Alayna's Adventures

Now there are many people who rarely post on Facebook but read posts all day long.  They are the proverbial fly on the wall in the room that is Facebook.  Listening and watching for something juicy.  And if we are all honest, we can admit we have done it too.  We too have come across something juicy and called our husband or a friend to let them know the trainwreck that just happened.  And if you haven't ever done this, I suppose you either are really holy, or you don't have Facebook.   Just the other day, I had the privilege of running into a heated rant on leaving your kids in the car.  The rant was pretty emphatic about how people shouldn't leave their kids in the car, even to do a small task that would require the parent to walk away from the car for even five minutes, such as pick up another child at school.  And it got heated when another parent said that they did indeed leave their kids in the car to pick up another child from school, but...

Confession time.  I'm not going to hold back, so here it it.  I have used the f-word many times in my head lately, especially in the last week.  Many.  And I used it in a text message to my husband.  Eeek.  If you know me, you know that I do not swear with any regularity.  If you knew me a long time ago, you may wonder what the big deal is.  But that's another story for another day.         In reality, it's been more than that.  I have been angry with my son.  Like, wanted to smack him across the face, angry.  I didn't, because I don't think it's right to do, but there were a few times that I really, really wanted to, and had to stop and breathe to avoid doing something stupid.  I have screamed at my children.  Like, I wonder if the neighbors have concerns about what is going on, screamed.    I almost always apologize, but that's hardly the best way to conduct myself when they dr...

Now that I'm home with the kids (yes, it's official, I'm a SAHM!) we are welcoming the year of the membership!  As in, buy a year long membership to ABC Place and go a million times to get way more out of it than you paid for it.  So far we have a membership to the Carnegie Museums and a membership to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium .  And in the first week of our zoo membership, we went twice!  I highly suggest at least the two memberships that we have and here is why...   Isaiah chillin' with the fishes! 1)  Memberships are inexpensive.  For a family, a Carnegie Museum membership costs $100 if you have one child under 2 (because they are free!) or $150 for two adults and up to four children.  It may sound like a lot, but the membership pays for itself very quickly.  If you take a family of two adults and one child over two to the Carnegie Science Center THREE times in a year, you have gotten your money worth.  Three times....

This has been a very interesting week in the Richard household.  Isaiah recently began sleeping in his big boy bed in his new room on a regular basis.  We first attempted the big boy bed earlier in January, but it was an epic fail, and Isaiah ended up screaming in the middle of the night and then slept back in his crib.  On January 10, he napped for the first time in his big boy bed, and it actually went really well!  We did the normal bedtime/naptime routine and he went right to sleep.  So, it sounds like the change from crib to big boy bed is a success right?  Oh, so far from it.    On January 18, he began sleeping in his big boy bed every night.  It has now been a week and a half and while it is apparently a joyous milestone for Isaiah, it has been hell for mom and dad.  On Monday morning at 3:45 am, Isaiah decided that "I no take a nap" and was awake for the day.  On Tuesday, Isaiah got into the *childproof* Tylenol contain...