Big changes

Big changes here in the Atok house this week.

On Sunday, Collin decided to climb out of his crib and face-plant on the floor.

I had put them down for their nap and went downstairs. About 5 minutes later I hear a loud "thud". I knew immediately that one of them had fallen out of their crib. I ran up the stairs so fast. Half-way up the stairs, I see their door open and Collin came out crying. He wasn't hurt too badly. But it sure scared him, and me. I nearly had a heart attack. I was afraid to put him back, but they needed to take a nap. I put them back in about 30 minutes later and sat outside their door. I heard laughing, "uh-oh", "no-no", "Coll-un, uh-oh". I'm pretty sure he was trying again but gave up and did go to sleep.

I started panicking. I'm so not ready to move them out of their cribs. They are such good sleepers, and I really don't want that to change. But, I also don't want my child to have a head injury because I'm too afraid to change. So, we went for it. We converted their cribs to the "toddler" beds. Basically it is the crib with just three sides (the front section taken off). We found a railing to go on that side so that they don't roll out of bed. We tried it without a railing and Brendan rolled out of bed all night long and one time I found him underneath Collin's bed!! The railings help so much but still allow them to get in and out of bed like "big boys."

They have done great with the new beds at bedtime. They have only gotten out of their rooms once each night (right after we put them down) and went back to their beds easily. But naptime is another story. I'm hoping that it will improve in the next day or so. (Hopefully!).

I guess it's sinking in...

We started time-outs (aka, sitting in the corner) awhile back for naughtiness. We make sure to tell them what they did wrong and then they have to sit facing the corner for 2 minutes. They dislike it, but it does work to take them away from the situation. It seems to be working because they usually only need to sit in the corner about once a day!

Anyhow, yesterday the boys were playing and Brendan had his Woody "doll" (Mike hates that I call him a doll. I guess he's a "character?") and he smacked Collin on the head with it. I told him "no hitting Collin, and let's play with Woody, not hit with Woody." What does he do? He takes Woody and sits him in the corner for a timeout! It was hilarious!

Unfortunately for Brendan he also got a time-out. Although it was really hard because I was dying laughing on the inside!

These boys are so hilarious. They really keep me entertained. Never a dull moment in these parts.

Silly boys

The boys love to do anything that imitates what we do - from pretending to drive, talk on the phone, wearing our shoes, etc.

Here is Collin in my sunglasses that he pulled off the counter:

And here he is sporting my tennis shoes...

Another funny note is how the boys have been figuring out how to push each others buttons. For instance, Collin is in love with the movie Aladdin and is often seen carrying around the DVD. The other day Brendan saw that it was lying on the floor. He immediately got a gleam in his eye, ran over, picked it up and ran to the playroom as fast as he could! It was hilarious! He was laughing while he did it. He totally knew that it was going to upset Collin. And it did, of course. Then I got to break up the fight.

And for good measure, here is a funny picture of Brendan I took this morning. He was really studying the monitor on his jukebox. He is such a thinker.

Brenny knows 5 colors!

For awhile now I have been pointing out the colors of different objects to get the boys familiar with colors. In the last few weeks, Brendan has shown an increased interest in the color of EVERYTHING. He started out automatically saying everything is "blue". But in the last day or two, he has started to get colors right when I ask him!!! I can't believe it! He can point out and say, "blue, pink, green, orange, and yellow", and once in a while "purple."

Here's a video I from this morning. Excuse the first part as the cat kept getting in the way and then I dropped the camera! It's also not the best video because I was trying not to draw attention to the camera, because whenever they see the camera they want to look at the screen to see the "babies!"



I'm sure before long Collin will be able to pick out colors too. He knows a few, but most of the time he won't stop playing long enough to focus on learning them! ;)

Being a mom to boys

As I reached for a cool drink on this hot 104 degree day, I found...

Yes, a Transformer in my refrigerator. Nice.

Not much to talk about

This has been a very looong and trying week. Mike was away on a business trip Tuesday-Friday and unfortunately the boys and I got sick with a stomach bug. One of the worst stomach bugs I've ever encountered. Talk about cruel timing. We are so lucky to have a caring and loving family though. My sis Shelley and my parents came to our rescue and helped us out - THANK YOU so much guys! I was pretty incapacitated Friday morning and could not have taken care of the boys without you guys. Aunt Mandy-you are so lucky that you got to miss out on this fun! ;)

Mike is home now and the boys and I are slowly recovering from the virus. So, like I said, not much to talk about over here! Hopefully this week will be much better.

Building the Playground set

A month or so ago we were given an old wooden playground set that the previous owner's kids had outgrown. It was about 6-7 years old, so it was really weathered and needed some TLC. So my dad (Grandpa Rich) and Mike decided that they would start the project to rebuild it. Grandpa Rich took the base of the fort portion back to his house to start. He has been working really hard on it, and actually had to end up replacing and rebuilding most of the entire base of the fort. He wanted to make sure that it was nice and steady for the grandkids!! Mike is working on sanding and staining the other pieces that didn't need replaced. Today Grandpa Rich and Grandma Penny came over to deliver the base or "fort" part of the playset. They brought it over in pieces so that it would fit through our gate.

Here is a picture of them putting it together:

And here is the final product, well not really final, but the base at least. Once Mike gets the other parts sanded and stained we'll put the rest of it together.

Here are all the pieces that Mike is working on. It will have a slide, rock wall and 3 swings.


It looks great and makes me eager to get the rest of it put together. I know that the boys will have endless hours of playtime on it!

What were the boys doing while everyone else was busy? Swimming of course!


Dad & Mom (Grandpa Rich & Grandma Penny) - thanks again for all of your hard work rebuilding this playset!!! We really appreciate it and can't wait to use it!