Caroline Got Out of Bed Again

When I awoke yesterday morning, I saw Caroline sleeping on the floor on my side close to the foot of the bed! This is the first time she has done this. When Amy asked her why she came into our room, Caroline said the bugs were trying to get her so she came to be by daddy since he keeps the bugs away. So sweet and sad at the same time

This made Amy remember that earlier in the night, Amy woke up to go to the bathroom. When she was coming back to bed, she was surprised at a very feminine sounding noise that she assumed I made. Amy giggled and went back to sleep. Turns out, that feminine noise was our little princess sleeping on the floor.

This is not the first time Caroline has had bug nightmares. A few weeks ago, she woke up crying saying the bugs were flying all around trying to get her. After that nightmare, she slept with the lights on full brightness for an entire week. We were finally dimming her lights again when last night happened.

Kitchen Backsplash

Ever since we moved in, Amy and I have been talking about putting a backsplash up in our kitchen and we finally decided to do it. After a lot of debating on what sort of tile we wanted, buying more than a dozen samples, asking for numerous opinions from friends and family, then ignoring those opinions, we decided on a neutral color natural stone in the subway shape.

On a weekend where Grandma was coming to town, I put up the tile with some help from the wife. Here is what it looked like just before I started.

 Here is the work in progress.

Almost all the tile was up at this time. I just needed to make some cuts for the tiles on the end and the tiles surrounding the power outlet.

 

Here is the finished backsplash.

 

 

We are very happy with how the backsplash turned out. I wish we had done it a long time ago. It wasn't very difficult, didn't take too long, and was fairly inexpensive.

Caroline Got Out of Bed

Caroline is an awesome sleeper. She never gets up out of her bed without permission from Amy or I. Well, during a nap on July 4th, Caroline got up and did something awesome.

Completely by herself, Caroline got out of bed, went into the bathroom, took care of business, pulled up her panties/pants, and went back to bed!

She did not come get us and didn't even know that I was nearby listing to what was going on. We have told her in the past that she can do this but it is the first time that we know of where she has done this.

Caden's Big Boy Bed

A few months ago, Caroline was upgraded to a big girl bed. Since then, we've had numerous conversations with Caden where he has said something on the lines of, "Caroline has a big girl bed. Caden is a big boy. I want a big boy bed."

Despite the fact that Caroline was ready for the big bed while Caden was not, Amy pleaded with me to convert Caden's crib to a big boy bed. I reluctantly agreed and we surprised Caden with his new bed. As an added bonus, Grandma made Caden a guitar pillow case that was part of the surprise.

Here is the moment when Caden first walked in.

 

Caden was excited about his new bed. 

 

Here is his checking out his new pillow case.

 Caroline also thought the pillow case was neat.

 Caden and Caroline decided to try the bed.

After the excitement of a new bed died down, I worried about what the future had in store for "us" because I was sure there was no way Caden was going to stay in the bed all night. (And by "us", I meant Amy because she is the one that wanted to release Caden from his crib.)

When night finally came, Caden would not stay in his bed or room. When we walked out the door after his tuck-n was over, Caden followed us right out. He eventually went to sleep with Amy laying on the floor next to him.

Later that night, while Amy and I were sleeping, Caden came and climbed in bed with us. We took him back to bed, and Amy went and laid by him until they both fell asleep.

This happened the first two nights. Caden realized if he came and climbed in bed with us, he would be taken back to bed. So when Caden got out of bed on the third night, he decided to play in the playroom instead of waking us up...which I do consider an improvement. :)

For the next week or so, Caden was up playing every single morning when we got up. We had no idea how long he'd been awake. When asked what he had been doing, Caden would say he came to our room and watched us sleep (which is a little creepy) then, he'd go to the playroom to play.

Caden did okay for naps, but struggled to go to sleep without Amy laying down next to him, and he would never stay in bed all night. We tried the child safely locks for the door but even in the dark, Caden can take them off the door knob in under two seconds.

To keep Caden in his room, I decided to install a lock. Amy was against the idea but I did it anyway knowing she'd come around. :) Not only did I want to keep him in his room so he'd hopefully sleep better, I was also a little worried he'd leave the house in the middle of the night.

I replaced the door knob with one that can be locked and I put the side that locks it outside his room (with a key above the door just in case we get locked in). So now, we lock Caden in his room! This has worked very well. Caden has gotten used to the idea that he cannot get out. He still struggles to go to sleep but he started sleeping through the night again.

Long story short, while Caroline's easily transitioned to a big girl bed, Caden's transition was way more lively.

Fourth of July and Our First Fireworks

Our kids sleep schedule has been out of whack since the cousins were in town and it couldn't have come at a better time. On July 3rd, our kids were up until 10:00pm. There normal bedtime is between 8:00 and 8:30. After they went down so late, Amy and I decided to keep them off schedule for one more day so we could go watch some fireworks.

On July 4th, we left our house at 8:30pm to find a place to watch the Cedar Park fireworks. We didn't want to be too close to the action so we could make a quick exit and it would be less likely the kids would be scared of the fireworks.

We ended up finding a place right next to a fire station. A fire engine was outside with spectators on top. A fireman was nice enough to let the kids play inside the fire truck while we waiting.

 

 Caroline and Mommy waiting for the fireworks.

 Caroline and I watching the fireworks.

 The kids loved pointing at the fireworks saying, "Over there!" or "I like the green/pink ones!"

 

We had a ton of fun watching the fireworks. The kids loved it and did great. They were not scared at all. (We were a little worried the explosions would scare them.) We can't wait until we get to watch fireworks with them again. As for now, we are going to try to get back on schedule.

Father's Day Cake

For Father's Day, I picked out several desserts and asked Amy to make one of them for me. Amy decided to make an Oreo Cake that I found on Pinterest. (Yes, I'm one of half dozen guys actually on Pinterest and it is awesome. I pin stuff for the garage, desserts, and fun stuff to do with kids.)

The Oreo Cake ended up being quite a bit of work with a cake and multiple types of frosting made from scratch. Of course, Caden and Caroline helped. Caroline was very excited to wear her apron (made by Grandma) and chefs had. By the time this picture was taken, Caden was ready to take off his Home Depot apron.

 

Caroline decided to try the chocolate frosting they had just finished making and she loved it! Caroline must have stuck her finger into the frosting a half dozen times before we put a stop to it. I couldn't blame her for this, especially since I put my finger in a half dozen times before Amy put a stop to it.

 

 Here is the final product. It was delicious.

On a related sad note, I decided to take the leftover cake (more than half) to work to share with my team. I put it in Amy's cake carrier and went to work. On the walk to my desk, the bottom fell off the cake carrier and I was left holding the top half by the handle designed for carrying while my delicious cake was splattered all over the floor! I considered getting a fork and eating it directly off the floor (remember the Friends episode about the cheesecake)...

...but I decided to clean it up the best I could instead.

Big Cousins

The day after George returned home (along with the people that brought him), the Baker's came to town. Here are some pics of Caden and Caroline hanging out with their big cousins. Caden and Caroline love it when they get to hang out with their big cousins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Cousin

Last week, Angela, Grandma, and most importantly, Baby George came to visit us. Our kids loved getting to see their little cousin. Here are a few pics of the twins holding Baby George.