Alayna's Adventures

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....

Passion.  It's one of those things that not everyone has, and the ones who have it may drive you crazy with it...  Especially when they are passionate about things that you are not passionate about.   I'm passionate about marriage, babies, Jesus, young children, cloth diapers, and Mint.com.  I know, a weird list.  I'll talk your ear off about any of them, if you express the least bit of interest.  I am more reserved and shy about Jesus and marriage than I should be, but I've probably already talked your ear off about cloth diapers.  But that's not where this one is heading.  I'm passionate about babies and young children.  Like I can't watch the news without crying when it contains stories about abused or abandoned babies and babies who die at the hands of those that should have loved them.  I love the little ones who can't help themselves, and sometimes I wish I could steal away all the little ones who have been hurt and taken advantage...

It's been some time since I last lamented about our bedtime and naptime woes, and you may assume that it's all better now, right??  Well, it's not just yet.  Not to burst any bubble or sound like Debbie Downer, but bedtime and naptime are not a cakewalk yet.  Isaiah spent a lot of time in the last few weeks in a zombie like state because he was so overly tired, and yet he didn't want to lay down and nap or go to bed at a decent time without a major crying fit.  We have had more declarations of "I no take a nap" and lots of crying from my 2.5 year old son.  His assessment that he doesn't want to take a nap is obviously based on the fact that he knows best and knows just what he needs.  Right?  Right.  We have tried some new things with him, like sticking to a more firm sleep schedule and reviving our tried and true bedtime routine.  But the biggest new thing is locking his bedroom door from the outside.  I don't really like t...

So for a few months I have been on this kick where I want Isaiah and I to have arts and crafts time.  He is nearly two and a half years old, so he is hit or miss with following instructions well, which makes arts and crafts very interesting.  Enjoyable arts and crafts time is really a function of Mommy picking the correct project for him to do.  He enjoys gluing things, using paints, foam pieces, and glitter, finger painting, the laminating machine and googley eyes.  So any combination of those things in the form of a craft is very good.   And I love buying craft supplies, as evidenced by my rather large stock of goods.  I began buying craft supplies in college, with every intention of using them to do many crafty things, like making jewelry, crafting masterful paintings, scrapbooking and making fun photo frames.  I have only done a small fraction of what I've desired to do.  Jaime Horvat would back me up on this, as everytime she saw jewel...

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...