Staycation

We had an "ok" staycation this past weekend-long story short, we had disappointments with a restaurant we ate at, we had a hole in the roof of our room and sadly I was pretty tired so I was pooping out of a lot of fun. But, the boys had a great time swimming :) I'm glad that at least the pools didn't disappoint. Nate loved the "boat" ride down the lazy river.


If you look in the center, you can see Josh and Nate heading towards the waterfall. Nate loves those too!

Next week Nate gets to go on another little vacation-this time with my parents up to Greer (then he gets to go back with us two weeks after that!) Busy boy. It's a win-win: he should have fun and we'll get to enjoy quality time with Aaron. I have a feeling I'll just be spending a lot of time at home, chill-axing. I'm looking forward to getting a break from entertaining a toddler :)

Today was Nate's last day of preschool for three weeks (before he starts back up again). I'm so happy to report that he has been accident free with the potty during school, woohoo! What a relief. We're holding steady with it. Below are some pictures from his Athletes (PE)class that he has twice a week-which he'll start back up once school starts again. I love having him go to school and then jump into something busy where he moves around.












The look of "glee" on Nate's face :)

And lastly...




Can't get enough of my boys!

Three Months

Would you look at my chunky monkey now :) Not trying to be mean, but the last month I'd say he for sure has grown! He won't go back to the pediatrician until next month so I'm not sure his weight or other stats, but he's growing like a weed now!

It's still fun to read how my boys compared at this age. Here are some similarities and differences for the month:

--both boys drooling,making bubbles, discovering their hands and feet. Aaron hasn't been "eating" his feet like Nate was, but you'd think Aaron's hands were filet mignon to him! :) In some ways I hope he finds comfort in doing that rather than using a paci.

--generally the both of them are sleeping the same-Aaron goes down for about 4-5 hrs initially at night, then sleeps for another 4ish hours before starting to coo and act excited between 5 and 6am (I blame this on the light coming in the room at that time!) By 7/7:30am he's ready for his first nap of the day-usually one of three or four he has. I'm happy that he's a good napper-unfortunately the swing is still his favorite place to do it, but some naps can be a few hours long! Nate supposedly only slept an hour a day, according to old blog posts. Oh I sure hope Aaron continues to be a better sleeper!

--Aaron can lift his head some, doesn't roll over yet. I've been trying to decide when I should transition him to his crib for naps and maybe nighttime too. Naps first for sure, nighttime I think I may put off a bit until he goes a bit longer at night.

--both boys smile,"talk" and Aaron can laugh a little bit. So cute. I'm so glad to repeat those again!



I think it's been really nice to have had Nate to know the things I do and don't want to repeat this time around with Aaron-for starters, I'm trying to get into a routine with Aaron of eating,playing and then sleeping. Trying not to let him go right to sleep when he eats so that he hopefully learns (of course this doesn't help much with the swing)to soothe himself to sleep. In another month I think he would possibly be old enough to sort of start a "schedule" of trying to get down when he eats and sleeps. I feel sorry for the poor lad as I find that I have to wake him up sometimes to take/pick Nate up from school or do something else...




It truly warms my heart and makes me happy that Nate still loves his brother, has had no envious/jealous feelings (done bad things,said bad things) about Aaron. He gives him kisses goodnight,likes to have him in his room while he plays with his train...he's very good with him.

We're leaving Aaron on Saturday with my parents to take Nate on a little staycation-a family friendly resort that has some cool pools. I'm looking forward to swimming fun and some solid zzzz's, hopefully!

August 4, 2011...

...marks an important day in the Kucenski household-the day that Nate "officially" decided he wanted to be a big boy! What ended up being a blessing in disguise, we had gotten reprimanded at Nate's preschool the day before because I had him in a pull up. I was basically told Nate had to wear underwear to his class or else we needed to drop out. Fortunately that message sent shock waves to the both of us. It was a good thing I had sent Nate to the first few days of class so that he got a chance to enjoy it and realize that it was too fun to be missing :) So, on Thursday morning as we were getting him ready, we told him he had to wear underwear to school or he couldn't go. I'm so happy to say that he voluntarily put underwear on AND kept them dry during class! When we got home, he used the potty all day long and stayed dry! We've been putting him in diapers at night yet but he will right away change himself in the morning. For the few slip-ups we've had, Nate has immediately changed his shorts/underwear and put the wet clothes in his hamper. I'm so proud of him for being a responsible little boy. We still have some other stages to work through, but this is a really good start. I hate to admit it...I've been sort of eye rolling at friends whenever they have said this...but it was an "all of a sudden he was ready to go" action. It was like all of a sudden a light switched on and Nate was serious about it. I can only hope it was all due to school and maybe seeing other kids using the potty there. We go back and forth between reminding him and Nate just saying that he needs to go. We went and bought bigger size underwear and Nate was into picking out what he wanted. I hope our luck continues!

On a different note, I have a few more pictures of what we've been up to within the last week.



Nate and I went on a date to Jambo Park!-an inside amusement park with games and rides. He wasn't interested in the rides at all-he just cared about the soft play area and playing games!




Another Meet the Creature event-again I was proud of Nate because this was the first time he wasn't tied to me that he was interested in seeing and petting the different animals. This animal belong to the same group as the llama, I forgot the name!



So soft!



Petting a large bunny


Duck and guinea pigs


Beaver

First Day of Preschool!

Well, as the title reads, today was Nate's first day of preschool! We have been preparing him for months, ever since Vacation Bible School a few months ago. Over the last month we got a bunch of "first day of school" books, some directly related to starting preschool. We practiced dropping him off for extended periods of time without having us present.

So...Nate did wonderful and loved his big first day of school! I had no issues at all with dropping him off and leaving him there on his own, despite not having friends in his class or knowing anyone. He was excited to wear his "big boy backpack" and hung it up in the classroom and then imemediately sat at a table and began to color (each little group table had a different activity set up). When I told him that Aaron and I were leaving, he gave me a kiss and hug and off we went.

Parents take turns bringing snack/water/cups for each class. The kids get a folder that they bring each time that will carry their activities done for the day-like today, for example, was a worksheet that taught the color blue that they colored. Nate also made a door hanger. The kids also get an "optional" homework assignment each week (ours for this week is connecting dots on a zebra). The folder also has a calendar that outlines what they will be doing each class-for tomorrow, Nate is going to be having show and tell and doing a worksheet learning about the color brown. Thursday they have PE. On the same sheet, the teachers will be using stamps/stickers using the colors green,yellow and red. Green means they were great in class, yellow meaning they maybe didn't listen or were mean to a friend and red would mean that I would have gotten called. They didn't stamp today though.

Nate was so excited to see me and tell me all about his day that he ran to the door as soon as he saw me (they have the kids sitting down with their backpacks and we each take a turn going to get our child). He had to sit back down until it was my turn :) Now that Nate is speaking so much more, it was fun for him to rattle off everything he did and what he had for snack,etc. He excitedly opened his folder and showed me what he had done. As soon as we got home, he wanted to call his daddy and Nana to tell them about his day! :)

After preschool we met with a few friends to get cupcakes at a new place. Not only were the cupcakes delicious but Nate got to frost/decorate his own. We got a strawberry cupcake and chose sprinkles, M & M's and gummy bears to go on top. Nate was mostly interested in the toppings so I took care of the cupcake ;) We had a great morning!

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Heber

Sadly we're back from a fun and cool weekend in northern AZ. What was most apparent on this trip was how outdoorsy my boys are going to be! Nate LOVED being outside, running around. To our surprise, our cabin had a playhouse (or "Nate's house", according to Nate) in the back. He enjoyed playing in there, "swimming" in the jacuzzi, playing games inside...and all the other little activities I brought up. We took him out for his first time fishing-he immediately took to the fishing pole that my parents bought for him. Anytime we pulled the fishing pole out he knew what it meant. It was fun to watch-Nate's favorite part of the whole fishing experience was just getting to reel in his line. As soon as daddy casted the line out in the water, Nate right away started reeling it back in.

We went to a catch and release lake belonging to where we rented the cabin from. Oh my gosh, the first day we fished was hilarious. It was my dad, my brother-in-law, Josh,me and Nate. The fish were hungry! We baited our hooks with worms and it never took longer than five seconds tops before we had nibbles and bites on our line. My brother-in-law caught twenty fish (yes, 20!!), I caught 11, Nate caught 3 and my dad caught 1. Nate was excited to see the fish wiggling on his line and said goodbye to them as we tossed them back in. I'm not sure what type they were, but you can tell that they weren't ever very big :)

On day two fishing, we went back to the same lake and still caught fish-but not near as many. This time Nate caught 5 fish and my dad caught the biggest fish-a catfish, probably about a foot long at least! Both days Nate fished for awhile then ran off to walk around, play on a playground that was around and visit with the rest of us. Overall he enjoyed the experience I'm pretty sure. He really just had a great time being outside period where it wasn't 108 degrees! Mid-afternoon it was a little warm though (85 or so) but the mornings and evenings were BEAUTIFUL. We always made sure to be out then.

Aaron loved the outside just as much. Other than the time or two we went out to eat or to my soon to be brother-in-law's playhouse at his cabin, he remained at our cabin. When he wasn't sleeping, he was outside swinging. Both boys like taking it all in :)

Josh stayed the first night then returned home on Sunday, his birthday, to go to work on Monday. I ordered a large cookie from Paradise Bakery to celebrate his birthday while we were up there, and the day of before he left we went to a Mexican restaurant nearby for lunch. Two of the three nights we were there we had thunderstorms-one night was worse than the other by far, we lost electricity for about half an hour. I couldn't believe that Aaron slept through the whole thing and I anticipated Nate to be nervous/scared but he wasn't. He wanted to watch the storm a little bit and then, much to my surprise again fell asleep during it! I was glad the power turned back on before I went to sleep-wasn't going to be so easy to find and get bottles for Aaron during the night! I didn't want to have a heart attack seeing the fake bear by my room either....

So, now it's back to the grind as we get ready for Nate to start school next week! Potty training is still...yep...(say it altogether) "a work in progress" but I'm hoping school will be the push we need to get us there. It seems like the only thing I haven't tried yet! As one of my friends said to me, that I try to keep in mind...in most cases, potty training is like training for a marathon. It's not something that will happen overnight. It takes time. I've been repeating that to myself a lot lately :) It's just so hard when we have a promising moment only to hit a snag the next. Well...one of these days we'll get there.

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Our Busy Week

Last week we went out and did a few different fun things-probably the most in one week than what we've done in awhile! Just wanted to post some pictures :)


Nate at his Great Play camp



Goofy Garden Fun class-we made dirt dessert!


Toy Town-checking both ways before going into traffic :)



Train table all to himself!



Welcome to my pizza kitchen!



Where are my customers?




Preparing your order...here it is!



Birthday party at Sunsplash the weekend before-he loved it there!


Favorite slide




I had some fun this past weekend with my best friend-went to an art class and got to drink some wine while I was at it! Very enjoyable for something different!








Pic 1 : enjoying the wine and snack table! Pic 2 : getting ready to paint Pic 3: artist hard at work Pic 4: tada!

Josh and I had a great one day excursion to Sedona just walking around, wining and dining. This coming weekend is our trip to the woodsy town of Heber. Looking forward to it!

Mr. Two Month Old!

Time just keeps getting away from us! Just took Aaron for his two month well visit today. The great news is he's been completely thriving since he went totally to formula almost a month ago-the pediatrician is very happy with his stats. He weighs about 11.5pds, 22.5 inches long and he's starting to hold his head up some. He's still eating generally every two-three hours, even at night. I think there has been one night possibly where he might have gone four hours, but I reckon I'd remember if there was a night that I had some serious sleep! :) Aaron is a big noise maker when he sleeps (lots of moans,groans) so sometimes we're not sure if he's awake and hungry or if he's just maybe reacting to a dream,getting comfortable...perhaps we'll need to just try letting him make some noise for a while first before rushing to his aid. I've been nervous of Aaron waking Nate up at night so I'm quick to react when I think Aaron is hungry or upset.Usually now though, if Nate is fast asleep, he usually stays that way unless a tornado is coming through (like our storm the other night!)



The changing table is absolutely his favorite place to be! He smiles tons and coos the whole time.



Stretch...




Big boy

Aaron has also grown to enjoy the swing and bouncer. I think now that he sees better and doesn't have that newborn glaze as much, he likes to play/look at the animals on both that hang down. In the swing in particular, he likes to look at the animals as he falls asleep. He takes his naps for the most part in the swing unless we're out and about. He likes to be propped up some versus straight down on his back I think.




Lastly, Aaron enjoys being in Nate's room too, laying on his bed. He turns his head all around looking...and likes to watch his big brother play with his toys in there. It won't be too long before little brother trys to act like big brother I'm sure! :) Nate enjoys showing him everything too.

Fun Summer

I've spent the last few posts writing the majority about Aaron, I thought it was time to update on the rest of us :)

Ok, so I have written a good portion about Nate too but I haven't talked much about what he's done this last month. At the beginning of the month, we had him in Vacation Bible School through our church. It was an awesome, Monday-Friday for three hours deal called "PandaMania".



They began and ended each day singing songs--such cute decorations to go with the theme!

Luckily the first day my mom happened to be off of work so she watched Aaron in the morning while I took Nate the first day in case I would need to stay for a while (which I was hoping I wouldn't have to do). Sure enough, when I went to leave Nate started to get upset. I stayed long enough until it looked like class was going to start and tried to get out the door then. I had to get help from one of the adults there (who I'm very thankful I knew so I was comfortable leaving my poor crying son in her hands). Picking him up later, I was happy to learn that he had only been upset for a few minutes. The rest of the week went smoothly-I didn't have trouble dropping him off any other morning (well, except one morning for a minute when my adult friend was running a little late! I was happy she showed, otherwise I may have had to take him home :) ) The best part was seeing that Nate enjoyed himself and told me what they did that day or what they had to eat (he must learn that from me).

Nate is quite bashful in a group setting, he tends to be the observer, so I think getting him exposed to a social environment was a good thing. Later in July I have him signed up for a few more days of a play class where I drop him off/pick him up a little later-didn't think it would hurt to practice being away from mommy and daddy some more before he starts preschool in almost another month (!) I'm super excited for him to be around kids his age and just be in that social setting. I don't expect him to learn a whole lot, but we wanted to start getting him used to just being on his own, interacting with other kids, learning to follow directions from other adults,etc. Pretty much just a total social reason in preparation for all the years ahead!

This past weekend we took Nate out on a date for pizza and to the circus.



Nate loved the parts with the animals in particular-here there are three rings with horses and zebras in them (sorry for the bad lighting!)



We also made a visit to my grandma for her to visit with the kids.



This past week was also suppose to be when we made a trip to one of our favorite Arizona cities (to cool off and stay in a cabin in the beautiful pines!) up in Greer. For those who don't know, we had a massive wildfire that unfortunately went through some of that town. We are very relieved,however, that despite exaggerated media coverage the town was largely saved with exception of some cabin homes on a hill. The vast majority of the town was saved,hooray! I called the lodge where our cabin was and we were able to reschedule for August.

In a few weeks, we will be going with my family up to the town of Heber (also a stay in a cabin in the trees/little bit cooler city up north). I was pretty bummed that our Greer trip got scratched for this month so I jumped on the chance to go out of town when we got invited. It won't be much more than ten degrees cooler than what it is here, but it will be a nice weather break in the mornings and evenings at least. I'm also just excited for the boys to spend some extra time with their Nana and Pap-Pap. Josh will be staying with us for one night and then the boys and I will stay for the remaining two other nights that my parents have the cabin.

Also this month, Josh and I are planning a day trip with just the two of us to Sedona-probably a go up in the morning and come home after dinner type thing. I'm super stoked for that. I haven't been out of town anywhere since we went to Sedona in December! (for me,that's WAY too long...) The even better part is that my parents are going to take BOTH kids for the night that day so we can come home to a quiet house and well, have a quiet house! :) I'm so very appreciative that we have them around to help. Can't wait.

So...I think that's the latest and greatest from our end. I was dreading the summer months before,thinking how slow the days would go...but actually, the days have gone rather fast despite us staying home more. The boys and I mostly hibernate at home in the afternoons, I have no energy to take them out and about. Aaron especially shouldn't really be out in the heat all that much. We're usually active in the morning and then by lunchtime-ish we rush back to the cool cave :) I've been trying to arrange for Nate to go to Josh's parent's house 1-2 afternoons a week for a few hours just to see some different toys and get to swim when it's most hot out. He really enjoys being in the pool, seeing his other grandparents and getting to play with his cousin if she's there. I enjoy getting to have just one child! :)

It's been a busy summer for us so far-excited to see how the next month unfolds!