First Day of Strong Beginings

Clayton started Preschool last Thursday (August 9, 2012). He has been in a preschool type program for 3 years, since he was 22 months but this year is actual Pre-K. The program we chose is called Strong Beginnings and is ran through the Child Development Center here on post. We really love the programs Clayton was previously and he and I both have kind of always been jealous of the "big kids" in the cool, fun, big room...and it is finally his turn.

                                                           First day of school pictures

                                          When he grows up Clayton wants to be a mailman

 Sissy girl wanted in on the pictures too :)

Clayton's new shoes for school

Standing by his cubby

They have to sign in every day! I can't wait to see the improvement.

This is going to be a fun year!

Week 12 July 20- July 26

It has been a rough week! We were getting back into the groove of things and it was super hard. To adjust Charlotte decided to go on a nursing strike and is currently in a huge napping strike...grr :) But overall we are getting back to normal.

Baby wise and schedule: We have moved into phase 2 of the BW "plan". This mean that she should be dropping her late-evening feeding (11:00 pm) leaving 6 feedings, she should average 10-12 hours of sleep at night (she goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes around 6). It also says that she should have 3, 1.5-2 hour naps but she has 4 right now and is doing her best to drop the earliest one (7:30 am) so I am just letting her lead on that and laying her down when she is sleepy. So her schedule looks like this:
6 wake up and nurse
7:30 ish nap
9 bottle
1030 nap
12 nurse
1:30 nap
3 nurse
4:30 nap
6 nurse
9-11 I let her chose but never later than 11 a small bottle of night time formula

Sleeping: She does great at night and loves to watch her jungle crib light thing as she falls asleep. She is sleeping in a sleep sack now and starting to move away from the swaddle. Naps are still a bit of an issue and part of it is the 2 morning naps are interrupted to go get Clayton from school but there is really no way around it right now. She has been sleeping in her swing more than I really like.

 She was so tired but so not wanting to sleep

Finally sleeping

Wake time: We have introduced music time and at first I was making it when Clayton was in school but Clayton joined in one day and they both had a blast so I have moved it to a wake time that he can participate. Tummy time is still awful and I am really trying but she HATES it!!

Eating: As it said in the schedule above I have added 2 formula bottles to her diet and at first I was really struggling with it but I honestly believe that by adding these 2 feedings I have extended breastfeeding. She could not seem to stay full after the 9am feeding and it would set the stage for fussy all day. With the bottle at that time she seems to be able to handle the day with more smiles!! The bottle at night is to carry her through the night and because by then I am empty. I pump at night to store some for times I am not around so there is not much left for her. There are times though that she wants to nurse for comfort and I will let her for a few minutes and then back to bed!

Growth: YBFYWBW says that she should be around 12 lbs but she is only 11 max. But filling out t the point that I packed up the newborn stuff and she is now in 0-3 month clothes and size one diapers.

Packing away NB clothes and organizing her closet

YBFYWBW:
-We listen to music all the time..the book says although this may not make her smarter she will enjoy it and she does. It brings a great calm to her.
-she can lift her head but not from her tummy for very long at all
-she seems to be able to see from a farther distant and reacts to me when I am farther away from her.
-she makes so many facial expressions now

-she is started to babble a little
-holds her hands open more than in a fist and is very into them...looks at them all the time
-starting to but things in her mouth
-reacts differently to speech than other sounds
-seems to see Jason and Clayton and I as different people

-her soft spot is getting thicker
-is in a great routine
-has a favorite toy...Lilly the lion

-is not really able to do the "mini push up"
-loves to play song/games that involve hands and toes...this little piggy and loves when Clayton does it with her

She has been having some bloody snot when she wakes up so we put the humidifier in her room at night and it seems to be helping.

Clayton

He is really into hand washing these days...or maybe it is water play! He seems to remember everything. For example I tell him he can not have another snack until after dinner, as soon as dinner is over he asks for the snack. He is also learning to ignore me and it is not a fun stage at all! I'm not sure how to discipline that but I need to do something soon!!

C and his scentsy buddy

Clayton sings ALL THE TIME...he loves "Hush Little Baby" and changes the words. He will also talk to us in song, its like living in a musical.
When I was pregnant with Charlotte Clayton was "pregnant" with a puppy and we worried that when I had the baby he would want a puppy but it turns out he is still pregnant : ) When we ask what is in his tummy he tells us Himpey the Hawk...which is also what he calls this toy he got from Burger King. And there are times when he is tired or just not into whatever is going on around him he will say he is wishing bout Himpey the Hawk but will never tell us what it really means...weird !?!?!

He is finishing up his last week of camp (Space Camp) and starts preschool again on Aug. 5. He has one more year of this type of school and will then move on to actual Pre-K. I am getting together some prep stuff together for him to practice before school starts. We are working on drawing shapes and faces, recognizing sounds and matching them t the correct letter, writing letters and his name. He is really a smart boy and I hope he continues to love school and the school setting and really flourishes from it. We started him so young I worry that he will burn out!
Clayton is such a big boy that we took down the lower level gate this weekend so now we are just trapped upstairs. He has also learned to put his lower clothes on...we are still working on the top half!

And he has found a new love for Care Bears. He could watch it all day!!

Me

I am into week 2 of the Firm Express and I am still loving it. It is a hard workout but is so much packed into 20 minutes that I feel like I am getting so much and not taking up hours that I don't have to do so. I am not keeping up with WW as well as I should be but I have lost 2 more pounds but more importantly my clothes are getting closer to fitting!! My milk supply is starting to suffer from the dieting and working out so I am really looking into changing my diet to adjust for that. Most importantly I have to drink more water!!!

Jason

J is back to work out and trying to spend as much time with us as possible.

Potties and Preschool

Last week was a big one for Clayton! We knew before we got here that we were going to put him in some sort of preschool or part day program. Well as you all already know we are limited in our possibilities with out making that crzy drive. The CDC (Child Development Center) has not ever been my top choice on chlid care but that was the option here. In fairness the only time I have ever used the CDC was at Ft Hood and only once or twice for hourly care, which is sometimes just a glorified babysitter and the kids were always different and the teachers were someitmes different. I found out that they have a pre toddler part day program so we decided to go to the orientation and try it! The orientation was last Tuesday (2-16) and we loved the teacher, Ms. Gonzales and the classroom was great too. they have little computers, gross moter and fine motor skills area. But the best part for me, the crazy planner and organization freak, was the parent board. Ms. G as she likes to be called, puts up the snack schedule and daily lesson plan on the parent board so the parents always know what to expect and what the kiddos did seeing as how most pre toddler/toddlers don't really communicate that with mom and dad! But the other thing I really loved was the snacks, for example Thursday was his first day and they had yogurt and apple sticks/slices and water, which they have to help prepare and clean up...great learning tools. When we picked him up she left me know how he did and what he struggled with and that he had a great time! I was a little nervous because he cried real bad when we left him.

I would love to post pictures of his little class but there are very strict rules about pictures which I kind of like! There has to be a permission slip signed and everything.

Another big event that happened this week was CLAYTON PEED IN THE POTTY!!!! He climbed up on his little stool with his diaper off and shirt pulled up and peed in the potty. We of course started clapping and saying how great a job he did. Since then he has only done it once and had one accident when we spent some time in training pants but there is progress and a start so...YAY!!!

picture of undies