Leaves and The Bing Band

On your mark, get set, GO!

I love all the seasons in Michigan, but fall is by far my favorite. There is a fresh newness in the air that I love --- and nature sure provides a lot of fun activities for kids (and adults!) during this time of year. I remember jumping and hiding in the leaf piles when I was a child, and now I get to witness my own son do the same thing!! Oh, and sometimes Kyle and I just HAVE to join in the fun with him :-)

I thought Brett had a lot of energy when he was 1 and 2 years old, but now that he is almost 3 the energy level has been brought to a whole new level --- and keeping him busy all day long can be exhausting! The past few evenings have been cold and rainy so we haven't been able to go outside, and in order to still wear this little boy out by bed time, some sort of activity was needed. SO, one evening we brought all the instruments out and went to town making all sorts of noise - I mean music- and we even came up with a name for ourselves - "The Bing Band". Brett had a BLAST and thought it was the coolest thing that we were all playing together :-)

Toddler Bed!!

A couple weeks ago Kyle and I bravely decided it was time for Brett to switch from his crib to a toddler bed. I had been prolonging this for as long as I could because (as most of you know) he was a terrible sleeper the first couple years of his life, and finally, FINALLY, he had begun to sleep through the night. And then, on top of that, he was only napping about half the time, but I always put him in his crib for atleast an hour for quiet time so we each could have some down time. I knew the crib was safe and I could relax a bit without a second thought. Still though, there was no denying my baby boy was growing up, and getting bigger - which meant lifting him in and out of the crib was starting to take a tole on my back. Plus, he will be 3 in less than 3 months, so we knew it was time. One evening Brett had taken a long nap in his crib and we knew he would be up LATE - so Kyle decided that night would be a great night to put the bed together - and we knew Brett would love helping - which he did :-) And let me just say, I have never seen Brett as excited as I did that night when his "big boy bed" was all put together --- he literally ran laps around the house (at 9:30pm!) in excitement before running into his room and JUMPING on his bed. When I saw that look on his face I knew we did the right thing :-)

Helping daddy take down the crib

"My big boy bed!!!"

Jumping up and down!

Yep, this bed is all mine :-)

The next day he spent lots of time playing in his new bed. Being able to get in and out himself is/was a huge hit!

Since Brett switched to his big boy bed naps have pretty much been non-existent. I've tried many different tactics but he just will not stay in his bed during that time. So instead, we have some quiet time in the middle of the day and bed time has moved way up to between 7:30 and 8pm. And, I have to admit, I really love having the whole evenings to just hang out with Kyle, watch tv, read, and do whatever I want! Plus, he goes to bed without any fight at all (loves being able to crawl in bed himself!) and usually sleeps around 12 hours a night. The only downfall is that since the switch (like I figured would happen), he's been waking up once or twice at night again. He usually just wants a drink of milk or to be tucked in again, but I'm really hoping he starts sleeping through the night again soon. I know my little boy, and it will take some time, but it will happen :-) My baby boy is growing up and I couldn't be more proud of him!!

Fall is in the air!!

We have had such a fun couple of weeks getting in the spirit of fall, our favorite season :-) Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch where we ventured out into the fields and picked our own pumpkins! I can't believe this is our 3rd fall taking Brett there -- WOW --- our little boy has been with us for almost THREE years, and I can't imagine life without him :-) He makes every season SO MUCH more FUN and definitely brings the kid out in Kyle and I!

"A caterpillar!!"

LOVE that face :-)

We passed some raspberry bushes and couldn't resist the temptation to try a few :-) YUM!

I had to bribe Brett with candy corn to get him to sit still for these pictures!!

"Cheese!"

Brett and I picked a husk off the corn stalk we have on our front porch and then he went to town taking it apart and carefully removing each kernel for "the chickens and squirrels" :-)

Madelyn is always nearby :-)