Oh What A Night! - and not in a good way!

What a hot mess of a night! My hubs was on shift (24 hours)....I went shopping with a friend. To one store, I was gone an hour and a half TOPS. My Mom watched the kiddos for me. I got home at 7:15, and at 7:10 my mom sent me a text that said "both kids are sleeping. Cole just fell asleep, and Drew has been out for an hour, sorry" So you can imagine how my night went.

I couldn't sleep for some reason. Part of it probably in anticipation of my kiddos waking up....but they did pretty well. Drew woke up at 2am, ate and was back down by 2:30. I thought I was in the clear....still couldn't sleep..but the kids were doing well!

That is until 4am! Cole woke up and wanted a snack, and juice! I knew we were in trouble! He was wide awake. We watched 101 Dalmatians cartoon, and some Lilo and Stitch! Thank goodness for Disney Jr! By 4:20am Drew was up too! While holding Drew on my chest in an attempt to get him back to sleep, he spit up! All  over my chest which then rolled down my neck, and into my hair! Yummy! So off to the shower I go at 4:45am! It's now 9:00am and both are STILL awake!

My first kiddo for daycare arrived at 6:30am. I've been up since midnight! It's going to be a LONG day!

You can bet that my hubs has no sympathy for me! He got off his 24 hour shift at 7am, gets home at 7:30, changes uniforms and heads to another dept by 8:15am. I'm pretty sure he's not feeling sorry for me :)

 I'm just going to apologize now for my love of ecards. I find them pretty funny, and to be quite honest...I need something to fill up this post for today! A few of these stuck out this morning!! I totally posted my no sleep drama all night long on facebook. Yep, I'm one of  those people!

I just couldn't help it. This is pretty much how I feel about everyone I see today! I need a nap!!

And lastly, my disclaimer about my undying love for obnoxious ecards! Some of them I loooove but the language is horrible on them, and I just can't bring myself to post them. Gotta keep it clean! lol.

Ok, go on about your day.....I know your day is better now that you've read my post about absolutely nothing!  Now go pin some ecards! You know you think they're hilarious too! ;)

Celebrity Sightings Linkup

I'm really digging at the bottom of the barrel for this one! AND even better, I have no proof! But, here goes nothing.... At a Kenny Chesney concert about 9 years ago....after the show my friends and I met a guy named Nick...he was about the same age as us and played the violin aka the fiddle (to us country folk)  in Kenny Chesney's band. He liked us, and we liked him....so we actually hung out with him for a while! He was close to our age....we were 19-20. That summer we saw Kenny Chesney, 2 more times! lol. And yes....we found Nick each time! Did I mention he was pretty easy on the eyes as well?!? I'm sure you already picked up on that!

What's making this little story even better is that this is really not a celebrity! LoL. It's not like I was hanging out with Kenny Chesney. But hey, I'm trying here.


I met Ty Pennington from Extreme Home Makeover....and back in the day, Trading Spaces. It was short and sweet, just a little autograph session, and an intro. Nothing special, but he was cool. It was at a Home and Garden Expo. Pretty exciting stuff!! I actually do have a picture of this one.......somewhere : /

With me being from Ohio, we're NASCAR fans.....Well I was a bigger fan about 10 years ago, than I am now. But, I got Jeff Gordon's autograph who was then the love of my life. It was at a race in Bristol Tennessee. Do autographs count, as meeting? Well That's all I have to go with!


I would really love to have these awesome celeb stories...but I got nothin. And with celeb sightings this bad.....you know I'm not making this stuff up! LoL.

A Little Holiday Stress

I'm feeling it, it's coming.....slowly but surely! Holiday Stress!! I realized this morning that I have 10 gifts to buy before next saturday! Yikes! That's for 2 Christmas parties. Plus, just like our neighborhood does the "you've been boo'd" thing....now we're doing "you've been jingled" and guess who is starting it? Yep, this girl. Well unless someone beats me to it! Which at this point, is quite possible. Our outside lights aren't completely done yet, the inside of the house is still missing a few things....and Christmas shopping? Yeah, I haven't even started! We have over 20 people that we buy for "immediate family" and that isn't including each other, or our 2 children! It's quite a process. I'm not even going overboard either! This is just our nieces, nephews, parents, grandparents, and 2 cousins that are with us on Christmas morning! Crazy huh. Through all of this....I try my absolute hardest to not let the stress take away the true meaning of Christmas, and to keep sight of the reason for the season.

Do you do the Elf on the Shelf thing with your kiddos? We haven't until this year....but we are starting it TONIGHT! Cole will get a kick out of it! :)

We also have family pictures on saturday. We are wearing black and red. Original huh? Everyone has something to wear except me! I am wearing red. How is it possible that I have no red, it's one of my favorite colors? I'm confused. There was a time that probably 85% of my closet was red! And so....this adds to my stress! I want some of the stuff I pin to just magically show up in my closet....so when I need things.....poof there they are....accessorized with shoes, jewelry, handbags....the whole 9 yards! That would be amazing.

Yep, that would be perfect. If only it were this easy right? Ho hum.

I plan on staying home all evening tonight, and making a dent in the good ole "to-do list". Let's hope I have this much energy by the time I actually get to come out of the dungeon daycare!

Pet Peeves

I've mentioned before that I did go to college, and yes I graduated....and yet I still work in my basement. Well, that's by choice :) Anyway, I have never mentioned what my degree is in. I have a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies with a concentration in Family Life Education. Basically what all that means, is that I could be similar to a social worker....but without the LSW which limits the possibilities for many jobs (prob why I work in the basement) I could also work in the schools, which is the direction I had planned on going. I can teach parenting classes, family life classes, stuff like that. I also have a minor in English. The first 2 years I took all the classes necessary to be an English teacher. What was I thinking?? I couldn't take any more literature classes or I was going to poke my eyes out!! I couldn't do it anymore. I had already taken enough classes to make it a minor, so I did.

You're probably wondering....if you didn't like literature, why in the world were you going to be an English teacher? Good question. I love other parts of English. Weird huh? I love to write stories, I love to read, I love to pick apart other peoples uses of common words! I enjoy commas very much as well! I'm a huge dork when it comes to this stuff! Which is funny, because I know my blogs are usually very poorly written. Mistakes everywhere, sentences that make no sense, spelling errors, etc. Anyway...do as I say, not as I do, right? 

This brings me to my title today. Pet Peeves!!! After just glancing at Facebook this morning, I saw so many things I just wanted to slap people for!! Yes, I have a problem!! Ok, lets practice:

To: Ex: I am going TO the store.
Too: Ex: You can come TOO
Two: Ex. I have TWO sons

See what I did there? TOO means also people!!! Come on!!!

Their: That book is THEIRS
There: Lets go over THERE
 They're: THEY'RE: coming with us

Ohh this is just the tip of the iceberg for me!!

I really hate this kinda thing: I seen you at the store. Really?? You seen me? What part of that sounds remotely intelligent?? You didn't seen me....you saw me! AHHH I cannot stand that!!! People should really read things back to themselves before posting! good grief! Here is another of my faves " We was just there yesterday" Aaaahhhhh!!!! Listen to that sentence! That cannot sound right to them.....can it?

Not only do I enjoy being the grammar police, spelling drives me nuts as well!! Common mispelled words I see are.....having, bought, awesome. This is what shows up on my newsfeed: haveing,baught, awsome. These are just a few!! I could go on! I won't even get into words being used in the wrong context! Well, I lied. I do have to give you one example because to me, it's a real gem. "Never take your friends for granite" oh really? like the countertop? that's just AWSOME! 

If you aren't seeing all these mistakes and more on your facebook newsfeed......I believe I need to look into getting some new friends! Apparently mine missed english/grammar class A LOT! That reminds me....A LOT is two words people! I just can't stop! It's a disease.

Ok, now go ahead. Find every mistake I've ever made when writing this blog. I've earned it. GO!

Yes, I'm very much aware that I need to get a life!

Our Weekend

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!! I know I did!! The best one I've had in a long time. I enjoyed some serious family time! :) I learned to play "spoons" a game my family has played for years, but I've never joined in before. Until Thanksgiving! I had a blast! I'm horrible, but it was lots of fun!! If you don't know what spoons is...google it, and then play it! Good times!

We spent Thursday-Sunday at my parents lake house, about an hour and a half from home. We survived a lot easier than I thought we would! It was nice not making the drive home again after Thanksgiving dinner. We didn't do much friday. But Saturday, we were busy busy! It was the Ohio State vs. Michigan game, and of course we won! GO BUCKS!! :) Then we went to the Christmas Parade, and Candy Land after at the town square to see Santa.

We watched the parade in style! From the upstairs of a building down town....it was 28 degrees outside! My dad has connections, so he hooked us up! It was nice not freezing our tails off!! After, the parade we walked to the town square for Candy Land. That was a little chilly....but not too bad! We had my cousins daughter with us for the festivities. Cole and McKenzie love hanging out together!

Cole and McKenzie waiting for the parade to start. I swear he's not picking his nose! Poor guy has chapped lips and keeps picking at them! He did it right as I snapped the pic, and was not cooperating for another picture, so we just have to deal ! :)

                                                     Drew watching the parade with Daddy.

     The 4 of us....I hate taking pictures with myself in them :( but sometimes ya gotta do it!

Cole all bundled up for Candy Land!! Behind him under the browns blanket.....is Drew! LoL. He has his own little baby cave to keep warm in!! We got home yesterday (sunday) about 1:00. Finished the Christmas tree, and started the outside lights. We're not quite finished with those yet! You know the drill, lights won't work, cords not reaching, husband cussing. Merry Christmas! LOL.....Happy Monday Blog Friends!!

Thanksgiving Eve

I changed my blog all around, and added a background, new fonts, etc....and OF COURSE, the darn thing isn't showing up right! I thought it may just be my computer, so I tried the hubs.....yep, still NOT working! When I check it, the stuff I changed is all there....just not showing up! Grrr. So bare with me as we have a giant page of white, which I can't stand!

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving Eve!! We will be traveling of course.....thurs-sun! This should be interesting. I'm soooo ready for a break. I need it.

I've been trying to keep up with my thankful posts on facebook, but I've missed a few. So basically here's what it boils down to:

I'm thankful for my beautiful boys, my hubs, my parents, my family, my daycare kiddos, and all the blessings we have in our life! We are very fortunate, and I try not to let myself forget that!

Last night Cole, and I made turkeys out of oreos to take to our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow! The icing is pretty sloppy, but if anyone asks, I'll just blame Cole! haha

We will be leaving on our little adventure tomorrow morning, so tonight will be spent packing so that I don't have so much to do tomorrow! I will stress, the hubs will piss me off, the kids will be going crazy, and that makes for an unhappy trip! lol. So I'm trying to prevent that! Let's hope I'm successful at getting A LOT done tonight!!
                                                                     Happy Thanksgiving!!

Turkey Trot Linkup

I'm doing the Turkey Trot Linkup today!!

1. What do you look forward to the most? The food, the football, or the parade?
The food!! Love my grandma's mashed potatoes!!




2. What is your favorite non-traditional Thanksgiving dish?
I'm about as non-traditional as you can get on Thanksgiving! I'm not a big turkey fan....I love HAM! and my family does both so I lucked out there!


3.After dinner is it football, or nap?
Neither, we usually play games! I am a mad gab champ! My whole family plays euchre except ME!


4.Do you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? What is your favorite float?
It's always on....but we travel on Thanksgiving so I don't get to watch the whole thing! I see bits, and pieces. I don't have a favorite!


5.Where do you celebrate and eat your big meal? Who is there?
My aunts house in my hometown (about an hr and a half away). My immediate family, and extended family all come. All together we have about 20 people! It's a good time ! :)


6.What is your favorite turkey day dessert?
Hmmm....I'm going to go very traditional here, and say pumpkin pie!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

TGIF, Ready For Some Relaxation!

One of the kiddos I watch requested today to be Pajama Day! Who am I to argue?? So today is pajama day. But, I gotta say....it makes me a little tired! haha. I just wanna go back to bed! The kiddos look adorable though :)


I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad it's friday! It's been a rough week! I'm exhausted in all different ways, the kiddos are acting like it's a full moon, and things are just going crazy around here it seems. I'm happy that next week is only a 3 day week. I think we all need a little break from eachother ! :) On a good note, we got all the toys sorted, and got some things organized that needed it badly. So I'm happy about that! I'm really lacking blog topics lately as well, in case you haven't noticed!



Tomorrow my boys and I are heading to my hometown  (hr and half away) with my parents to visit my cousin and her twins who are home from California. We are then going to my other aunts to have an early Thanksgiving dinner with them....due to my cousin being deployed yet again to Afghanistan the day after the real Thanksgiving. Don't they know that's black friday?!!? geesh. He has a little girl 6 months younger than Cole, so my heart goes out to them. I can't even imagine. My hubs has to work, so he won't be joining us on our little trip. :( He was trying to get a shift trade, but it's looking like no one is available. Boooo Hoooo.



So since we are leaving in the morning, that leaves me tonight to go grocery shopping, and do laundry so that I actually have clothes to pack for the kiddos and myself. Poor planning on my part! I knew it would come down to this, and at the time I didn't care. Kicking myself now! And, I'm sure we will go out for dinner....we've been bad about that this week. Although I haven't eaten bad....just haven't cooked much!

Sunday, I'm planning on decorating for Christmas! I usually wait till after Thanksgiving but this year, we won't be home until sunday after Thanksgiving, and I'll be stressed unpacking, and getting ready for the week...so that will push us into the next weekend, and we just can't have that! So against Scrooges My hubs wishes, we will be decorating on Sunday! :)



I think I've rambled enough for the day! Happy Friday, Have a good weekend!!

10 Reasons Why I Love My Firefighter

Taking a page out of http://mfdwife-toohottohandle.blogspot.com/ and talking about 10 reasons why I love my Firefighter! It probably woudn't be a surprise for you to know that with the schedule my hubs works, there is lots of stress in our home, and we don't see him very much! So the communication is sometimes lacking, and a lot of times we don't see each other for a few days at a time! With 2 small kids, and one who doesn't sleep all night....we don't have much time together. So we do a lot of assuming in our house, and you know know what assuming does?!?! Makes an ass out of YOU and ME!  So just in case he didn't know......

10 Reasons Why I Love My Firefighter:

1. He makes me laugh. That's what attracted me to him in the first place. He was funny!

2. He's a good dad. Both boys are totally in love with him....they play and laugh and have a great time. Cole is always asking for him while he's at work now!

3. He would give us anything in the world if he could.....and if he can't...he still tries!

4. Hardworking. He's good at what he does, and he's not afraid to tell you that! :) He's been doing it a long time, enjoys it, and is successful at it!

5. He can be the tough on the outside, kind on the inside kind of guy if he wants to be, or when he needs to be....but very sensitive underneath it all! Maybe even more sensitive than me!

6. Never forgets a birthday, anniversary, sweetest day, valentines day,....Nothing! Even when I have forgotten sweetest day (because it's not real lol) he did not!

7. Teaches Cole new things everyday. Good things, and goofy things!

8. Not afraid to talk baby talk to Drew, and sing him songs that the world can hear! lol.

9. He's a big kid!

10. He loves me for me. He loves me even when I'm hard to love. He loves me through the weight loss/gain battle.  He loves me through being stressed out, overwhelmed, over- tired .

I'm thankful for him everyday, even though I don't tell him enough. Today, he's doing the second part of his Lieutenant test....so send him good vibes. He was a Lieutenant for 13 years at his old PT dept....but at his full time he's right in the middle for seniority, so it's a little bit of a different ball game. 2 big tests, you have to pass....place in the top 3, and then they pick 1 to be promoted. So even if he scores number 1, they don't have to pick him. Sucks huh. He's more qualified than even his captains....but like I said....seniority rules the world in the fire service. So good luck to him today.....and hopefully all his hard work pays off!!

Baby Woes

Hey guess what.....Drew slept like crap last night. SURPRISE!!!! I know you are all shocked! For the past 3 nights it has been worse than usual! WHAT. IS. UP? I kinda wanna take him to the Dr for the 3, 127th time this month to see if he has an ear infection....but he's cutting a few teeth so my hubs says leave it alone. Hmmm....Mama always knows best, guess he doesn't know that! Take Drew to the Dr or not to take Drew to the Dr, that is the question!


Babies are hard. They can't tell you what's wrong, and if you have one with some issues than it's even harder! Lots of moms tell me I'll miss the baby stage.........ummm I love my baby to pieces but I will not miss the baby stage! I don't miss it with Cole, I won't miss it with Drew! Maybe I'm missing that chromosome or something!

So my questions today are what else can I do to make this baby sleep all night?!?! Heck, at this point I don't even care about all night, just a few hours at a time!!! He's gotten worse at sleeping! The past 3 nights have been HORRIBLE!!!

I feed him baby food 4 times a day, plus his bottles. Although he has cut way back on his bottles. Not sure why, and it's not from lack of trying! I make them, he just doesn't really want them. Good, I guess....IF HE SLEPT AT NIGHT.

He's a sweet little guy, always happy, never throws a fit....just doesn't sleep!! AHHH!! :)

He'll be 8 months old on saturday! I can't believe it, but then again I can. Does that make sense? It's been a long 8 months in some ways. Like with sleeping. Not sure if I've mentioned that Drew doesn't sleep all night?!?! :)

Anyway.....I'll take whatever tips or advice you have! Benedryl punch? WHAT?!?! Actually he does take an antihistimine called Atarax at night for his allergist (prescribed by his allergist) and it's supposed to help them sleep....yeah, not my kid!

Totally off topic, but so cute I have to share. On saturday morning I was sweeping the floors in the kitchen and dining room, Drew was in his exer-saucer in the kitchen, and Cole was running around playing. He looks at me and says "Mommy, Drew dropped him Teetha" I said, his what? Cole says "him teetha"....ohhh his "teether" his little ring he chews on. I thought it was cute....my little new yorker....who lives in Ohio?! Ahh well, still cute :)

Random things on my mind!

First, I saw this on Pinterest and now I MUST do it! So add that to the "Honey-Do-List"

Great thing is my steps are set up just like this....so that's right. I'm makin it happen! Well, my hubs is gonna make it happen lol.

Ok, on to other randomness: Something keeps biting me!!!! No, we are not dirty and do not have bugs, or do we?? I'm the only one who keeps getting bit! I wake up with new bites every morning! We don't have bed bugs....trust me I've looked into it! But, good grief! I guess I should be happy no one else is getting bit, but I'm getting really sick of this! We don't have pets, so fleas aren't an option. What the heck is going on around here?!?!

The past 2 nights, I haven't been able to sleep well...and Drew has been even worse at sleeping. I haven't been feeling the greatest. I can't pinpoint it....just feeling weird. My stomach has its ups and downs, and I'm having lots of acid reflux issues. I'm not sure what's going on with that either. I'm just falling apart, lol. My hubs is home tonight, so hopefully we all get a good nights sleep!

I'm having an issue in my daycare that I can't really go into detail about until I "fix it" but it's bugging me. I don't like confrontation, I don't like hurting peoples feelings, and I basically don't like to deal with anything that doesn't involve sunshine, rainbows, and everyone pretending getting along. Things bug me of course, but I have a real hard time confronting people about it, or bringing up issues that aren't exactly pleasant. Not just with my daycare, with everything. But, esepcially my daycare! You have never seen pissed off till you have to discuss someone elses child! Which I totally get. So stay tuned for that because, right now I honestly don't even have a plan! lol. I'll be staying tuned to find out what happens as well!!

With that said.....I should probably go try to be productive. I would rather go back to bed! HA!

THINKING about Christmas Shopping

Cole is 3 1/2 and this year he's VERY aware of all the toy commercials on TV! So far the one thing he must have, and can't live without is the batcave. So ok, there is 1 gift.....as for the others, I have no idea! The kid has EVERYTHING!!!!! no joke! We are those parents who buy their child something every single time we're at the store! Pathetic, I know. So far his toys have taken over what used to be our office....and now we've even started putting toys in our 4th bedroom! IT'S. OUT. OF. CONTROL. So I'm trying to think more outside the box.....get him gifts he'll love, but that aren't all cars, trucks, etc. He loves books, movies, starting to get into action figures a little bit.....but as far as doing his whole Christmas on these few small ideas....I might be in trouble!

                                           This is the batcave he wants. Crazy thing is $50! WHAT?!?!

This is our first year with two children at Christmas! Drew will be 9 months old when Christmas rolls around. I have a few ideas in mind for him. But the obvious first Christmas presents like a music table, riding toys, or one of those training walkers that you push.....yeah we have all that! I don't want to buy them over again....but I do feel guilty that we use a lot of the stuff we already have for Drew. Crazy? So I've seen a few toys that my little Drew is going to need for his First Christmas, and he'll get some clothes too I'm sure!

Drew totally needs this!! Always wanted one for Cole, and never bought one....then he got too big!

So my question is.....How much is too much? My husband tells me I go overboard for Christmas every year! I don't know how much I spend, and I don't know when to stop. I just shop. Where do you draw the line? Is there a method to this madness??

                    A little hard to see....but there are presents clear back to the wall! This was last year.
                                                         So maybe I have a little problem




Now, don't get the wrong idea. My kiddos know the meaning of Christmas...well Cole does. It's not just a Santa thing in our house. We are church-goers....and not just at Christmas lol. Cole understands why we are celebrating, however....we do the Santa thing as well. We drive around and look at the lights probably 5672 times before Christmas comes, we listen to Christmas songs in the car, we watch Christmas movies in the car.....we got it going on! (Not yet though, I'm weird about that) Not until after Thanksgiving. It's supposed to be in the 60's here in Ohio this weekend....so I'm sure I'm going to see some Christmas lights start going up. I'm ok with that.....just not on my house! :) So right now we're THNKING about Christmas shopping, but haven't actually started yet. Usually don't even start till after Thanksgiving! We may need a headstart this year with 2 kids!!

That Weird Feeling

Do you ever have that weird feeling that someone just doesn't like you? No matter what you do, things come out wrong, you do stupid things...everything? Once you've made that first impression and feel like that person doesn't like you, it seems to go all down hill from there!

One of Cole's preschool teachers (he has 3) hates me gives me a bad vibe! To be honest, at the parent meeting when we first met the teachers, I wasn't thrilled with her either! Maybe she sensed that? She's older, and just very ummmm......matter-of-fact? Let's just say if you saw her on the street you wouldn't think she taught preschool. I may be stereo-typing a little, but it's the truth.

I feel like everything I do, she thinks I'm "that parent" the mom who is over the top. Well, I may be but I want what is best for my son! Cole has taken snack to school twice now. The first time I put all the snacks in little treat bags, this time I just sent two boxes of graham crackers, and a gallon of juice because I was afraid the teacher would be annoyed with me! lol.

Last week his class had a field trip to the fire station. Well, as you know....we know a lot about fire stations! Cole wanted to go anyway, so we did. Of course we know a lot of the guys who work there. The one who gave us our tour, happened to go to high school with me, works with my hubs part time,  and I babysit his daughter everyday! We had just saw him an hour before our tour when he dropped his little girl off to me! So of course he talked to Cole and I a lot. He talked about my hubs to the kids, he talked about Cole to the kids....and the whole time I felt like the teacher was thinking "blah blah blah, Cole's dad is a firefighter, blah blah blah! Made me feel super uncomfortable! To the point that when we were looking at the trucks, I started having Cole let all the other kids go ahead of him because he sees the trucks all the time. I shouldn't have to punish my kid because your mean teacher is watching me! Who cares if he's seen them before, he still loves firetrucks!

So then yesterday, when my mom was picking Cole up from school she said he was on the playground in his coat, but not his hat. So I sent a note today asking the teachers to please help him get his hat on before going out to play each day. I'm sure I'll hear about this one too!! We live in Ohio the temp is in the 30's...I don't think I'm being too dramatic here! Ugh.

I just hate the feeling that she can't stand me! It may be in my head.....but I doubt it! She's definitely not my biggest fan! I don't think there is a way to fix it, because I'm not going to stop being the parent I am, just to make some crotchity old lady happy!! LOL. When you're caring for my son....I expect you to watch over him just as I would. Guess she's just going to have to deal with it! If she were smart, she'd know that my mom is the one she better not piss off,  not me! lol

Bedtime Bootcamp Success?

If you've ever read anything I've posted, you know that my kids are NOT good sleepers! With Cole.....first baby, stupid Mommy. I didn't even try to move him to his crib till he was 4 months old, he still didn't put himself to sleep and he was NOT having the crib! He ended up sleeping with us until he was 10 months old! My sister-in-law then suggested we put a mattress on his floor in his bedroom. At that point I thought....I'll try anything! It worked! So until he was a little over 1 he slept on a mattress on his floor. Classy huh? Then we converted the crib right past the toddler bed stage, and into the full size bed. We didn't put the box springs on, just the mattress so it was low for him. At then at about 2 1/2 we put the box springs on with a bed rail. So basically Cole has slept in a full size bed since he was 10 months old! However, he still doesn't put himself to sleep. We lay with him till he falls asleep.

Poor Drew....after my mistakes with Cole....Drew went to his crib at 4 WEEKS not MONTHS. He still falls asleep with a bottle at night, so he doesn't put himself to sleep yet either...but I WILL get him to! He still wakes up to eat at night, so we feed him, and put him back in his crib! No co-sleeping for that guy!


Anyway, Cole's sleeping has been a nightmare challenge from the beginning. He has recently decided that he no longer needs to nap. So he terrorizes my daycare at nap, and then when we go upstairs in the evenings he's crashing on the couch and napping till like 7:30! Ummmm NO. Then he won't go to bed until sometimes after midnight. Then not waking up till 8, and needs to leave for preschool at 8:30 three days a week! A vicious cycle, we are all exhausted from. Not to mention, this is not ok for a 3 year old! Not healthy for him. I never have any time to myself, or my hubs when Cole isn't going to bed till late. We are all angry by that point ! lol.

So I thought, we need to fix this and fix it now! So I began on Monday. Cole didn't nap......ok great. Well when we went upstairs from daycare that evening I played and played and played with him. When I was feeding drew dinner, I had cole come over and do flash cards with me. I gave him tons of jobs to do, and then took them both up for a bath together. The object of this game was to not give him the opportunity to fall asleep. It worked! Drew fell asleep at 8:15 so I put him in bed....(with the time change he's been going down an hour earlier, works for me!) and then Cole and I went to his room to read books. At 8:40, I stopped reading and turned the lights off. He was out by 8:50! HOLLA!!!! and this was all while my hubs was on his 24 hour shift, so I was pretty proud of myself. (he works 24 hours every third day) Yesterday, we went to dinner with Randy's dad....didn't get home till 8, so I was dreading that our schedule had ALREADY been messed up in one day! but.....we pulled it off. Drew was asleep by about 8:50, and Cole at 9:12 EXACTLY...yes I timed him! lol. So fingers crossed.....that this no napping thing, early bedtime approach will continue to work. Both nights I've been in bed by 9:30, and I'm proud of it!! LOL

Any bedtime tips for me?

FINALLY!!!!!!!

Finally after months of trying to figure out why no one could respond to my comments via email, I've GOT IT! Just an FYI, if you are using blogger through your google account, odds are you are using your google profile as well, NOT blogger. So when you look at all these little tutorial instructions on how to change and edit your settings....you are not going to see the pages, and links that the tutorial is showing! Took me 3 months to figure this out! lol. You must FIRST change your account to where you are using blogger profile (which if you're like me, you don't have one yet) and THEN you can allow your email address to show and all that jazz. Good grief, I feel like I've conquered the world today! Now if I could figure out how to use links in my blog I would thank Holly, and Amy for not calling me an idiot  helping me through this!

I can go to sleep tonight feeling productive now! Yes, I have been trying to change that one measly little setting for months! I agree, I may need a hobby or 6. Whew, glad that's over!! :)


Anyway.....This weekend my little guy Drew moved his 21.8 pound self to a big boy carseat! He's 7 and a half months, in 18 month clothes, and just huge!

I also had an excellent shopping experience that I am so excited about! Cole needed a new winter coat. He is no longer in toddler sizes!! WHAT?!?! that went so fast!! Anyway...I always buy his coats at Osh Kosh. They had their coats for 50% off and and I had a coupon of 20% a purchase of $40 or more....so we went shopping. I got his coat (reg $80) and hat (reg $24) for $48!!! I was so happy! My hubs....eh he didn't jump up and down in the store like I did. Lame.

I also had a baby shower for my cousin this past weekend. She's having a little girl in January. So I did this pinterest inspired "bedtime basket" for her. I love shopping for little girls. But, if I had girls I totally wouldn't know where to start! There is just so much!!!

No school today due to it being election day, and lots of us vote in the school, so I have a ton of kids! Let me just say that I would rather be poor, than have this many kids EVER again! (12) LoL. Hope you all voted today!! Happy Tuesday!

Reality TV Junkie!

I love TV, not even going to try to say that I don't. I have it on constantly, even when I'm busy doing other things. It's just background noise. It's always on! Sometimes, well most of the time it's probably NickJr or DisneyJr that's on...but regardless, it's on! When I finally get to bed at night, that's when I finally get to watch some of  "my shows".My night time ritual is that I lay in my bed, play on my phone or kindle, and watch re-runs of Everybody Loves Raymond on TVland. Actually, I watch TVland all night long. I leave the tv on all night, can't sleep without it! I end up watching old episodes of Home Improvement in the middle of the night while feeding Drew, or an old episode of Roseanne. (love roseanne, but not the later episodes.)

In one of the episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond....Ray is talking about how he can say anything to Debra, as long as it puts it in a "sing-song" kinda voice. So of course his buddies start daring him to say things to her in that tone. The first few names work, and she answers without even really noticing what he has said. But the big challenge is that the guys tell him to call her "smelly tramp" He does.....and this time.....she notices! It's a funny episode.

That whole scenario reminds me of my little Drew. He can be screaming and crying.....and as long as I clap my hands, and say whatever, in a sing-song kinda voice....he starts laughing! Cracks me up....and makes me think of Everybody Loves Raymond lol. He did this, this morning....which is what brought all these random thoughs about tv to me. lol

 I'm addicted to reality tv, and old sitcoms. Guilty pleasure! :) I could probably find some aspect of my life to compare to each show I watch as well. My hubs tells me I watch smut. I guess he's calling The Real Housewives of any city, smut?!! nah couldn't be. :) I am proud to say that I have never watched, nor plan to watch a single episode of Jersey Shore. But, if you're talking about....Keeping up with the Kardashians, Khloe and Lamar, Duck Dynasty, Billy the Exterminator, The Real Housewives of  New Jersey, RH of Beverly Hills, RH of Atlanta, Breaking Amish, Married to Jonas, Long Island Medium, Honey Boo Boo, Little People Big World, 19 Kids and Counting, Storage Wars....and probably a few I'm forgetting...then yes, I watch them!

I DVR most of them, and am weeks and weeks behind....and some I just watch when they are on and I have a second....but let's just say that I watch enough to know what's going on in each of them. Do I have a problem?? ohhh and yes I watched every episode of Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2, and 16 and Pregnant! lol. wow....maybe I do watch smut?  But come on....some of those shows I listed are not smut! Billy the Exterminator?? I don't know, I just love him for some reason! 

I'll basically watch anything to avoid watching another episode of Team Umi Zoomi, or Dino Dan! What are some of your favorite shows?