BIG BOY bootcamp...

Friday night we went to swim and eat with Trav's family, and on the way home he randomly asked if I wanted to go look for mattresses/big boy bed stuff for Colby on Sunday. At first I said sure! I love a day of shopping for new stuff with the fam, but almost immediately after that my mind starting going crazy. Wait! Does that mean you want to change his crib into a big boy bed on Sunday?!?? Soon I was a little angry. What do you mean? Why would we do that? He's perfectly happy and fine in his crib! He loves it, I love it- everyone loves it so why would we change that??? I thought we were going to get rid of the paci first...

Then T (aka: the voice of reason in this particular circumstance) asked

Didn't Dr. Kastner say we needed to do both of these things now?

me: ummmmm....yes

T: Didn't you say you wanted to do it this summer while you weren't working?

me: maybe......

After thinking long and hard about it and sleeping on it, I woke up in a totally different mood. If we were going to do this, I just wanted to get it over with! I talked to Colby all morning Saturday about how he was such a big boy now and that he didn't need his paci anymore, but there were some other babies who needed them. We decided it would be a good idea to give one paci to baby Pierce and one to baby Charli. The mommy in me knew that I really needed to drive to the Williams and Hubble homes to hand over a paci so he would really understand, but the Saturday laziness in me decided that we could get away without all of that. We ran to Wal-Mart to get a "big boy surprise" since he was a big boy now, and we walked away with a Mater pillow, toy firetruck and big boy underwear (no, he is not potty trained, but we're ready when he is).

When it was finally time for a nap, I read to him and rocked him, laid him down and he immediately started SCREAMING....like he was in pain kind of screaming...."MOOOOOMMMMYYYYYYYY!!!!" over and over and over again. I originally told myself that I'd wait 30 minutes and then go in and try to console him...hoping he'd wear himself out, but after about 5 minutes, I decided that 10 minutes would be long enough. There's no way I could just sit there by myself listening to him cry much longer. After 10 minutes, I went in and tried to get him to lay down so i could pat his back, but he insisted that I rock him, so i did. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, so I transferred him to his bed and he was fine. He only slept about an hour, but that's better than nothing.

Round 2: That night, Trav and I took Colby for a late family date night at Coronas and then went to the Belton High School practice football field to run him around until dark, hoping to wear him out. It was totally a success- Trav rocked him and laid him down and there were NO TEARS.

Sunday Morning we began the 2nd stage of Big Boy Bootcamp. We drove all over town looking for a mattress/box spring, mattress cover, side rail, sheets and bedding. We never did find any bedding that we liked, but after a few meltdowns, decided that could wait until later. (We also got home with a bonus set of Lightning McQueen jammies for our big boy.)

Colby loved testing out mattresses. Too bad it didn't really matter, because we bought him the cheapest one we could find! :) (how much comfort does a 2-year old really need?!??)

After lunch and nap time, Travis and Colby started to tackle the bed transformation.

To make a long story short, we didn't have all the pieces we needed to convert the crib to a bed, but luckily Trav's GT skills came in handy and he rigged it up enough to work for now. (at this point, I just wanted SOME place for Colby to be able to sleep that night)

The end result was two happy campers. I've NEVER seen Colby so excited about something before!!!! That night I laid down with him, read the usual Dig Dig Digging and then left him in his new big boy bed. I think he was kind of scared being in that huge new bed all by himself. We let him cry for a few minutes, and then daddy came in to save the day. He rocked him for a few minutes at the end of the bed and then laid him down. We didn't hear another peep out of him all night. I slept sooo lightly thinking he might wake up and be scared, but he never did. He slept until 8am the next morning and then just hung out in there for 30 minutes or so. He never got out of the bed until I came to get him which was GREAT!

Monday night when Trav came home from work, guess what Colby wanted to do.....

go lay in bed with daddy! haha....it wasn't even bedtime yet, but he was so excited about his bed he just wanted to be IN it

Night #2 went just as smoothly as #1- I am SO THANKFUL that Big Boy Bootcamp was easier than I had anticipated. I can't believe Colby is old enough for all of this, but I'm also very proud of him and how well he transitioned.

Now for the potty training....

My Baby Can Read

Not really...but he sure can memorize! He honestly has ALL 11 pages of this book memorized- HE LOVES IT!!! (Thank you Melissa!)

In case you don't speak 2-year-old, here's what he's saying:

"Diggers are good at dig, dig, digging. Scooping up the earth and lifting and tipping. They make HUGE holes with their dig, dig, digging. They can work alllllll day.

Trucks are good at long-distance traveling. Long ones, tall ones, different loads carrying. Honking their horns- BEEP BEEP- their big wheels turning. They can work allllllll day. "

Sing-Along

I love this age....not only because 2 year olds are irresistibly adorable and FUNNY, but because you can BRIBE them to do things on video that they would have never done before!! SCORE!

Sidewalk Chalk PAINT

A few months ago Colby got some sidewalk chalk PAINT as a party favor from Mason's 2nd b-day party. It's so cool. It comes as a powder in little tubs and you just add water and paint on concrete. When it dries, it looks just like sidewalk chalk. Very cool!

This weekend while daddy was golfing we decided it was time to get this stuff out and see what it was all about. Of course Colby loved painting on the driveway. Here he is painting a "huge airplane." :)

We also made a sign for Elyse's birthday!!

Thank you Mason for such a fun favor!!!!

"Here fishy fishy!"

When my Auntie Lisa saw my post last week about Colby and Jenna's fishing adventure, she decided that Colby needed some more fishing gear! :)

She came over the next day to drop off some camo sunglasses, a net and some little squishy fish for him to "catch" in the bathtub.

needless to say, he LOVES his new fish catching bathtub game!!

THANK YOU AUNTIE WEESA!

Workin' at the Carwash!

These 2 have been busy in the backyard this morning. :)

Next up- fishing in the bathtub! (I'll take some pictures for you Lisa!)

LATE, but not forgotten :)

You know how you have things on your mental "to do" list that always seem to be at the bottom and therefore never get done?? Here are a few posts I finally uploaded from last fall :)

Whitney and Daniel's Engagement Party

Evening at the Anthonys

Thanksgiving Day at the Anthonys

Thanksgiving Weekend at the Ranch

Holly and Rusty are Engaged!

(yes, they are married now, but oh well!)

"I jumpin!"

This morning, Colby and I had planned on going to swim at the Schneider's house, but to our surprise, it was RAINING! What a happy surprise! :) We decided to go play anyway, and I'm so glad we did. (obviously the rain cleared up a little and we did end up spending some time outside....fun times with sweet boys!)

Kassidy and Jordan (Hope's nieces) are some of the best babysitters!

This was Colby's "trick"....he was very proud of himself! :)

Sweet Fishin' pictures

Thank you Joel for capturing these sweet memories!

Can't wait to pull this picture out 16 years from now at their high school graduation :)

Date with Daddy

Monday night, Travis and Lee decided that they needed to take Colby and Jenna fishing sometime soon...tonight was the night! Colby was SO excited when I told him that daddy was on his way home and they were GOING FISHING with Jenna Mae and her daddy!!!!!!

Doesn't he look like a pro?? (please notice the tongue....it must really help him concentrate)

What ever happened to those fishing poles where you just press the button and then let go?!?? This thing is high tech.

Ready to roll

They were gone for 3 hours! (I would have packed more snacks if I would have known they were staying more than an hour!) Colby told me that they caught "one, two, three, four, five fishies" and that he got to pet them....haha.

Trav said that Colbster is going to have to ask for some fishing gear for Christmas. Jenna came decked out in her Columbia fishing shirt, pink Barbie pole, pink tackle box and pink fish net. You go girl!!!

Those 2 babies are definitely blessed with awesome dads!!

1st time to the theater!!

I've been going back and forth all summer thinking about whether or not Colby would enjoy going to see Cars 2 at the theater. To say that he is obsessed with the original Cars movie is an understatement. (Thank you Kim V. for letting me borrow your copy back in May....our lives haven't been the same since)

Cars is a part of our daily summer routine. Pretty much any time that we are home, (which isn't too often) Cars is on the TV. Colby has several lines memorized that he will pull out at random times. Yesterday in the car he started saying "Stiiiiing like a beeber!" (aka- sting like a beamer). :)

WE LOVE CARS!!!!

There are 2 things that have been holding me back....1) Colby HATES sudden noises, loud noises, dark places, new places, and anything out of the ordinary. To me, movie theaters are all of those things!

2) The movie is about 2 hours long....I'm not sure that Colby has sat unrestrained for 2 hours ever. When we watch the movie at our house he's moving around, playing with his cars, going from one chair to the next, etc. So I wasn't sure he could actually handle sitting for so long.

This morning, I just decided I wanted to take him! I figured $11 wasn't TOO much for some morning entertainment, and I just really wanted him to get to do something new and fun.

He was SO excited to see the movie poster when we got there! You can't really tell, but he's clinging to his Lighting McQueen toy from Mimsy in his left hand. :)

ok mom, that's enough- let's go!

He looks terrified in this picture, but he was not scared AT ALL! It was LOUD in there and the beginning of the movie is pretty intense, but he loved it. The skittles that we bought helped hold him over for a little while, then a ring pop, then some graham crackers, then a Gatorade, then his lovey and paci, then my lap, and then.....after about an hour and twenty minutes....he was done. He wasn't bad by any means, but he was just antsy and wanted to talk to me about the movie, which I figured no one around us would really appreciate, so we packed up and got out of there before any big meltdowns occurred. I'd definitely say it was worth it and we had a fun morning together!

Maybe we'll try Winnie the Pooh next week??...It's only 60 min. :)