Ch-ch-ch-changes!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently I have been in the mood for changes and moving things around lately :) We recently moved our guest bedroom from the back bedroom of the house to the middle bedroom, making the back bedroom into our office/sewing/treadmill room.  That actually happened at just the right time considering I found out we are pregnant just a few weeks later, and we will need that middle bedroom for a nursery!

Then, I decided to move this good 'ol blog over here. (Not sure Im loooving it so far, as its tricky to upload pics quickly and easily, but Im hoping some of you veteran wordpress-ers will give me some hints or tricks. :))

And we recently spent a weekend moving around our dining room and playroom situation.  See, Whitney's toy situation is, admittedly, out of control.  I will take most of the blame, however my parents are known for buying dolls and dress-up stuff just for the fun of it, too.  And on the few occasions I have tried to weed out the toys she no longer plays with, she inevitably asks for the toys Ive tossed, or Eric says something like, "awww, dont give that one away yet! She JUST played with it, like, two weeks ago."  So while the toy buying is on an indefinite freeze for a while, we needed to do something about the overloaded playroom situation.

Whenever I wanted to play with Whitney in the playroom, I would have to sit on the floor.  And its not just me! ANYONE who wanted to spend time with Whitney was forced to sit on the floor since there was no adult-sized seating in the playroom, and no way to squeeze a life-sized chair or couch into the mix.


 

 

I had the rocking chair/'glider in their for a while, but even that had to head to the guest room when Whitney's kitchen arrived at Christmas last year.



 



 

 

This was the most recent pic I could find from the playroom.  Cramped.  And Whitney wasnt able to get to most of her books and some of her toys because they were on the higher shelves of the two bookcases on the opposite wall. 

It just wasnt working anymore.

 

So, much to Eric's dismay, and after lots of searching for other options, our "playroom" is now our new, improved (eh?) dining room!(again, these are the only pics I could find of the "old" dining room):

We used to love our dining room.  Its the very first room you see when you walk in our front door, and we liked the colors and the nice, long table, and Bailey always had his spot under the front window, just waiting for people to walk by the house.



Horrible picture, but I was in the midst of making curtains for our sliding glass door in the kitchen.  The table was normally cleaned off and lookin' pretty.



And now, our new playroom/former dining room:

Eric and I dont love that our guests are welcomed into our home and straight into a playroom that looks like a daycare center, overflowing with toys and kid stuff, however, Whitney has been bringing me books all week, asking me to read them and excited that she has "never seen dat book before!" now that she can reach every book on the lower bookshelves.  That makes it worth it.


 

I was also able to get Whitney's pink chair, a couch, and the glider/rocking chair into the new room, which makes it MUCH easier for me to spend time in there with Whitney, and will help a lot when I am feeding/rocking a new baby this Spring.

Whitney and I have already made good use of the couch, watching Lion King a few times while snuggling.  Something we couldnt do in her old, smaller playroom. 

And while this change occured two weeks ago, Whitney still jumps out of bed in the morning exclaiming, "Let's go pway in my NEW pwaywoom!!" Without prompting, she told us, "My new pwaywoom is AWWWESOME!" the night we made the big changes. :)

 

And I suppose Whitney has been in the mood for some changes of her own lately. (Siiiigh).  I wish I could report that these were changes for the better, but let's be honest...she couldnt really get any better than she was. :)  Unfortunately, Whitney has hit some pretty rough "terrible two" episodes lately.  I shouldve expected it, I suppose, but she has just been soooo easy for the past 2+ years, so this new, evil little phase is not a welcome change at ALL.

This child has been in a toddler bed for months, and still doesnt get out of bed until we tell her she is allowed to get up.  She potty-trained in less then 48 hours and hasnt even wet the bed in months.  She took a sippy cup and ditched the bottle without a wimper.  She loves school and didnt even look back when we left her at the church nursery or preschool for the first time.  She. is. EASY.  Always has been.

So now that she is pushing back and being, quite frankly, MEAN, Eric and I are trying to think fast to correct the behavior before she owns us.

Thus, the empty book shelves below:


(Ok, so I admit, I got lazy.  Im tired and pregnant.  I wasnt about to take every stinkin' book and puzzle and bell and whistle off those shelves.  That would be punishment to ME more than her!)

But all of her dress-up clothes, princesses, dolls, wands, castle, "guys", little people, tea party supplies, etc were packed in garbage bags until she can be nice again.  Oooh, the HORROR.  This child cried like never before.  She kept saying, "I want to be nice!!! I want to obey!! Pwease dont take my toys!!!" but the damage was done and we had threatened it and had to follow through when she continued to be nasty towards us.

She has earned a few toys back after a nice, successful trip to walmart with me.  And we can clearly see the wheels turning in her head when we remind her to be nice when she starts to slide a bit.  Time-out works, but we needed something a little more drastic given how nasty she was being this last weekend.  Embarrasssssingly awful.

I know its just a phase, but I am ready for it to hit the road! I want our sweet baby girl back now!!



Other than taking away toys and privileges, I am out of ideas for toddler behavior management.  Any suggestions?? Please? We are smart enough not to threaten things we cant follow through on, but the confident, strong-willed girl I have loved is now using her powers for evil, not good.  I wasnt going to let her go to Disney on Friday since she was just soo awful towards us, but Eric's mom was in town and it wasnt fair to punish Grandma Debbie and make her miss out on time with Whitney. (Although, Im not sure it was enjoyable to spend much time with Whitney when she was being so difficult.)  However, we did follow through on our threat to not allow her to ride the tea cups if she didnt stop screaming, "no!" and being mean.  She was disappointed when she wasnt allowed to ride with her cousins, Grandma Debbie, and Aunt Patti.  I thought we would see a change in her attitude after that, but the little devil wasnt ready to relent yet.

Thankfully, we get a new day each morning, and she has been given a clean slate each day!  The "old" Whitney was back in action just in time for lunch at Aunt Patti's house on Saturday, where Whitney was thrilled to play with several of her cousins and aunts and uncles.  She was willing to give hugs and kisses and talk to everyone without copping an attitude or being rude.  Phew....It was nice to hear Eric's mom and aunt and cousins say "We've ALL been there....we've ALL raised toddlers!" and commiserate with me, but it really was embarrassing to have "that kid" at Disney and to watch her be soooo defiant at home.  And in front of my mother-in-law? And GRANDmother-in-law? Thanks, Whitney. That's awesome.

Do I have high expectations? In general, maybe.  But we dont ask Whitney to do anything she isnt capable of doing.  Whitney has proven that she understands right from wrong, nice from mean,  and good from bad.  She KNOWS when she is being mean, and was continuing to push our buttons anyway.  So our expectations are in line with what Whitney is clearly able to accomplish reasonably.

I was so busy dodging the rain and keeping my eyes on Whitney's behavior that I didnt even take my camera out at Disney on Friday. We all had fun despite the rain, and its always a treat to bring our nephews there.  They are always so well behaved and gracious, they really make it enjoyable.  And Whitney ADORES them :)

On Saturday, we had lunch at Eric's Aunt Patti's house with the whole family :) We planned our Christmas Eve family celebration and drew names for the gift exchange, watched some college football, and laughed and got caught up on each others' lives.  Good times :)

There was an impromptu wrestling match between Eric and the cousins. :)







Surprisingly, no one was hurt and no tears were shed :) 

Eric's grandparents, Memaw and Grandaddy, with their kids. :) 

Debbie with her grandkids :) 

And back at our house that night, we were able to snap a family pic.... sooo rare lately! 

Debbie and her sons :)


On Sunday, we all went to the church Eric grew up in, then went out to lunch as a family.  We always have a great time with Debbie's brothers, sisters, and parents, and feel really blessed to live so close to them, even if we dont see them very often.  We are really looking forward to hosting Christmas Eve at our house this year, and know there will be many memories made when all the grandkids/great grandkids gather for more fun. :)

Im still trying to figure this wordpress business out, but I will be back with some cute pics from the zoo this morning :) Whitney had a BLAST at the splash pad there, and was such a good girl! We also got some pretty cool news re: her school and the class she will be attending! Promise to be back soon with more cute things she has said lately, and an update on more changes coming our way!