big kid bed.

i've had a quite a few people ask how we did with the beast migrating to his big kid bed this week, so i figured i would just blog about it, so all stalkers can know. ha. but, he did uh-mazing! like for reals. i was terrified. he's a wild man at night time and i figured him having freedom would only increase that. but he's done much much much better than expected. 

first, i hyped up having a big kid bed. we've been telling him big kids do this, or big kids do that for a few weeks now just to make him more motivated to do things that he normally hates to do. so, while i was searching for a bed on craigslist and i would show him it and he would go "i want it, i want it, big kid bed". when i found the one i wanted, we went and picked it up the next day and he was very very excited to get it. unfortunately mom does not set up/take down furniture so he had to wait until dad was home and we were back from our trip to begin loving his big kid bed even more. 

but monday dad set it up and took away the crib and he thought it was the most amazing thing in the entire world. luckily he's not that kid who's super attached to his crib so he could have cared less that we took it away. we talked about how when you're in a big kid bed you STAY, and do not come out and he listened pretty good. levi said i over-did the telling him to stay, buuut he didn't come out of his room at all, so he can suck it. 

nap time the next day was trickier because he could see all of his toys. we had to move all of them out into the hallway and then he finally went to sleep after mom ruined everything and took them all away. he did so good that night and stayed in there the whole time. but, the toys are still in the hallway until further notice, and it kills me every time i walk down there. he has too much stuff, and we didn't even buy him most of it.  

then dad was home the next night so he thought it meant he could come out whenever he wanted. it was lovely. levi went and turned the door knob around so we could lock him in from the outside. he thinks this method is awesome. i disagree. i don't feel like he's learning how to discipline himself if he doesn't get the opportunity to come out and realize he's not supposed to do that. so we compromised and if he came out three times he got locked in there, like a prisoner. {still not my favorite method, obviously, but it works for a kid who isn't quite old enough to reason with}. but when it's locked, he gets bored, gets in bed and falls asleep within five minutes. we also told him that when he is ready to get up and it's locked to say "momma out, please" and he does that pretty good most of the time. 

for some reason whenever dad is home he feels like he needs to come out and hang out with us. probably because of the rarity of the situation, levi probably is home to put him in bed maybe 3 out of the 7 nights. but when i put him to bed and nap time, he just stays in there because he's tired of seeing me. haha. 

and because you can't have a big kid bed with baby blankets, we went to ikea and picked out big kid blankies which just so happened to have his top three favorite things on it: cars, trucks and bikes. and it was only 15 bucks so that makes dad happy too. i personally think that this has made him stay in his bed better, but the spouse would disagree with me because "kids don't care about that stuff". but i think he does. =) 

in any case, he has done so so good! i'm so proud of him! the thought of giving him more freedom is terrifying to me, but he has done amazingly so far. sometimes i feel like he's older than he is, because he's just so easy. toddlerhood is supposed to be tricky, either he is an amazingly almost perfect kid or he's waiting to make our lives really difficult doing something else. i hope it's the first one. 

"tinkle tinkle dar"

i figured that I haven't posted about just the man in a while, so i should do it to remember his awesomeness in the future. so, some of his little quirks are: 

- he LOVES spicy food. he still digs mexican food, but when that is not available, it is hamburgers {with cheese, DO NOT forget it mom}, cheerios, carrot juice and smoothies. 

- speaking of hamburgers, he can tell you every fast food place that has hamburgers, including but not limited to: In n Out, Wendy's and Burger King. I swear we do not go there that often for him to know them, but he has a memory like I've never seen. 

- he never stops talking. ever. 

- he LOVES mickey mouse clubhouse and can name every single person on it. someday we'll go to disneyland so he can love it even more. 

- he loves nursery. if he could go every day, he totally would. 

- he just stopped crying when the vacuum comes on for the first time since he's been born. 

- he still wears size three shoes. well technically, his feet are so fat that he needs to wear size fives because they are wider. 

- he does amazing in a big kid bed. much much better than i thought he would do. more on that in another post. 

- he is very very friendly. any kid, person, dog, cat he will say hi to and want to play with. 

- he is an amazing listener. 95% of the time. it impresses me how he generally gets what i'm saying and does it. 

- he loves clothes. he knows exactly what he wants to wear in the morning, and what pj's he wants to put on at night time. they almost always match and have layers such as sweaters or jackets as well as accessories such as bow ties and shoes. it cracks me up. 

yes, we're inside and this is what he wanted to wear. 

- he loves fire trucks. and trains. and cars. and bikes. any time of transportation vehicle actually. he can tell you what they are, and what sound they make. 

- he can count to ten, but not when you ask him to. usually he is sitting in the back of the car just saying it, or walking around target counting socks. it's crazy. 

- he knows lots of colors, but has no idea what they actually are. his favorites are yellow and green so he just says everything is that color. 

- he loves to sing songs. it's so cute. 

he loves to sing twinkle twinkle. but usually skips half the song and makes up the rest. it makes me laugh everytime he does it. 

- any time he hurts himself, he brings himself to mom and says "kiss it" and then "all better" after i do. it's precious. 

- he also loves to cuddle. but only if he instigates it. he will walk up to you and say "cuddle cuddle". it's also precious. 

- he is an AMAZING sleeper. he usually goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00, wakes up around 8:30 and takes a nap from about 1:00-3:30 or so. seriously. amazing. 

we got lucky with this toddler. he seriously is so easy. very very rarely does he throw tantrums, and usually it's because he doesn't want to come inside. the spouse and i have talked about how we're going to get attacked by our next child because zak did not prepare us for craziness. 

anytime i try to take a picture of him, the face in almost all of these pictures is what i get. it's hilarious. 

someday i'll use this to scrapbook for him about the cool things he does. someday, when i have motivation to scrapbook. 

relaxation.

i love when levi doesn't have school. it's fabulous. especially when a three day weekend is involved. this particular weekend we went to the beach house with some old friends and it was great. minus the weather being a bit chilly, the sun was shining and the babes were loving each other just like they did as newborns. =) 

something about the beach brings out the best in marriages, kids and everything else. i love it. thankfully we have a beach house we can go to anytime. 

i love that we can see our friends after so long and things are exactly the same. unfortunately we don't live next door to each other anymore, but thank goodness neither of us live in utah. =) 

isn't my family handsome? yes, yes they are.

i love the beach. and our friends. and levi not having school. one month until a week of spring break. and four days until we find out the sex of our kid!

lovey.

it's valentine's day tomorrow. oh man. our plans consist of me making a nicer dinner than usual. other than that, we have already done all that we plan on doing. 

the husband and i decided that we should go out on saturday to work best with his ridiculous schedule and our amazing babysitters. we haven't been out by ourselves in a while, so it was fabulous. 

we also decided that this valentine's we'd rather be cheaper and get presents unlike last year where we didn't do presents and went to chef's table and spent waaay too much money on delicious food. 

levi found a groupon for this thai place called another monkey downtown and it was delicious! i am not one for thai food especially while pregnant but it was good! 

they did a great job presenting it too. i would recommend it for sure. definitely an adult place though, no kids. 

 levi got seafood curry, which he loved. too exotic for me, but it did look cool. 

i got thai bbq pork, mango salad and sticky rice. also delicious. 

we then found a living social thing for 2 tickets to man on a ledge for $12.00 so we went to that after dinner, it was good! 

levi wants new basketball shoes for his present, {so romantic, i know} and i got part of my trip to utah and pearl earrings for my present. we also found a groupon for them {yeah, i pretty much stalk those apps on my phone}. $40 bucks for $175 earrings online. score for me. my first pair of real pearls. i am in love. 

do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your ear btw?? it's a challenge. 

also, i'm almost 19 weeks pregnant. woohoo. next week we find out the sex! i'm so excited! any thoughts on what it will be? levi's 100% positive it's a girl, so who knows. 

i honestly feel that it's taking me longer to look pregnant than it did last time. which is unfortunate, because i like the actual looking pregnant part and not the "burrito baby" part as one of my friends so lovingly calls it. 

utah-an.

this past weekend, the man and i went to utah to visit our families and friends. it was fabulous. i have been craving utah food since being pregnant- which is weird, because that place is lame, let's be honest. but we had such a good time, and are sooo glad to be back home. 

words cannot describe how excited he was to be going on the airplane. we had been looking forward to this airplane ride for weeks now to see "KASSIEEEEE" and "OSSSSHHH", his two favorite people in the world besides mom and dad. 

 just checking his email before we take off. he's a big kid. man.... 

 i love when he gets to cuddle on me. it's a very rare occasion. 

you know what i love about utah?? wing nutz. it's freaking fabulous. if you haven't been there, go there now. 

funny story, we went to this piano bar saturday night, and kassie's dumb friends decided to bail/not answer their phones all day and evan's friends decided to not to come last minute, so it ended up being kassie & boyfriend, roommate & boyfriend, and melissa and best friend from efy, evan. as ridiculous as that story sounds, it's totally true. but it was a lot of fun. The music was good, the pianists were amazing, and the ice water was delish. Plus, it's always good to catch up with old old friends to & get out without the wee man. 

later on sunday, we went to see some of our bestest friends for a delicious dinner.  lucas and zak are bff's. and darci.... well she likes me, i promise. 

then we might have been locked out of kassie's house, because they are very efficient, so the car seat entertained us in the freezing. it's cold there. holy moly. 

utah was great. we saw old friends, brothers, sister's in law, and cousins. after being there, i realized i no longer have any desire to live there at all. after eating cafe rio, wing nutz, kneaders, red robin, mimi's cafe, and other amazing delicious places, i have gotten my fill of the cold, dreary land and am happy to be returning to the land of 70 degrees and sunny. 

and just because you think we're so cute. here are some pictures we took on the plane because we had to sit outside our gate for 25 minutes before we could de-board. 

someday the iPhone's front camera won't stink as much as it does now. 

grand ol' time.

today was a grand day. we started with a tea party. i'll be honest, i probably was more excited that zak because when do we ever go to tea party? especially as a boy. so it was mom's time to dress him up all fancy, tiara's or bow ties were necessary. 

 i have a serious problem with baby clothes. boy or girl. they're just so cute. 

doesn't my friend throw such a cute party?? and she made all the food because she's a gourmet cooker. it was delish. 

the kiddies had a fabulous time. i'm pretty sure zak enjoyed the toys much more than the actual tea party, but it was still so fun. especially because we got special 'adult' sandwiches as well. 

then, to make up for mom letting us watch 'the horsie movie'/tangled two days in a row, we painted the side walk, ate dinner and then came in and paint in the bath tub. he loves coloring. 

 this is his "show me your smile" face. cracks me up every time. 

 it's pretty easy to make, soap, cornstarch, boiling water, and food coloring. he was digging it. 

it was a good day today. we'll call it my one day this week of being a non lazy pregnant mom.