Why is day 3 always a slight regression?

Not a big regression...

Max went to bed ok, although he got up after I shut the door and turned on his light (despite the night light) and got back in bed.  I had to wait until I knew for sure he was asleep to turn it off.

He woke up around 1:10 and quietly came in my room.  I put him back in his bed and we did the up and down dance twice and then he gave up...cried standing in his bed for about 30 seconds and then laid down (again after turning on the light).  All in all it was about 15 minutes...but, of course, I couldn't sleep knowing his light was on....so I went in at 2am and turned it off.

The big kicker was when he woke up at 6am and decided that he needed a partner in crime.  So, he went into Miles' room and turned on the light.  That didn't make mama very happy!!  Thankfully Miles fell back asleep (or at least was quiet) until about 7.  I guess since Miles is always smiling at Max...Max figured he'd go and wake someone up who he knew would smile at him and not put him back in his bed!  :)

Today Max figured out how to turn up the dimmer on his bedroom light.  GREAT!  So, for nap time I had to keep going in there and turn off the light when he'd turn it on.  He wasn't trying to get out of his room...but I know he won't sleep as well with the light on full blast and figured it is best to break this habit up front rather than having to deal with it all night every night.  He was pretty ticked off...but fell asleep after about the 5th time.  Ahhh...the joys of being a mama to a kid who is just like her!  Stubborn!  (oh wait...I didn't just admit that, did I??!)

Thankfully...all in all...the transition is going much more smoothly than I had been anticipating.  So far, at least... :)

Operation Big Boy Bed - Night 2....huge success!

Wow...I'm so impressed with Mama's big boy!

He stayed in bed all night long.  No attempts to get up.  No crying.  And even when he woke up at 6:20, he stayed in his bed and stood up and hollared for me.  "Ready mama?".  LOL!  He may have slept longer, but he was poopy.  (Hate when those icky #2's mess with nap/sleep time!)

I praised him immensely and even let him pick out an M&M for a special treat for doing so well and staying in bed.  I know...I know...chocolate at 6:30??  But, it was only 1 and this house can't fit one more toy in it right now.  Nor do I want him to expect a new toy every day.  1 M&M will be something that I can break easily down the road.  I think.  :)

We are snuggling and watching Jimmy Neutron right now...I'm so happy that he got a good night's sleep and that he did so well last night!  He pretty much stayed huddled up in his corner with his feet hanging out of the bars...but whatever is comfy for him!

Hopefully we see no regression tonight...stay tuned!

Big boy bed

Miles helping Papa convert Max's crib to a toddler bed.  Guess he's going to be another "tool" boy!

Mama and the little ones trying out the new bed!

Max's new Big boy room with the "Car Mo-ee" theme

Santa brought Max new Car themed bedding for a toddler bed, so we took the plunge and converted his crib to a toddler bed.  He was so excited when he saw that he could get in and out of it by himself and just jumped up and down.  "I bounceen, mama!"

When we put the Cars bedding on the bed and put up the decorative labels on the wall he kept saying, "oooh, cool!  cool!". 

I wasn't sure what to expect, but was fairly certain that we'd have an early morning wake up call.  Putting him to bed last night (night 1) went a lot better than I had anticipated.  He stayed put and protested for about 2 minutes and then fell asleep.  AAAaaaand then about 3:45am we woke up to the door opening and Max telling me, "I wake up, mama".  Oh nooooo!  It took us an hour to get him to stay in his bed and fall back asleep.  We tag teamed and just kept putting him back in his bed the minute he got up and opened the door.  I was watching him from his video monitor and it was a little comical to watch him trying to walk around his room and find the door and light switch in the dark with his hands reaching out in front of him.  After about an hour of the up and down dance...he finally crawled back in bed and fell asleep with the light on.  I had it on the lowest setting of his light dimmer.  Anyway, he slept until about 6:20 and then ventured back in our room with his "I wake up" announcement again.

I was having lunch with a friend during his nap time, but Brad told me he had to put him back in his bed twice and then he cried for about 15 minutes, but then took an hour and a half nap (lately he only naps for an hour).

We bought him a nightlight today hoping that it might help if he can see a little.  I don't want him falling asleep with the light on every night.  Even if it's at it's lowest setting.  I spent extra time with him tonight and we just cuddled and read a few books and talked in his bed.  Thankfully I fit in that little bed with him.  LOL!  He asked me to hold him for a little bit (which used to be part of our routine when he was in his crib), so picked him up and held him for a little bit and reminded him that once I put him down in his bed he was to stay put and no crying and made sure he said, "ok".  Then when it came time...I put him down in his crib and asked him if he wanted his covers on him.  He said, "I go o'er here" and walked to the corner of the bed that he used to camp out in when it was his crib and I told him that I loved him and he laid down and said, "night" and I shut the door.  I then ran to the monitor to see what he was doing and he was just lying there playing with his McQueen car.  No crying...no drama.  We'll see what time I hear those famous "I wake up" words from his little voice in the morning.....

Merry Christmas!

Mama and the "twins" Xmas Eve

Papa and Miles



Mama and all 3 boys

Max and his new "mo-er-cycle"

The boys checking out their goods

Max and his 1st experience with Play-Doh!

 

This holiday was especially special.  Our family is finally complete with Miles' arrival in January...everyone is healthy...and we just enjoyed the joy and love of the season.  In addition, Max is at the perfect age and was so excited about everything.  His energy and excitement really seemed to charge the air and fill the house.

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house for dinner and gift opening with my mom's side of the family.  Max ran around the house and had a blast with cousins, Connor and Sarah.  Gift opening was crazy...almost to the point of overwhelming.  It's like an hours worth of frenzied wrapping paper ripping and toys flying everywhere.  I think at one point I actually started sweating because the gift piles seemed to get higher and higher for the kids and I couldn't keep up with helping them unwrap.  Our relatives are so generous...they boys really are blessed.

Christmas morning I woke up at about 4am.  I couldn't sleep because I was so excited and just anticipating the little ones waking and opening all the presents from Santa.  I had the camera and video camera ready and waiting so that we could take pictures and film them seeing the tree with all the gifts under it.  Max saw his tricycle (mo'ercycle) and promptly put down his cars he was carrying (this boy always seems to be carrying around something and usually it's a car or truck) and ran to the tree.  He didn't even acknowlege the other presents until much later when I pointed them out.  LOL.  This tricycle was beginning to be a thorn in my tush because Max kept finding out hiding places. Even on Xmas eve he found my last hiding place and it was near driving me crazy!  Next year I'll have to be much more careful and sneaky.

Grandma Donna and Grandpa Jim showed up around noon and we all went over to my Auntie Mikey and Unc Dave's.  It was nice to have them come with us so that we didn't feel torn in too many directions as most families do trying to fit time with everyone in.  We enjoyed time w/ our family and then came back to our house to get in our jammies, finish opening presents, and relax.

Donna and Jim stayed over night and the next morning we enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast together and just spent some QT before they had to go home.

It really was a wonderful holiday!!

Happy Holidays to everyone...I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did!

Trimmin' the Tree

Maxwell...the 10th Reindeer

Max acting like a boy w/ the bulb fixer.  We don't watch gun shows...so I have no idea where he got this little stance.  Is it just in little boys blood?

The little ones checking out the tree!

Hmmm...the 11th Reindeer Miles, and Santa Chewers.

We had a fun time putting up our holiday decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It really puts you in the holiday mood to put on some holiday movies and bust out the holiday boxes!

The boys (and the cat...don't call Minneapolis Animal Cops on us!) had to put up with our Reindeer and Santa head gear...but hey, tis' the season!

Christmas Cookie bake off!

I grew up with the tradition of baking Christmas cookies every year and it's something that I've been so excited to pass on with my children.  This was the 1st year that baking actually made sense and was exciting for little Max.

Ta Dah...

Decorating is fun, Mama!

Sprinkles are fun too!

But making a mess and getting green was the MOST FUN!

We survived the bake off with no burns and some mess...but it was a fun day!

Max had a blast looking at all the cookie cutters and picking which ones we would use.  He got through decorating a few cookies before he had a little melt down (we attempted the decorating too close to bedtime) and sprinkles went everywhere.  I had to spray the boy down in the kitchen sink to get all the green off of him, which included removing his diaper...can you imagine all the cracks and crevacies green sprinkles can get into??!  My gosh!  :)

Anyway, then I thought he'd enjoy seeing his lips green, so took him to the bathroom to show him...and thought it would be ok to run and get him a new diaper.  Well, he showed me and I walked in as he was spraying my bathroom floor.  Nice.  Ahh the joys of having a boy!  He did, by the way, think it was a hoot to see his lips so funny looking.

After Max went to bed I was looking foward to some QT with Mike and our little cookie decorating party.  Um...yeah.  He got invited to a movie and ditched out on me.  "Hey, Brad...wanna decorate cookies with me?! (insert enthusiastic..."it will be a blast!" tone)...his response..."Hell to the NO!".  LMAO!  Ok, fine...party of 1.  :)

Dec2008 Misc Pics

Miles' new trick. 
He does this over and over and giggles.  Then he tries to balance on his head and reach both hands in between his legs to get you.  It's hilarious.  What a nut!

Trying to get this walking stuff down, but my big brother always steals my walker toy!

Big smiles w/ my big bro!

Max and Mama's feet print on the blanket.

The little ones just not feelin' the Big guy...

Santa got NO LOVE from the Werth family this year! 

Max wanted NOTHING to do with him and Miles was just not impressed!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Werth Country Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Charleston Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Werth Disco Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Boys

Hey...I thought it was ride em' cowboy...not little brother!

Naked time!

Um, the naughty chair not so effective today??!

I love my little brother

Max's phrase for today was, "OH KAY!  Fine, mama!"...LMAO

New Videos

I finally uploaded a bunch of videos from our video camera, dubbed them, and added a few to youtube.

Enjoy!

Miles getting down to "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes"...with a little help from Papa.  :)




Maxwell "helping" with the laundry...and I wonder why my house is always a mess!




And finally...Maxwell enjoying every moment of tormenting his little brother in his excercaucer.  Notice how he looks at the camera and laughs...little monkey!

Fallin' for Fall

You cannot beat weather like this in MN...absolutely gorgeous and almost a sin if you don't get outside and enjoy it! 

Here are some pics of us enjoying the last fleeting moments before the MN Tundra takes the wheel!

Trick or Treat!!

Ok, I tried Max's costume on that morning and he threw a fit. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with this costume. And then that evening he wanted so badly to go outside and look at our pumpkins, that I told him he could go outside if he put his doggy costume on (see, it's all about blackmail in our house! ;). He sat there quietly contemplating it for about 10 seconds and then said, "ok." What a nut. So he was outside by 5:30 in his costume ready to hit the streets!

The Lakeville hoodlems getting ready for the big candy haul!

(Alyssa, Morgan, Max & Mama J, Brandon, & Kyle)

Max's 1st victim...er...I mean, house.

Hey, wait up you guys...I got little legs!  Slow down!

Oh man...this Trick or Treating stuff is tiring.  This is more like it...now let's take inventory!  Hmmm..any suckers in here?!

I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but Max's latest passion is suckers.  Yes, I said passion.  Ok, passion...obsession...fixation...the whole nine. 

We might have to pull an intervention actually.

He literally wakes up in the morning and I walk in and he starts jumping up and down in his crib and says, "Sucker peease!!"....and then I reply, "Sucka please!"...just kidding.  No, but the kid must think about them about 20 times a day because every time he thinks of them...he asks for one.  "Sucker peeease??!"

HAPPY HALLOWEEEN!!