Sleepers

Nothing is sweeter than a sleeping child. I am the mom I used to make fun of - I can stand and watch my children sleep for far too long each night. Since Brett was born, sleep has been a little elusive at our house most of the time. Even when we would finally get Brett to sleep through the night, it seemed like Jack would be up in the middle of the night for some reason. We finally decided it was time to move Brett into the crib, whether we were all ready or not. It was awful the first night - Brett was up three times and finally ended up in our bed. Jack was awake every time Brett was and then wet the bed at 4 am. However, after that first night, we have had some success (granted, it has only been two nights of success, but every journey begins with the first step, right?). Here are some pics of Brett in his new crib and Jack in our bed, his new napping spot in the afternoon. Could they be any sweeter? ;)

Snowball

Today was one of those days where one small project led to another, and another, and another. I bought a shelving system at Target with nine cubbies in it in an attempt to get the play room organized a little. I put that together today, then realized the playroom needed a good cleaning and a complete reorganization. So I am now about halfway done. This week Nanny and G are taking the couch out of the playroom and then I am setting up a little art area and will then be done. We also decided the time had come to move Brett into the crib in Jack's room. The two boys will be sharing a room so we can keep them both upstairs with us. Brett is getting better and better about sleeping through the night so we decided we just needed to do it. So we got the crib set up. Then I realized we needed to move the rocking chair into our room since Brett goes to bed before Jack. So that required rearranging both our room and the boys' room. Then I figured I might as well put some stuff up in the attic while I was moving things around. I also found the little saying I had bought to put up on the wall in the boys' room, so I had Troy put that up today. Needless to say, I am exhausted now, but am loving the new organization and rearrangements!

Someone Like You

So this post is a little late, but better late than never! :) Sunday was the 7 year anniversary of Troy and my first date. What a busy 7 years we've had! Married, a house, a baby, another baby! But it has certainly been a joyous journey and there is definitely no one I would have wanted by my side more than Troy. He is an amazing husband and an even more amazing father. Thanks for the best 7 years of my life, honey! I can't wait to see what the next 7 bring! Troy and I a few months after we started dating: Our wedding day: The most recent picture I could find of just the two of us was from August (you can tell it is all about the kiddos these days!!):

Hey you!

Hey blog readers! Just a big thank you to all the family and friends that keep up with us Ayottes through the blog! Recently, it came to my attention that maybe some "undesirable folks" might be looking at information and pictures of our family. I have added the Live Feed on the left side of the blog to keep an eye on where people are coming from. When you arrive at Ayotte Antics, check the live feed to see where you show up as. If you show up as somewhere other than where you live or as a very general location like "United States", please send me an e-mail letting me know (bethayotte@verizon.net). I want to make sure all our family and friends can check everything out! If I am still getting unwelcome visitors, or can't determine who some of the Live Feed locations are, I may add password protection to the blog. If I do, I'll make sure to send out a request for e-mail addresses to invite y'all to the site so you can keep reading up on us! Thanks everyone!

Brett

Here's what I am loving about Brett right now:

• His smile! And we see it all the time! Brett smiles so easily and so often! He is such a happy baby!
• Brett gets so angry when he can't reach something he wants or when we tell him no. He makes fits and actually growls! It is so funny!
• Brett is actually a picky eater, which is surprising because he is such a fat baby! We discovered he does not like the baby cereal. When we stopped mixing it with his food he started eating a little better. However, he has definite food preferences. He loves carrots - anything else is simply second rate. He does well with foods like sweet potatoes, squash, and bananas, but it is a little bit of struggle with everything else. He is definitely more of a veggie guy, than a fruit guy. He absolutely loves anything he can pick up, so I think he will be a fabulous eater when he can start having more "real" food. He loves puffs and Cheerios and I sometimes cut up what we are eating very small for him.
• Brett is a toy kind of kid. He loves to play with toys and has favorites. I'm amazed at how much he studies and almost analyzes toys. He will turn them all around and look at them from every angle. He also really plays with them, like sliding beads on a bar, putting letters in the mailbox, or shaking rattles.
• Brett, like his brother, loves books. He already has a favorite - "B is for Bear." (Thanks Aunt D'Lynn!!). He especially loves the books with photo pictures.
• Brett is a great baby. He is almost always happy and is pretty low maintenance most of the time. We can put him in his bed when he gets tired and he just goes to sleep on his own most times. He naps well in his bed and doesn't need to be held all the time. We are very lucky!!

Brett playing: Brett gets that "deer in headlights" look when we try to take pictures!!

Sleepy boy - he sometimes just falls asleep in the middle of playing!

Brett at the Curious Kids Museum - he loved the infant area with the big mirror! He would have looked at himself all day if we had let him!!

Jack

Here are the things I am loving about Jack right now:

• I'm sure all parents think their child is a genius, but I think Jack is pretty darn smart! The other day we were talking about outer space and he asked if a meteor in outer space was really far away. I told him, yes, that would be very far away. He then told me if we were that far away, out house would look very tiny! I was amazed he had figured that out!
• Jack is just growing and developing at a remarkable pace right now. His language skills constantly surprise me. It seems like he hears a word once and it is in his vocabulary from then on. I can't believe how well he is able to articulate his thoughts and tell us things.
• Jack's imagination is also blossoming. The other day we watched an episode of the TV show Blue's Clues. We had not watched it in awhile. This morning Jack found his pad of paw print sticky notes, his little spiral notepad, and a crayon and was playing Blue's Clues. He wanted us to stick the paw prints on things and he would follow with his notebook and draw the clue (like on the show). He has also been playing all kinds of imaginary games. We just saw the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" so we have been running from and chasing dragons on a daily basis!
• Jack is very in tune with both his own and other people's feelings. His feelings get hurt easily sometimes and he is concerned about other people's feelings. The other day he was telling us he missed his friend Ava, who we hadn't seen in awhile. A few minutes later ha asked if I thought Ava missed him too.
• Jack is a debater. While it can drive Troy and I crazy that he never wants to just accept what we tell him to do, it is impressive how good he is getting at trying to propose deals! He always wants to suggest something different when we tell him to do something. We tell him he needs to go to bed in 5 minutes, he tells us how about he goes to bed in 10 minutes, instead.
• Jack just got his first set of "real" golf clubs. He loves to play sports and is really developing into a great little athlete! He has amazing hand-eye and foot-eye coordination for a child his age. However, he refuses to take any kind of coaching (which drives his dad crazy!!!).

Jack at the Curious Kids Museum - he loved the dinosaurs!! Jack inside a huge bubble! I had to joke that he was the bubble boy!

After our morning at the museum, Jack was exhausted!

We're very into dragons right now! Jack's babysitter, Taryn, got him to try the dragon wings on:

Fear

Troy and I were talking the other day about someone who has a child in the military. I admitted to Troy that I had no idea how to teach my children to respect the people who serve our country, while also not wanting them to ever do so. I know this is a very hypocritical thing to say and also probably not very patriotic, but I would be terrified to have my children in the military. I have no idea how the parents of the men and women serving our country, especially those overseas, can handle it every day. This conversation led me to comment to him that having children really changes how you view fear. All the things that I was scared of before I had kids, are nothing now. What's scarey is something happening to one of my babies. I remember a quote I read one time about having children means forever walking around with your heart outside of you. I get that now. My small and my large fears seem to all center around my children. What if the other kids don't like them (how could they not - seriously?). What if they get hurt on the playground? What if they get sick? What if they get really sick? All of the fear can be overwhelming at times. But I also see that we make it through every day. So I remind myself to not let the fear take over and to just smile at the sweet, sleepy faces I see every night and be thankful for the day.

Graduate!!

The Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor declared Jack officially "graduated" today! He said his ears looked better than any kid's he had seen lately! His ear function was perfect and the tubes are just about out in both ears. We are so relieved! At the last appointment a few months ago the pressure had increased in one of Jack's ears and the doctor had said we would "wait and see what happened in the next few months." I was dreading the appointment today because I was afraid we would have to discuss surgery and tubes again. Troy and I did not want to go with surgery again, but weren't sure what the other options would be. Glad we did not have to find out! Yeah Jack!!!

Easter

Here are my favorite moments from Easter followed by some pictures:

• I bought two dozen eggs because I thought Jack would be very into dying the eggs this year (he was disappointed when we got through one dozen last year). After about five eggs he was ready to get down and play with his Buzz Lightyear.
• Jack was most excited about his Buzz Lightyear plastic eggs. He did have fun looking for eggs around the house, though.
• Brett seemed to love checking out his Easter basket - mostly because Brett loves just about anything. He did seem to like his Winnie the Pooh blankie and his rattle toys, though.
• Jack was very excited to go to my sister's for breakfast, to church with my sister's family, and to Aunt D'Lynn's.
• Jack is usually such an independent kid, that I sometimes forget he can be apprehensive about new situations. He went to the nursery during the church service and I guess was upset that his mom and dad weren't there. I felt a little bad, but it also made my heart melt that he missed us.
• Jack loves playing with D'Lynn's boys - DJ, Drew, and Dane. He was so excited to get there and see them!
• I got to play Scrabble with D'Lynn and Dominique (I won't mention who won - ok, yes I will - it was me!).
• Brett got so angry that he could not be with the "big" kids, Jack and Arianna, when we went for a walk. He was growling and making little fists!
• Jack was a comedian on the way home - he talked or about half the car ride home. When I say he talked, I mean non-stop. :) And every comment started with, "Mom..."
• We had two very tired, and very happy, boys when we got home.