Sniff, sniff.....from crib to toddler bed!

So, it's been a big week at our house.....on Wednesday night about 10 minutes after putting Paul to bed we heard a THUMP. Keep in mind that he is upstairs and we were 2 floors down - I don't think either of us have ever moved so fast. Turns out that our little man decided to make his first attempt to climb out of his crib and wasn't quite as graceful as he needed to be! He was fine, but a little shaken up. Sooo....while it was scary, it was also a turning point that told us we were going to have to convert his crib into a toddler bed. I was so hoping that he would stay in his crib until he was 3 but alas it was not meant to be.

So we decided to make the switch this weekend just in case it caused a disruption to his sleeping schedule. Friday night was his last night in his crib.....based on these pictures, he clearly didn't know or care!

The front portion of the crib came down this morning and the toddler bed attachment went up. Paul was pretty excited about the change although he kept saying "bed broken" and "mommy fix-it". He proceeded to load his bed up with cars and parked them against the rails. Cute!

With the bed change, we needed to put door handle covers on his bedroom and bathroom doors....so just in case he gets up and we don't know it, he can't get anywhere he shouldn't be. He was a bit frustrated when he couldn't get out of his room.

Hey mommy, this is how I get in my bed!

Settling in for his first nap in his toddler bed. Happy boy!

So we went through the rules - no climbing and you must stay in bed until mommy or daddy comes to get you. We hooked up the infrared crib cam and watched him - he rolled around, stood up, jumped a few times, sat on the edge of the bed and then plunked down and took his nap. He never left the bed! We were so proud and we celebrated when he got up from his nap. Tonight was very similar. So we now have a little man that is sleeping in a toddler bed like a big boy. We'll see if this great behavior continues!

After his nap, we met up with a friend and her two girls this afternoon - the 3 kids got to play together at the park and had a great time....and we had a nice time visiting in the shade.

R and E having fun under the playground equipment with Paul.

Looking forward to another nice day tomorrow....

A day off!

After a fun (but busy) weekend back in the QC, I had planned to take Monday off from work and spend a fun family day. The weather was great - although it was on the hot side for sure! We decided to make the most of our day....after breakfast and a little choo-choo playing time we jumped in the car and hit the zoo. Our zoo membership has been heavily used this summer and we will most definitely be buying one for ourselves when our gift membership expires.

Check out his cool dude outfit.....he grabbed his John Deere hat and slapped it on backwards and then put his sunglasses in the neck of his shirt just like daddy does! Too cute!


On the way into the zoo.....trying to put his sunglasses on.....clearly having a little trouble.

Checking out the birds.....

Monday is free train ride day and therefore the lines are LONG! We had to wait at least 10 minutes which is like an eternity for a 2 year old.

What do you mean I have to wait to ride the choo-choo? But, I want to ride it NOW!

Maybe if I stand here looking pathetic, the train will come back faster?!?

Paul always loves to feed the baby goats!

We came home and had a little lunch and then the little man went down for a nap. When he got up, we headed for the aquatic center for a little pool time. Paul had so much fun the last time we went that we just had to go back.

Check out my cool SHARK SHOES! He just loved these shoes (thanks Gram and Pa). He kept saying shark shoes all afternoon.

Grabbing a snack poolside.

Having fun in the pool!

We ended our day with some dinner and play time at home! I am so proud of our little man after a weekend filled with less sleep than normal, more people than normal and a totally different schedule than normal.....we fully expected Monday to be rough as he re-adjusted to normal routine. But, he was great all day! I will admit that he chose to abstain from his nap at school today and ended up in bed at 6:30 tonight.....maybe that was his way of reacting to the busy weekend!? If so, that really wasn't too bad.

Several of my bloggy friends have been posting about their children escaping their cribs and having to move to toddler beds. We continue to love the fact that Paul is happy in his crib and we will keep him there just as long as humanly possible. I've most likely jinxed us, but I am thankful that our little man still loves his crib!

I will leave you with this fun picture of daddy and Paul pinching each other's noses and cheeks.....I love the men in my life!

We're going to a PARTY!

I think Paul's favorite new word is PARTY. He talks about parties all the time so it's a good thing that we actually had a party to go to this weekend! We headed back to the QC on Friday and had a busy weekend spending some time with Jason's family as well as celebrating my mom's birthday with some of my family. It was a little busy, but we had a nice time visiting with everyone. I must say how proud I am of our little man. We had to be creative in our sleeping arrangements this weekend, so Paul ended up sleeping at Gram and Pa's in the crib that they have for him but Jason and I stayed on an air mattress in our empty house (yep, that's right, it still hasn't sold). So, not only was his schedule off a bit, he was also sleeping in a different bed and mom and dad weren't even there when he woke up in the morning. He took it all in stride this weekend and has been in an amazing mood the whole time.

Hard to get a good shot of the 3 Marchik boys without someone moving.....this is the best that I've got. Paul had a blast playing with his cousins.
A rousing game of Ring Around the Rosie....one of Paul's favorites and the boys were good sports to sing it and play it with him. It was too cute to see Paul staring up at them grinning the whole time.

And then they ALL FELL DOWN!

After some playtime, it was definitely dessert time. The kids all lined up for whippies. Paul looks just like a baby bird.

The end result always brings smiles!

We spent the day on Saturday celebrating GranJo's birthday. Lots of good food and fun times for sure.

Our little conductor with the longest train ever known to man. GranJo has the perfect round table for playing with trains.

After Paul's nap, the weather was remarkably better so we headed outside for some kiddie pool and hose time. It's amazing how much fun a super small kiddie pool and some funnels and empty milk jugs can be!

The look of concentration on his face as he squirts in the funnel. Watch out GranJo - I might squirt you!

Chillin' in my pool.....

By the time we left to head home today, we were all pooped out! It took Paul all of 8 minutes to zonk out in the car. This is truly the sign of a fun-filled weekend.

Rocking and rolling.....

We had some pretty nasty weather in the early morning hours.....I was close to making us head to the basement but Jason convinced me to stay in bed. It turns out that our friends that live about 10 minutes away had it even a bit worse than we did - their front door blew open and caused some damage. We were blessed to only have some overturned potted plants and some of Paul's outside toys blown around the backyard. And sadly, one of the swallow nests in the backyard didn't make it so Jason had some not-so-fun cleaning up to do. Poor babies.

So, we were all a little tired this morning. Jason made pancakes and we had a yummy breakfast. Paul and I headed downstairs to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.....our little man does NOT like blankets - he has never wanted to sleep under a blanket. For some crazy reason, he immediately wanted to crawl under my blanket. He snuggled right in and we had fun singing along with Mickey!

We pulled out Paul's tent for some play time today - I don't think we have had it out since we moved. This was our cheap find at Ikea a while back and once again, Paul loved to play in it. He had to drag several blankets in and had fun flopping down on them. One of the cats got into the action too and would pounce at Paul through the thin walls of the tent. It was too cute.


Heeellllllooooooo in there.......

Jumping out like a frog......

Flopping on his blankets.....

Paul has to bring his lunch to school next week, so when I ran errands today I picked him up a little insulated lunch bag as well as a thermos for his drink. We washed the thermos and let him drink from it today.....needless to say, he loved his new Spiderman cup!

The weekend went way too fast......here we are at Sunday evening all ready. Time to fire up my work computer and get a few things done to get a start on the week. Let's hope we have a more peaceful night of sleep!

Our first trip to the swimming pool.....

It's been hot, hot, hot here this week - so we planned to hit one of the local pools today. We had a fun morning around the house and planned to hit the pool when Paul got up from his nap.

Here's a little blackmail photo for later in life.....someone decided to try on mommy's shoes!

We grilled out for lunch and then put Paul down for a nap. Paul was excited as soon as he woke up - we got everyone ready and threw our stuff in the car and off we went. Since it was a bit later in the afternoon, the pool was busy but not nearly as busy as it would have been earlier in the day! The aquatic center has a large pool with several slides and a large zero depth area for the little kids to run around in. They also have a separate splash park. Paul was NOT a fan of the splash park at all so we decided to try the zero depth area of the pool. I am ashamed to admit that this is the first time we have taken Paul to a pool. Last year he was still not totally fond of the bath so we didn't think putting him in a large pool of water made a lot of sense. And this year, we have either been busy or when we had time, the weather wasn't right.


Look mommy......WATER!
Paul wasn't so sure about the pool at first. But, we stayed in and let him get used to it slowly and it paid off. He had a blast! Near the end of our 2 hour visit to the pool, he was pretty fearless.

Taking a water break - splashing in the pool makes me thirsty!

There was a little section that had bubbling geysers - Paul thought that was pretty cool.

And playing near the water sprayer.....

We will most definitely be going back to the pool very soon. It was so nice for us to watch Paul enjoy himself while sitting in the water and soaking in the sun!

The longest choo-choo EVER!

Yes, it's been a while since we posted.....so I thought I had better redeem myself tonight. Nothing terribly exciting to report - we are having a pretty busy July but having lots of fun! Paul continues to surprise and amaze us everyday. He's so stinking funny and sometimes he doesn't even mean to be funny! That truly is the blessing of a 2 year old.

After dinner tonight, Paul decided to build the longest choo-choo EVER! He can play with his trains for long stretches and it is so cute to listen to the noises and conversations that he has. He definitely has quite the imagination!

It started with just 2....and the look of concentration.
Look, I found another one!

Then the fun moved under the kitchen table....having way too much fun!

Can you tell what he was saying in this photo....CHOO-CHOO, of course!

Our smart little man knows exactly how Thomas and his friends go to sleep every night on the Island of Sodor.....so, his chair became Tidmouth Shed and he lined the trains up so they could go night-night. He has a mind like a steel trap!

Not surprising, Paul bumped his head on the table and immediately ran to the freezer to get some ice. Mommy supplied the baggie and Paul held the ice on his head for a solid 15 seconds before he got distracted....he's so funny about his "owies" now....he loves lots of kisses and hugs and overall enjoys the attention.

We are looking forward to a weekend at home with NO major plans....we might hit a pool or setup the sprinkler in the backyard. It's supposed to continue to be hot, hot, hot here so we will do what we can to stay cool!

Wrapping up our fun weekend!

Well, the end of our fun Independence Day weekend has come and reality is setting in that I actually have to go back to work tomorrow. I actually worked quite a bit today from home, but somehow it doesn't seem as bad when you are sitting on a comfortable couch in shorts and a t-shirt!

The weather was only marginal all weekend......on Monday, we needed to get out of the house but it was rainy so there weren't a whole lot of options on what to do. We headed to the mall to walk around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat.

Paul had lots of fun collecting money from everyone and throwing it into the fountain - wonder what he wished for?!?

The grandparents decided to take Paul to the zoo today - the weather was much nicer so it was good for them to get outside! Jason and I spent some time at home - he did some projects and I did some work. Everyone arrived home for lunch and then they hit the road and Paul hit the bed for a much needed nap. He had a great time with everyone here but it is certainly exhausting for him to be the center of everyone's attention!

Checking out the baby goat at the zoo....yes, this is the 3rd time he went to the zoo in a 7 day time period. We might need to take a zoo hiatus for a week or two!

The goat decided that he needed to nibble on a piece of Paul's shirt.....

They had a ferret at the zoo today too - Paul seemed pretty excited to pet the ferret.

Check out the hippo drinking fountain....Paul looks so small in this guy's HUGE mouth! You can hit a button and it roars really loud too.

A cheesey grin with Gram.....

Back to normal life now......it is long weekends like this that makes me want to be independently wealthy! But alas, it is not in the cards for us at this point and therefore I will have to force myself to get out of bed at a reasonable time tomorrow and head to the office. Jason's to-do list is pretty long for the week so we will both be working hard the rest of the week!