Naptime Blog

Oh, GOODNESS. At the South Florida Fair, they had a “Beautiful Baby” pageant that my friend told me about. She has a daughter a little bit younger than Shaughn and suggested we go up there and give it a try. What an experience! We got there at 10am, all registered and ready to go. I think we actually walked up on the stage for our age category at like 11:30am. Now sitting in the heat, with at least 100 kids walking around, screaming, becoming restless, it starts to take it’s toll on my friend’s daughter and my son. Let the meltdowns begin. Shaughn & Ava definitely were not like the other kids who were in full out combatant mode, but they weren’t so pleasant either. We think since we are in the last group of 8 contestants to go, that perhaps we will have the lasting impression with the judges. Right, not so much. We go up there and it’s chaos. Other parents are letting their toddlers walk all in front of us, then instead of grabbing their kid and perhaps going to their place, the parents just stop right in front of us completely blocking us and our kids who are standing in the correct position. Needless to say, I don’t think the judges even saw our children. I’m not just saying this because I’m favoring them…. but we have some pretty good looking children! Anyhow, here’s to a future of pageant mom-ing. NOT.

-Krystle

Well, Shaughn is walking!!!! Finally finally! He is just the cutest little thing, too. He walks great, but he still does not have 100% confidence. My husband and I laugh because he kind of looks like a zombie from a movie when he walks across the house. You can tell he is equally as excited to be finally walking as we are. When he wants to go to his toy box, he looks at it from across the way, stands up, and makes a go for it! I’m so proud of him and knew he could do it, but I guess just like with the crawling, he had to be ready for it. It had to happen on his own time, and that maybe he was just pretty lazy! He knows know that in order to go outside to walk around with either daddy or myself, that me must wear his shoes. The first couple of times he would stand at the door and cry, then cry even more when we tried to put his shoes on, but now he associates the shoes with going out, so he sits there and lets us put them on with no problems. Of course now he has other issues with us, he dislikes having his diaper changed. Something we have done numerous times per day EVERY DAY of his life, and NOW he has a problem with it. He’d rather just be naked…and well.. we all know nothing good comes out of a naked baby running around!

-Krystle

Since we were up North for Christmas, we celebrated with my family down here afterwards. My mom asked what Shaughn wanted for Christmas and of course, I don’t know what to say. I suggested anything educational that would teach him, until I spotted a $20 drum set for toddlers. I am not forcing music upon my child but he certainly seems interested in anything that makes noise. He has this really nice KidiJamz keyboard that he plays alot, and his Leap Frog Learn & Groove Drum and Maracas keep him very entertained. He likes beating the lids of my pots and pans with spatulas so I figured this would be a gift he would surely enjoy. My mom got it for him and he definitely loves it. My husband set it up for him while still at my parents house and he immediately started banging away with his drum sticks. It’s as if it came naturally to him, I swear. At least one time a day he crawls over to his drums and plays for a few minutes all by himself. When he’s done with that, he gets out of his chair and goes about to the next activity which is usually another musical toy. He’s starting up his own band! So far it’s a band of us three and we had needed a vocalist until today, when Shaughn grabbed the microphone connected to the keyboard and sang into it WHILE pressing the keyboard keys. We have to schedule a tour soon lol!

 

-Krystle

Wouldn’t you know it, the brand name is Great Value too! Why name such a wide variety of product by this name? Right, because that’s exactly what it is. Wal-mart’s “Great Value” brand have been rapidly expanding putting their versions of MANY, and I do mean many, every day products on the shelves. They’ve got almost everything out there. Bread, frozen pizzas, cereal, cheese and so much more. You save so much money buy purchasing the store brand versions of your favorite meals and ingredients. You great great quality for a great price, you can’t beat that. For instance, due to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, a lot of people did their part and donated with whatever they could. We are tight with money but instead donated three huge bags of old clothes, mostly children size. In addition, I wanted to include some canned foods, anything I could spare to help others in need, so I went to Walmart and purchased a lot of canned vegetables and other non perishable items. The only thing I did was make sure it was the Great Value brand since we are satisfied using their products. We were able to get a decent amount of food on a small budget. Doing things like this, helping a good cause, and seeing others come together makes me feel so positive in knowing that we, and myself, did something that makes a difference in the world, something that will be sent over there and will help the children and adults is because of  us. That feels awesome. I wish I could have done more, but I am thankful that I did as much as I could thanks to the help of the Great Value brand.

Krystle

All day today, my son has had a pink/red left eye. It looks like he could have scratched it or irritated it by messing with something in his eye but I don’t know! My husband said he woke up like that and has been rubbing it quite often throughout the day. Great. I sure hope its not pink eye. There’s nothing “crusty” about his eye which I know is usually a good sign of it, well at least not yet. I do believe there was a time where I had to give him eye drops for something like that many months ago, I can’t remember. I still have not fully regained my memory from pregnancy and that’s a fact! I used to remember everything, literally. In the beginning of my pregnancy it started to fade and I had noticed it. Towards the end, I was forgetting what I had eaten for lunch that day and it seems that it has only gotten worse, is that possible?! I can’t remember what people tell me, can’t remember when I last did something, can’t remember something I was supposed to do that night… all of it! Is there any natural over the counter product that I can use to increase my memory skills? I’ve tried those DS games, Brain Age, or whatever it is called and I failed hard at that. I read about Ginseng and those positive results but I can’t differentiate half the time between what REALLY works and what is a gimmick. I only want information from people who have seriously tried it and saw great results. Now what was I talking about in this blog before, I forgot….Oh that’s right, hope it’s not pink eye!

Krystle

As I have talked about before, my son is very opinionated and now tries to explain himself in baby talk. When I try to cut his nails he kicks and screams then just repeats his same noises as if he’s telling me why it’s a bad time to cut his nails or explaining his general thoughts on the situation. When he stops babbling I start to talk and tell him it’s okay and that everyone needs their nails cut. Sure he cannot understand what I am saying but talking to him calmly and telling him what’s going on seems to work. Well, at least half the time it works. The other half he is completely dedicated to the fact that he does not want them cut and that’s that. End of story. He chooses what he wants to eat, before he would eat everything you put out there, veggies and all. Now he’s very particular about what veggies he eats and it has to be on his watch. He still loves his green beans, sweet potatoes and peas but now he seems hesitant on carrots, corn, and broccoli. I hope it is a phase for him but we still praise him and eat veggies along with him so that he knows we enjoy it…which is actually not the case haha!  As he gets older he just voices his thoughts more and more, and I know he gets frustrated because we can’t understand him or can’t figure out what the ONE item in a huge toy box he’s pointing to saying “This? this? this?” But one day I’ll get it, kid! I promise. How have you learned to communicate better with your toddler?

-Krystle

Hubby and I decided to spend New Year’s Eve at home this year. We were
out and about last year but opted to stay in. It’s different being a
parent because you consider a lot more factors before doing things and
going place. Sure, we could go out and be responsible adults, and decide
who will be designated driver, but then we think about the people who go
out and party but aren’t responsible when it comes to transportation and
decide to get behind the wheel therefore putting all others at risk. I’m
not saying that we’re going to avoid night outings but maybe ones that
are known to associate more with drinking. Reading stories about car
crashes involving drunk driving or any other substance that impair
judgement is heart breaking, especially when it also involves an
innocent person or worst, an entire family. The only thing we can all
ask of anyone is to just be responsible and think of all the lives you
would affect by making a wrong judgement. I didn’t want to sit here and
write a depressing blog, so sorry! I do hope that all who read this had
a wonderful evening and have a great year ahead of you all. If you made
any resolutions to better yourself, good luck!

Krystle Hayes

My hubby and I decided to gather the gift cards we received for Christmas and put them towards some thing that could benefit the both of us this year and decided to get a Wii along with the Wii Fit Plus. After hearing the positive reviews from some friends and my family, we were determined. We walk into Best Buy where they have an entire Wii mountain made out of the consoles, and quickly put it in our cart…not that we had to rush or anything, they weren’t going to sell out! Shaughn spots the blue and yellow balloons tied to the end of each aisle and decided that he absolutely needs one and starts pointing, babbling, and raising his arms. As we walk towards the Wii accessories and games, away from all these balloons, Shaughn starts crying and yelling, all understandable at first, but then it gets louder. I’m trying to talk to him and show him all the other neat things we’re standing next to, which is completely at the other end of the store, and he is still pointing up crying. He did calm down and stop a few minutes later but I was so confused on what to do besides telling him “no” firmly and shortly explain, even though he does not understand, that he could not have the balloons because they belonged at the store. It worked, so that was good. I didn’t want to be the couple in the store who has that crying tantrum throwing child! Anyhow, the Wii Fit Plus is GREAT. We’ve done it yesterday and today and can literally feel our muscles aching. It is such a sensitive balance board and can feel your EVERY move, and I do mean every. It corrects your posture, works on balancing, and keeps you moving! Maybe this will finally be the one tool in our lives that can actually help us lose weight but allow us to have fun at the same time. I got nothing but high hopes. Do you have a Wii Fit or any other product to help keep you motivated while losing weight?

-Krystle

We made the drive north to good ol Palatka, Fl on Wednesday the 23rd for a party that night to visit with and spend time with other family members that we probably wouldn’t see during the remainder of our trip. My husband has a very large, and quite confusing, family. I must have asked him over 10 times to explain all the connections! Either way, they’re all great and wonderful people to be around so I enjoy spending time with them. I also love how they all show so much affection for our son. I know for a fact that Shaughn will have a great upbringing with all of us there to love and support him, and that makes us feel good :). After nearly 2 years of marriage, I finally got my wedding rings as a Christmas gift and my, are they beautiful. Opening presents was a fun time, everyone smiling as we all tore apart wrapping paper to discover what goodies we received. My sister in law, who is also a fellow “Twilighter” got me this extremely comfortable Jacob Black blanket, I love it! One of our good friends from the military drove down from Tennessee to spend Christmas with us all as well, and he had a great time. We tried to see as many people as time would allow but still didn’t get to everyone which I am saddened by, but will definitely go see the next time we drive up there.

This year was the first Christmas I spent away from my family. It was sad because they don’t have any other family down here and spent Christmas by themselves. One day I hope to live in an area between my husband’s family and my family in a big house so that we can all spend the holidays together at one location! Maybe when I win the lottery… All in all, we had a great trip filled with love, memories, and photos and I am grateful to be apart of such a wonderful family. I hope all of you had a great time with your loved ones as well!

-Krystle

We just took a trip to visit my husband’s family for Christmas.
Granted, it was not a very long drive to get there, around 4 1/2
hours, but I always like to make sure I am prepared. I bought travel
toothbrush carriers, travel sized body washes (one for my husband and
one for myself), a mini body scrub, which I lost, and other items.
Instead of bringing the whole tub of wipes, I saw the travel sized
package by Walmart’s brand Equate. It was selling for 97 cents for a
40 pack. Not a bad price so I grabbed two of them. I am glad to know
that I can get this at a good price and keep them on hand in my diaper
bag at all times. Its not a huge package so it won’t take up a lot of
space in there, which is great for the amount of stuff I have in
there. In the past, when I have chosen to use a store brand of wipes,
I’ve been disappointed. Their biggest downfall is not being wet, not
even a little bit! Its more like a wipe that at some point was moist
but since packaging, lost all its wetness. Others haven’t been soft or
“comfortable”, but more rough. This brand proved itself worthy and I
recommend it to anyone traveling. It did its job well in the diaper
changing department, and cleaned off a big spaghetti mess my son had
on his face after dinner.

-Krystle