Reef is 3!

It's hard for me to believe that Reef is already 3! I still vividly remember the day he was born and time has flown so fast! We celebrated his actual birthday last week with a trip to the Rainforest Cafe. He loved all the animals but then had a hard time sleeping because he was "afraid of the gorillas". We opened presents with Gigi early Sunday morning.
Concentrating hard...

Finally got it out! He loves this game right now but did have a hard time accepting it the first time he lost.

Checking out the new keyboard. Earlier this week, he made Troy play guitar while Reef played piano and sang "I Love You, Lord." Makes me wish we had a video camera.

The favorite gift of the day-Elefun from Gigi. Basically butterflies blow out of the elephant's trunk and you catch them in your net. A great game for the boys to play together!

Today we had Reef's party. When we talked about it earlier this week, he said, "But I already had a party!" But when reminded of the blue fire truck cake, he got excited about this other party.
Troy turned our fort into a fire truck. Definitely a big hit with Reef.

Mark and Melynda loaned us the jumping castle, which was a favorite for Jonas.

Happy Birthday to You! He loved the cake but not being the center of attention, I think. Reef's head was too big for his hat, so he had to hold it on!!

Reef, Jayden, and Claire opening the card from Claire.

Opening his gift from new neighbors, Erin and Chris.

Trying on the camping gear from Jayden. He's all set for the trip we're hoping to take in June.

Fire truck puzzle from Oma and Opa.

Miss Kellie brought all of Reef's favorite things (fire truck, color-changing ambulance, Madagascar crayons and stickers)! Here they're checking out the ambulance changing color.

I think the party was fun for Reef and all his friends, but I sure am tired! Things I want to remember about Reef right now:

-You love helping me cook.

-You're constantly checking on Jonas and helping me get him up from his bed.

-You love your musical instruments.

-You got 2 fire trucks for your birthday but instead of taking one back, you decided to give it to Jonas.

-You're learning to be patient and learning to help me around the house (sweeping, clearing the table, etc)

You're growing up so fast, Reef! We can't wait to see what you learn this year!

More changes and some pictures!

Well, this week has brought about more changes in the Gibbins house.

First big change: No morning nap for Jonas! I think he would have liked to continue the nap but he was getting up at 5am! So, I kind of forced him to sleep in by leaving him in his bed talking in the mornings and then keeping awake until afternoon nap time. It's gone well, with only 3 days resulting in needing the morning nap or falling asleep in the car on the way home from something. It has definitely helped the morning sleeping in; now he's waking up between 6:30 and 8 but staying in his bed until at least 7:30! YES!!

Second big change: No more pacifier for Reef! We tried this a couple weeks ago with no success. I finally had to cut the ends off of the paci's because they were so chewed that they were becoming choking hazards. Reef didn't like the feel of that so he chose not to use one last night. I only had to go into his room once and that was to take him potty. We were so impressed and surprised! He is struggling with naptime as I type this, but hopefully success there will follow soon.

As far as pictures go, this has been a funny week. The boys were in need of a new toy earlier this week, so I busted out the large tupperware and spatulas for drumming. A big hit but a headache for Troy! So he brought out his ear muffs that he uses when sawing. Needless to say, he didn't keep them for long!

Taking a break in the box.

Back to drumming. Look at that excitement!

The next day, we traded drumsticks for gloves...

Now I know what happens when I'm not in the room...

Today was my monthly OB appointment. Aside from a 10 pound (WHAT?!?) weight gain, everything looks good. The doctor isn't concerned about my weight gain, especially since I had a similar month when preggo with Jonas. I'm really excited because the practice I'm in is starting their deliveries at the new hospital in Stone Oak and starting to see patients there in June. That'll cut my travel time in half!

While I was at the doctor, Troy and Greg took the boys to their 2nd trip to Sea World. They fed the dolphins, bought toys at the gift shop, saw the penguins, climbed the rope walls/slides (twice!) and watched the otter show! Sounds exhausting to me!

Here's the group with Shamu and dolphin friend

Watching the otter show

Randomness

Just some random stories from today...
-Every night before bed, Reef is supposed to use his inhaler, which is orange, with a spacer tube that kind of looks like an elephant trunk, and a nose spray. Well, the inhaler is currently empty until we can get a refill. Tonight, he tells Troy, "We definitely can't use the orange trunk thing, just the snotter." Who do you think he got that from???

-Reef had to go to time out this afternoon and was crying in the corner. Jonas is in a "I must copy Reef" phase, so he walked over, sat down, and started really crying. What a sight they were! Troy and I tried really hard to stifle our laughter!

-Current favorite toy: a box house/car made by Oma last time she was here. It's seriously the only toy they've played with the last 2 days! This afternoon, they were policemen having a snack, with Jonas feeding Reef "bites" of pretend chips.

-Every morning at breakfast, Reef points to the pile of mail on the table (which he knows includes a bday card and gift) and says, "I can't open those until my birthday. Is it my birthday yet?" Today he was actually upset with me because I took a bill out of "his" stack and opened it before his birthday.

-I took Jonas to the zoo today while Reef was a preschool. His favorite thing: water. He did not care about the animals but pointed any kind of water in every exibit! When he did notice the animals, his favorites were a pair of crested pheasants that he chased back and forth, yelling "Hi!" and Samson the goat.

-Since moving to his new room, Jonas has willingly cut his paci usage to his bed only. I guess he got used to seeing Reef put his on the bookshelf before leaving the room so now Jonas does that everytime too. Thank goodness!

New pictures next week...I promise!

Changes

Last weekend was one of big changes for our boys. We planned on moving Jonas to the current guest room so that the baby can have the back room. I discussed it with Reef and he said we should paint Jonas' new room black. After convincin him this was not a good idea, he decided blue would be a good color but he wanted a blue room too. I told him we were only painting one room, so he decided that he should move to that room.
Well, Friday, Troy brought home the paint samples and we let Reef pick his blue. Troy also picked up a twin bed for Reef's new room. After a quick trip to Home Depot, Troy was ready to paint. He was super fast and got the whole room done Friday night! Reef was so excited to see his blue room in the morning! Troy took the boys to Target to pick out sheets and a blanket for the new bed. After much debate, Reef settled on blue robot sheets and a Cars blanket. I prefer these choices to the alternatives of Spongebob and Dora!
Troy spent Saturday afternoon moving the guest bed down the hall, moving Reef's bed in, and moving clothes all over the house! The new bed was loved by all, especially for jumping! Our first night in new rooms was a little rough. Reef was enthralled by the new-ness of everything and also wanted to try to sleep without a paci! It only lasted an hour and a half before he wanted it back. We gave in but emphasized that, after his birthday, the paci would be gone!
Sunday night was another rough one for Reef because he fell out of his new bed twice. So, Monday we invested in a rail. Little did I know that it was a "deluxe" rail that included cup and nightlight. He was told that any playing with those things would result in Mommy taking them away. He did great and finally got a good night's sleep again! He woke up like a different kid today. Thank goodness the whining is gone for now!

Potty Training 101

Tomorrow marks three weeks of being totally accident free for Reef. He still never goes outside the house and I still stress about it, but I think we can officially say that potty training is done! In honor of that, I'm going to do a quick blog on all the ups and downs so that I remember everything when it's Jonas' turn. So, faithful fans, you may want to stop reading now!
Reef initiated the potty training. I think this was key to success.
We started with 1 M&M for pee and 2 for poop. After the first week, he kind of lost interest and we only gave them when he asked.
Reef did have a regression phase between 2-3 months after starting training. So frustrating for me! I need to remember that 1) it's common, 2) it's temporary, and 3) stay patient! The worst part was the pooping regression. Ways we conquered this phase:
-started rinsing him with cold water after an accident. He hated it and we only had to do it twice to stop the problem!
-We changed from the M&M system to "day-counting" system. After 7 days of no accidents, Reef got to go out for ice cream. We discussed what day we were on frequently and let him pick his own ice cream at the shop. We'll probably stop this after next week, since that will mark 1 whole month!
Another big thing for me to remember is to not stress the boys out. Troy says I ask about the potty too much and make Reef sit on it too often. I'll try to be more relaxed with Jonas.
We also tried the timer method during our regression phase-setting the timer for 1-2 hours after Reef pottied to remind him to go again. This did NOT work. He loved the timer but never had success when it went off. I have to let him make his own schedule!
Things not to do with Jonas...keep potty in the bathroom! And maybe start on the big potty so we don't have to make that transition. I think it's going to be a hard one for Reef...

Easter Weekend

We had quite the eventful Easter weekend at the Gibbins house. We kicked it off early with a swim in the pool on Thursday afternoon.

Reef and Jonas have really been playing well together lately. Here, they're tossing the ball to each other.

We had to cut pool time short because Jonas pooped in the pool...twice! Swim diapers are a must from now on! Late Thursday night, Troy picked up his cousin Greg from the bus station. He's spending a year travelling around the world and spent the weekend with us. The boys loved him and were so excited to wake up "Daddy's friend" on Friday morning. After Jonas' morning nap, we took our first of what we hope will be many trips to Sea World. It was a pretty crowded day and we had limited time, so we didn't see a ton of stuff this time.

First we looked at the seals.

Dad decided to let the boys feed the seals.

Then we zipped over to the otters. You can't see the animals here but look at that hair!

After the seals and otters, we decided to head for the dolphins. Too bad we didn't realize that the dolphins are right by the entrance! It was worth the walk and maybe next time we'll get to touch one. Then we hit the aquarium. After that, we headed back to Shamu's happy harbor from some play time. Of course, Reef saw the water feature and was ready to jump in, even though it was sooo cold. Jonas was NOT interested so he snacked on some raisins (they're in the hat since we didn't have a bowl!).

To bribe Reef out of the water, we promised a ride in this ferris wheel type ride. I didn't think Jonas would be interested after the carousel fiascos but he insisted on getting in and seemed to love it! It was a long ride and, as they came down each time, Reef would ask, "Are we there yet?"

Our last activity was climbing on this ship. Hopefully, next time we'll get to see Shamu and penguins and maybe do the water park.


Friday night, Reef and I decorated cupcakes for our new neighbors. He was very proud of his creations!

Saturday we attempted to dye Easter eggs. This was our first year to try this and I don't think it was very successful. First problem, Mom broke half the eggs just putting them in the pot to boil! Neither boy was very patient in waiting for the eggs to get colored in the cups. They kept trying to grab them out with their hands and put them in a new color. Maybe next year will be better.

Greg and the boys at snack time.

The Easter bunny visited while we were at church since the boys slept in and there was no time for baskets. We gave them their baskets before lunch. This fishing set was a big hit; too bad the quality was so bad that it's already broken! We'll have to find a better one.

After naptime, we finally did the egg hunt. Great fun for everyone!

The Easter bunny also brought some of those little capsules that you drop in water and then a sponge comes out. We tried those out in the bath. The capsules didn't really open on their own but the boys still had a great time in the bath.

Northside Easter Egg Hunt

Last Sunday was the annual East egg hunt at church. In preparation for the event, I took Jonas shopping for a basket earlier in the week while Reef was at school (he has a firetruck basket left from last year). At the store, Jonas was torn between a Lightning McQueen basket and a turtle basket. We went with the turtle because I knew the other one would cause fights. When we brought out the baskets before church, there was a major meltdown from Jonas because he wanted the fire truck too! It was so bad that Troy had to take him back to Target to pick a new basket. He returned much happier with a dump truck basket.
After the drama of the morning, we were ready for lunch. We had burgers and hot dogs and then checked out the Easter bunny before the hunt started. Jonas was afraid of both the inflatable bunny and the real one. Reef was at least willing to take a pic with the pink bunny.


Because Reef hasn't turned 3 yet, he and Jonas hunted in the same group but definitely did not stay together! Troy chased Jonas and I took Reef.

Reef and Jayden discussing their next move.

A friendly hug from Jayden quickly turned to screams!

Not my favorite family photo but the best we could do.