Jane's First Sleepover

Jane had her first sleepover on June 6 at Hawthorne with her cousin Isabel Jenkins. She and Isabel had such a fun time swimming together that they didn't want the fun to end. She made a pallet on the floor of the Blue Room where Laurel and Phillips were sleeping. The did great! Phillips told them a bed time story and they went right to sleep.  Phillips visited the Do-Nut Shop for a doughnut breakfast.

Another tidbit: Laurel is pregnant with her 3rd! She is due January 4 and they are not finding out what they are having. Oddly, Laurel's 3 dues dates have been January 3rd, 4th, and 5th! It will be interesting to see when baby 3 arrives. Congrats to them!

Children's Museum

We had a great time at the Mississippi Children's Museum with Aunt Grace and Cousin Eleanor while my car was at the shop. When I turned on the AC, the engine shut off. And in June in South Mississippi, needless to say, this had to be fixed! We stayed all afternoon and still didn't get to see/do everything. 

Pull!

Eleanor is a very trusting cousin

Fueling up

Fill 'er up

Jane and Walker learning to milk a cow. (pretty cool: water squirts out into a pan)

Eleanor working it out

Eleanor driving the combine

Walker working construction

Eleanor suited up for work

Water fun

Walker on the catfish

Eleanor is just tall enough to see all the action

What's cookin'?

Dance Party

Thumbs up from Jane

Costume time....

and another....

admiring herself just one more time

Boo!

Trip to Glendora

We had a great visit with Great Grandmother Ygondine Walker Sturdivant (Papa Mike's mom) on May 14

Luau Jane

Bailey gave Jane a Hawaiian grass skirt and lei for dress up. Jane

dressed in them for Mother's Day breakfast.   :)

May Madness

The first two weeks of May have been a lot of fun. The weather has

been nice and we have been able to get outside and play with our new

water toys. Bettye Jane and Charlie gave Walker a sprinkler for his

birthday and we decided to try it out on Wednesday, May 8 after Jane's

Cathedral PreK3 Orientation. Bailey, our across the street neighbor

kept Walker during the orientation then decided to stay and play with

us in the sprinkler.

Walker is sporting his new swim trunks from Micajah and Grace. Thanks guys!

Walker also received a puffer fish pool that we tried out on Thursday,

May 9. It was overcast and the water was cooler than we hoped for so

it wasn't a huge hit by Walker, but I know they will love it when it

is warmer!

Walker loves picking up things that are too heavy for him to pick up. It's the cutest thing to watch! He gets down in a sumo stance before sometimes grunting and picking up the item.

Walker is sporting new swim trunks from Bettye Jane and Charlie. Thanks guys!

Bed Time Routine

I just wanted to write a post on what is going on with Walker and Jane at this time in their life. Walker is in his 12 months, 2nd week and is cutting the right front tooth and the two lateral incisors are right behind it. He may be moving to one nap a day. Some days he takes two but other I can only get him down for one. Also, as of Thursday, May 9, I am trying to Ferberize him.  I rock him until he is asleep when I need to put him in his crib and let him fall asleep on his own. I realize I should have done this a long time ago, but I got into a routine and was afraid to rock it. And no one likes to hear his/her child cry! But I don't want to fall into the trap we are in with Jane.....
Which brings me to Jane. Jane does not like to go to bed. She will push us and push us until we are fighting with her to go to sleep. Jane apparently does not need a lot of sleep. She doesn't nap during the day (even at school she doesn't nap during nap time) and would stay up until 11 if we let her. Once we do get her in the bed (or the floor, which she prefers for some reason. She either sleeps in her sleeping bag or her new nap mat when its not at school.), she pleads for us to stay in there with her until she falls asleep. So, what ends up happening is we fall asleep and sometimes before she does. When we do wake, we are so tired that we just want to go straight to sleep. This is the time that I can do the things I want to do, but I am too tired to do them! So....I created a "Bedtime Routine" sheet and will be buying her a digital clock so she can coordinate the time with the pictures of what she need to be doing. And I have told her that we cannot stay in the room with her until she falls asleep. We will check on her to make sure she is ok.



Hopefully, next week I can report that bed time is not as stressful for me anymore. Instead of starting dinner at 5 or 5:30 and leaving Jane's room at 9 (with a bunch of fighting over bedtime in between) I hope to be out of her room at 8 and awake. If Hyde is working late or riding his bike, this "witching 3.5 hours" can be very tiring!  And if this works, we can rotate the bed time earlier. We need to prep for school in the Fall....

Diana's Chickens

Diana Haik invited us over to Ravenna to visit her little chickens. (See the post of when they were new chicks).  Jane is a natural and just loves to hold them. Diana has sweetly named one "Jane".  Bettye Jane and Stella enjoyed meeting the chickens too! Walker was a little unsure but warmed up to them.