Nap Strike Diaries...

OK, so I worked on the "Halloween" blog for 4 days! (just published it today with yesterdays date on it) :) I was just going to blog about taking the little ones to play group on Monday, and then do another one with all 3 kids dressed up... Let's just say it's been a rough week... Beatrice has been colicky all week :( starting Monday just after playgroup with screaming fits... and on top of that it's been major nap strikes with Duncan all week. Monday afternoon was just crazy - Every time I would get Beatrice asleep and try to lay her down she would wake up and start crying again... and Duncan's new form of nap strike is not just laying there crying or jabbering, he started getting up and running out of the room! Monday afternoon I put the gate up at his door (after he came running out about 20 times) - then he threw everything he could get his hands on over the gate... I spent the entire afternoon (3 hours) trying to get him to stay in bed and take a nap while trying to keep Beatrice from screaming... It was not a fun afternoon. Tuesday was much the same except for after putting Duncan back in bed about 10 times I gave up and just put him to bed at 7pm. But of course he just does not function well without a nap and he was cranky and naughty quite a bit more than usual... So Wednesday I was determined to make him take his nap. I tried everything - put him back in bed, stood at the door and laid him back down every time he got up, sat in there with him and kept laying him back down... until finally I just held him down with my legs across him (while nursing the baby) until he fell asleep... He cried, he laughed, cried again then gave up. It took 1 1/2 hours to get him to sleep, but then he slept for 2 hours and I was able to get a few things done. And he was much better behaved last night. Today it only took 45 mins (and a chorus of crying)!



We have started using the time out chair from Emma for Duncan... here he is taking a time out

And here he is turning away from the camera - humiliating to have your picture taken in the naughty chair :)
Here's Beatrice working the mic with Dad :)
She's a fast learner ;)
Duncan on his sit and spin....
which is on top of his chair and a few blankets... yes, danger is his middle name...

Dad reading Duncan his bedtime storyMom actually getting to finish a meal :)

Halloween

Well we went on our Halloween haunted drive on Sunday. We just took a trip down Devil's Lake Rd, and visited an old home site which had a really spooky looking outhouse and well. Then we headed to Spooner, where there is a road that if you park a ghost hearse will follow you back to town. We were expecting a more deserted road, but there were actually several houses, so we didn't end up parking... it was a nice drive anyway. The most haunting thing about it was the crazy mooing of the cow from the farm behind us! :) It sounded quite psychotic.

I dressed the two little ones up for playgroup on Monday. They were so cute :) Almost all the little kids were dressed up and it was a full house! There were a couple of spider mans a couple of hens, snow white, a couple of different power rangers, a ghost, a dog, a princess, a penguin... it was pretty fun. The kids all had a blast.

I ended up taking Maria and Duncan out trick or treating after all. Maria was planning on going with the neighbor girl, but waited too long to call and ask, they were already taking two extra kids (along with their 3) and didn't have enough room in the car. I felt bad, so decided that since I was going to take her, I might as well take Duncan. I took them to the two blocks of town :) there were 3 house lights on one street, so we actually got to walk to a few houses. I hadn't coached Duncan on saying Trick or Treat since I didn't plan on taking them, but I worked with him on it through dinner - he said "ticka ticka" and "treat" - but of course he wouldn't say it (or anything else) when we got to the houses, but would say it on the way to the next house :) He's too funny - acts all shy and won't talk around people, but yet he wanted to run into everyone's house and make himself at home! So we went to the three houses in town and then went to a couple of houses on the outskirts of town... trick or treat here is much different as the houses are all a ways apart from each other - so it required a lot of in and out of the car... we only went to about 6 houses, but they had as much candy as they would have had going to 20 or more houses in the QC (and it took about as much time too)- every house gave a big handful of candy. They had fun anyway :)

Sugar High coming on ;)

Sugar High complete ;)

Brrr!

Another week gone. Time is just flying by! I can't believe Halloween is next week already! Before you know it, it will be Christmas! There's been frost on the ground and cars all week. :( I'm just not looking forward to the cold weather! It's already too dang cold!
Well, I actually got Beatrice to laugh once more for me! She's a tough cookie though. Doesn't want to give it up too easily! :) And she finally started trying to "talk." She hasn't really done any vocalization (other than crying and screaming of course). The other night she tried really hard with her whole body and came out with a sound that sounded so much like Hi!! It was so adorable! Then she made a few other sounds coos and such :) aw :)
Not much else going on this week... We may go on a road trip this weekend to some communities around here that have "haunted" places from the "Haunted Wisconsin" book. And there's a road here called "Devil's Lake Rd" that is pretty scary :)
Maria decided that she's going to be a zombie for Halloween. Duncan says "membie." :) Duncan is just going to be his gorilla from last year since it was too big last year. Don't really want to buy him another costume when we probably won't take them out anyway (it will be too cold, and too dark, and we'd have to go too far). Beatrice is going to be a giraffe (a costume aunt ally gave us). I'll probably dress them up and go to Maria's school parade. And on Monday all the kids from Duncan's play group are dressing up, so I'll take them dressed up there too.
I actually made it back to the playgroup for Duncan yesterday. He did really good again :) Got some energy out :)
Sadly, I haven't really taken many pictures in the past week, so... here's a few of the few I took ;)

First Laugh!

Beatrice laughed for the first time this past Sunday! Dad was getting her piggies :) of course I was out getting eggs for breakfast :( But then she laughed for me Monday morning (after trying several times, unsuccessfully, to get her to laugh on Sunday). She has such a cute little laugh. Mike called it a "subtle" laugh, and I would have to say that nails it. It's like a bunch of tiny flittering motor sounds put together. It's so cute! :)

There was frost on the ground this morning :(

I believe that Winter is just around the corner... Of course all the leaves are gone, we're past peak... and I didn't get out to take any pictures.

We were at the Wal-Mart in Rice Lake this weekend when Mike picked up a book and asked me if I wrote it. It was called "Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair"!! I said I should have written that book! So of course I had to buy it and so far it's pretty damn funny! And it was so me when Mike

and I started dating. Not only was she Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair, but she was 30-something and then took up knitting! Of course I crochet, but close enough!!!

Maria brought home her Kickapoo Diarama project, so I had to get a picture of it. She went out to the yard and gathered grass for it, made a little fire and such and the funniest thing is the cradle board! :) She cut out a picture of one of the Olsen Twins and pasted it to the cradle board! :)

Loads of Pics!!

Get ready for lots of pictures from our trip to Davenport! It was a really long 3-day trip (two of the three days were pretty much spent in the car). The trip was so much longer on the way home. On the way down we only had to stop a few times for feedings and diaper changes and it wasn't so bad - only a few minor breakdowns... on the way home however... we had to stop 4 times for feedings and probably just as many times for diaper changes and we had dueling breakdowns for about the last hour of the trip - both Duncan and Beatrice were just done being in the car. It will probably be a while before we make the trip again.

Anyway, we had a great time during the one day we had to visit! Emma got to the motel Friday night not too long after we got to town. So she got to spend some time with her new baby sister :) we got some really cute pictures of them together! :)

After breakfast on Saturday it was off to Aunt Ally & Uncle David's house where we played with Riley. Grandma joined us there. Duncan and Riley played on the slide together and ate some spaghetti for lunch.

Aunt Tiffany holding Beatrice

The whole Gang!

Duncan and Riley taking turns on the slide

Time for speghetti!

Then it was off to Panchero's for the rest of the fam's lunch!! :) mmmmm....
After lunch I took the girls swimming while Duncan took his nap. He actually slept really good and long.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner with Mike's family. Almost everyone made it to Fay's house. We had Grandma's famous fried chicken and Fay's famous cheesy potatoes :) and some awesome desserts! Lea made a yellow cake with triple chocolate frosting :) can't go wrong with chocolate.

Grandma Campbell Holding Beatrice

Lea giving Duncan a drink. She kept trying to get him to say Lea while we were there, which of course he would't... but as soon as we got back to the motel room he started saying Lea over and over again!! The little stinker!
Lea holding Beatrice

Beatrice smiling for Lea :)

Grandma, Grandpa, Ashley and Alyssa came back to the motel room after dinner for a saxophone performance by Maria ~ who's gotten pretty good in the short time that she's been playing.

Of course by the end of the day everyone was a little exhausted and crabby :) I had planned on getting a family picture at some point over the weekend, but that didn't happen - so I thought at the least I would get a picture of the kids for this year's Christmas card. That proved to be somewhat of a challenge - last year it was fun trying to get three kids and a dog to cooperate, but this year it was four kids and we skipped the dog :) Duncan kept trying to get down, and when he was finally staying put Beatrice got crabby and then spit up all over her outfit! :) Here's one of the outtakes ;)

Loaded up and ready for the trek home... already looking bored ;)