won't end up with anything like that any time soon.

Mommy Wow! I'm a Big Kid Now!

I know goofy title but I couldn't resist. Gavin has made the all too important step of using the POTTY! Woo hoo *Angels sing a chorus of Halleluah!* Oh wait that's only in my head. I am so happy and proud of my little man. We always call him Baby or Honey but he's no longer my little baby anymore, he's getting to be such a big boy. Along with this milestone his speech is picking up and he is getting to the age where things are "Mine, not yours" and "Hey gimme that" Boy is he gonna have a rude awakening in the next couple months when Rowan starts to sit up and be able to take away his toys. Sharing so far has been ok but when it hits that point oh I have a feeling the battle is on. We'll see. We're still working on the whole telling Mommy and Daddy when you have to go but so far if I take him every couple hours he doesn't have accidents anymore but still has yet to go dry for long periods at night. We'll get there. Yay Gavin! Going potty makes Mommy so happy, it means only one set of diapers to change now! Woo hoo!

Let Sleeping Babe's Lie

With the big move we've had a lot of trouble with sleeping schedule for Gavin. He's up a couple times a night I think a little disoriented as to where he is. As the days have gone though he's getting better, he was up once early this morning at around 6am probably because we have neighbors who's garage is under our bedrooms and leave at the wee hours of the morning in turn waking us up by opening their garage door (one of the down sides of this place). Yesterday in turn Gavin was pretty zonked, he was winy and tired and just about drove me nuts when it came to meal time because every bite was a battle. I made him some lunch of what he wanted and he wouldn't eat it without me helping him. Finally I left him to eat it on his own and was unpacking a box by the computer when I looked over and there on the dining room chair was Gavin curled up like babies sleep with their bum up in the air and their feet tucked under them. I thought for a second he was just playing around and I called out his name but no reaction. Is he asleep? I wondered. Sure enough he had curled up on the dining room chair and passed out like a kitten. I couldn't resist snapping a couple pics because it looked so hilarious. Poor guy had been up all night and was exhausted by 1:30pm. Here's the pictures.

The Big Move

This past Saturday we finished packing up our stuff and made the big move from our current townhome to a little bit smaller 4plex about a mile and a half down the road because our lease was up. As you saw in past posts I've been stressing the move for a while but surprisingly the move went really smoothly and we had a lot of help. The morning of the move I was up at 7am and finished doing the odds and ends packing really fast while Spencer called friends and family to make sure we'd have help. Spencer's good friend Kelsey, who he's known since middle school was the main hauler in the move. He always agrees to help and has amazing strength for looking at him he's really tall and slender. The one stipulation to him helping us is that we do it all in one day none of this two day crap, it's all or nothing is how he put it. He was there at 9:30 and Spencer and Kelsey hauled over the majority of the boxes in their cars while I finished packing up the little bits and peices. At around noon we went and got the truck and my mom and dad came and took the boys so that they'd be out of the way. My dad stayed and helped and our friend Brad Bates showed up to help also. Like I said the main hauler was Kelsey, he was really good at packing everything in the truck. My favorite was I asked him how he could get all of it into the truck so well and he said "Hmmm I just think Tetris, find a slot and put the peices in" ahhh the mind of a geek works so different then the rest of ours lol. My mother in law came to help with her van earlier too I forgot to mention that and she bought a few foot long subs for us to eat before we started packing the truck, she was also a big help but couldn't lift some of the heavy stuff and I couldn't either so we both decided to be wusses and leave the real lifting to the men. By about 1:30 to 2:00 our friend's Jay and AC met us over at the place for the last big haul of stuff from the truck to the apartment up the stairs and filling the garage which was a big help another set of hands goes a long way. I stood back and directed traffic and showed the "men folk" where to put the boxes.

On monday we went over to the old place and cleaned til we almost passed out and then cleaned some more. We finished that by about 3:30. I hate moving, like so much! But in the long run I believe we will be able to live in the new place a lot longer then the previous because our landlord isn't going to be jacking the price up by 150 bucks like our old place was. On Tuesday I was looking through unpacking boxes and wanted to make some hard boiled eggs (one of Gavin's favorites) and couldnt' find my pots anywhere it was driving me nuts. I finally thought "oh no, did we check the dishwasher?" I called up Spencer and told him what had happened and luckily we hadn't turned in the keys to the landlord yet. On his way home from work he checked and sure enough the dishwasher was FULL of dishes, ALL of my pots, my pampered chef jug, plates, cups and utensils. I am so glad we caught this before the keys got turned in or I would be looking for a whole new set of pots. We are so greatful for everyone who helped! Now to finish unpacking, the easy part in my opinion!

Rowan speaks! News Reports This as a Record in the Beard House. . .

I've been trying to capture this on video for a while but as soon as Rowan sees me he stops and knows he's going to get fed so I grabbed the camera this morning and just stuck it in the bassinet and so that's why his face is half cut off and it's really dark because I couldn't see the view finder and if I tried he'd stop because he saw me. Rowan has been doing this every time he's hungry since he was about 3 months old, he instantly took to saying Mama over and over until he gets fed. We think we're going to have an early talker on our hands which is kind of foreign seeing as Gavin didn't really speak english until well 3 months ago or so. We'll see though, they say the second takes to things faster then the first because they watch their older sibling/siblings and copy so here's hoping. I could use an early talker after the frustration of trying to figure out what Gavin was saying in "Gavinese" lol.

All Aboard the Complain Train!

Ok so my older sister who's in a similar situation as I had a pity party the other day and today is turning out to be my turn. I am starting to pack for the big move in about 11 days and have yet to get to a box in my home. Seems like as soon as I start something the baby starts crying (he's teething really badly), Gavin needs to go potty every 5 mins and my brain and heart just isn't in it plus with no help from my husband it just seems so insurmountable by myself. I know I need to! This is the way my moves go every time, I leave it to last minute and when everyone comes to help us move, I'm scrambling to pack small things into boxes and it ends up taking all day long the day of the move to get everything over to the new place. We determined this time that we are going to rent a Uhaul which will help time wise with the move, now to just get the motivation. I slept like crap last night, I have been stressing which doesn't help with that. Did I mention my 4 month old is teething really bad and doesn't want me to put him down? Sometimes you just gotta let him cry is the comments I am going to get I know but when you're trying to think and concentrate on the task at hand the background music of a screaming baby gets my nerves and hackles up. It makes it hard to keep your cool.

I had my good cry and boarded the complain train now I feel better, time to take a breath and plunge in, wish me luck! I hope to come out victorious and with packed boxes.