Terrible threes?

I thought I was prepared for the terrible threes, after all I have been through it once already, albeit it was several years ago. I definitely don't remember it being this difficult. Jack's favorite word is "NO!" and he uses it constantly! He has also recently learned the phrase "Leave me alone!" which he screams at the top of his little voice and sometimes even swats us. I'm not sure why he is having such a hard time right now but I know that I am about at my wits end. Everything is so dramatic with him lately. I feel like I am constantly disciplining him. I have read all of the parenting advice books and I'm not sure what else to try. We ask him nicely to stop whatever it is he is doing: kicking the dog, whining (all the time) or screaming NO etc. The conversation is always like this, Mommy: "Jack please share with Nolan" Jack: "Why Not?" M: "because it's nice to share" J: voice getting 8 decibels higher and louder, " Why Not?" M: " Jack, Nolan cries when you take things away from him, it makes him sad so please share and be nice." J: " NO!!!" M: " O.K then if you can't be nice you can go sit in your room until you decide you can share/ stop yelling/ eat your dinner/ stop banging your toy on the window etc." Major ear piercing tantrum follows. I feel like I am failing some sort of test. I dread going anywhere for fear of the disapproving glances. I even got yelled at by some old grumpy man at Walmart recently. Any advice out there?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We had a busy but fun Easter. I had to work 13 hours on Sunday, Jim my mom & the boys all came to have brunch with me at the hospital which was really nice. Jim & the boys went over to Papa's & Nanas for Easter dinner & some egg hunting. Thanks Papa & Nana, it was really nice! The boys always have fun seeing all of their cousins. On Monday me & the babies went to our friend Lindsey's for an Easter brunch and egg hunt. It was a ton of fun. There were lots of little friends there. We had stuffed cabbage and veggies for Easter dinner & peach pie, YUM!!! Then we found our bunny baskets. whewwww!

Here are some pics of the experience...

TIP OF THE DAY

Act globally, eat locally. If you shop at a supermarket, the food you buy may travel in a plane from the other side of the world, burning fossil fuels the entire trip. Shop at a local farmers’ markets and you will find fresh and healthy food, and help save our climate.

Recent Fam Photo Shoot

Thanks for being our photographer dad! We are not an easy crew to capture the perfect shot! Gramma & Alec did a great job at providing the distractions & entertainment! These are the best of the bunch. If the babies were sitting still or even smiling AND sitting still, one of us had our eyes closed. Oh well, it's a good thing PaPa works for kisses.

Thanks for hooking me up with a blog Rach! I just realized thou that I only know 3 people with blogs, so I will be bugging you guys all the time now!

Nolie rolie polie. A sweet little personality all his own.

He has started to be so independent lately. What happened to my little snuggleufugus? I can hardly get him to stop and give me a kiss these days. There are so many important things to do when your a baby.

He is such a tough little guy. I guess you have to be when you're the youngest. Although he is at least the same size if not bigger than Jack now! He is a bulldozer! He will climb up the jungle gym at the park as quick as he can and go right down the slide tumbling all the way. If he bonks his head hard he gets up and rubs his head with an irritated look and then keeps on going. Him and Jack are good buddies. They romp all over the place together. Nolan is so proud of himself now that he can keep up with his Big brother! Their favorite game is "going crazy in the hallway" as Jack puts it. The have push poppers and a big car and run them up and down the hallway screaming and laughing bumper car style.

our little goofball.

o.k. so Jack has a small obsession with my shoes. Actually, he loves to wear either Jim or mine, but Jim's are bigger and heavier and harder to get around in. He has been putting my shoes and glasses and mittens or anything else he can get his hands on and going to the front door saying "BYYYYEE Mommy,Daddy, baby Nowey, Bitty... Jack go to work! BY Byyyeee!" Potty training hasn't been a huge success so far as you can see. He would rather wear his new undies on his head or Over his shorts. oh well.

The difference between boys and girls...

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

We decided very spur of the moment to take a trip to San Diego and visit Sea World. Maybe we should have waited another year. We had fun at Sea World, but I could write a comedy about our night at the hotel alone. To make a very long story short (something I'm not particularly good at), the babies slept a total of about 3 1/2 min. the whole 7 hour (5 pit stops and 4 potty breaks inc.) trip. We had promised Jack we would see the beach when we arrived. So when we got into San Diego around 7p.m. it was getting dark but we had to stop and get out to play at the beach. This is where the comedy begins...

Jack is so happy and excited to see the beach he goes running and screaming "yeah...beach!" all the way to the water, then the waves come in and knock him down. Remember, it's January. Fast forward past the cold naked wet trip to the hotel. Now that we've unloaded all our luggage and are standing cold and tired in front of the elevators on the 5th level of the parking garage, we find them out of order. After the changing and rearranging of the hotel room, we have Britton and I in one bed, Jim & Jack in another (pushed against the wall so he won't fall off) and Nolan in a borrowed small metal crib. After a couple of hours of Nolan crying and Jack saying "what was that daddy???!!! very loudly at every creek and hallway noise, all is quiet. Britton has been bouncing and flopping all over the bed like a fish out of water. At around 1 a.m. I kick him out of bed onto the floor where he wanted to sleep by himself in the first place. Ahhhhh, finally I can get some sleep. At 1:20 a.m. cue Nolan to wake up and start screaming bloody murder. This lasts about 30 minutes. I'm not sure how but now we are all in different beds. Jim is sleeping in my bed with Nolan, I am in bed with Jack (who again is asking question's and doesn't understand the concept of whispering). Quiet once again. O.K. its about 3:45 in the morning. at least they should all sleep in so we can have a nice day right, I mean no one slept the entire ride here and have been up all night. Around 5 stinkin 30 in the morning, I open my eyes just a little and in the pitch blackness see Jack staring at me about 2" away. "HI MOMMY! WANNA GO GET COFFEE AND MUFFINS?" good grief! there was no quieting him. up and out we went to the hotel lobby so we won't wake everyone else. Jack is bright and cheerful in his footsie jammies and greets everyone in the lobby (at 5 a.m. not many) very enthusiastically.

Fast forward to sea world. We arrive about 2 hours early (who knew) and sit in line for the gates to open. by the time we get in babies are all ready getting cranky. We see a few things talk to a few animals, pass the dolphins with a quick how do you do, and off we are back to Arizona.

If you haven't read the above story, you need to in order to get the full effect of this video.

This video is of Jack who is fed up with Nolan smacking him on the back of the head and whining and crying. He has resorted to yelling at him to be quiet with his new shark head.