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My Baby is 3!!

February 11, 2019 by Katie Haller

I can’t believe that I have a 3-year-old. How did that happen? This year it’s really hitting me that I don’t have a little baby anymore. It really goes by too fast. I feel like the first year I barely remember and then the second year flew by too fast. This past year was definitely the year of the terrible twos. Luckily it’s also been filled with lots of memories that I can look back on and truly appreciate. Jack has really grown into his own little person in the last 12 months. As a first-time parent it’s finally clicking that I need to just stress less and soak in all these days with him while he’s little like this.

There are so many things that I want to remember about Jack right now. He is so full of life. He is always acting something out in his head. I love the way he says “Thank you, mommy, you’re welcome” or “Hello boys and girls” or “hey what’s going on here”. He has so many cute catchphrases that he says right now. He’s really getting good at talking, which makes it a little easier at times. He’s a very sweet little boy. As active as he is, he always stops to give me a hug and a kiss. He’s still a pretty big mommy’s boy. He’s always with me and he watches everything I do, which he sometimes acts out.

Jack has been loving his school this last year. Last year he made the big move from the infant room to the toddler room and it took him a while to adjust, but now he runs the class. He loves learning. His teachers tell me that circle time is his favorite time of the day. He has a photographic memory and if you tell him something once, he remembers it. He’s known the entire alphabet since he was 18 months old. People are always impressed and they ask me what we did to teach him. I tell them YouTube kids. He just memorized the letters from watching videos, plus he has a lot of letter puzzles and letter toys to play with.

Taking pictures with a letter board and a letter obsessed child does not work.

There are still a lot of challenges with Jack. His tantrums are becoming less often, but when he has them now, they are much more intense. I’ve been a lot more patient with him lately because he has more words and can actually tell me what he wants now. I’ve been using a lot of the techniques that I use at work with my preschool children and he’s been responding pretty well to it. All my training in Positive Behavior Support is really paying off. It still is hard for me though. Jack is extremely stubborn and a little OCD. Things have to go just perfectly and if they don’t, he has a complete meltdown and we have to repeat everything from the beginning. One morning he had a meltdown because all week long I wore my blue winter coat to work, and on Friday it was a little warmer outside, so I wore a different coat. He threw himself down on the ground and I had to carry him to the car kicking and screaming. He cried all the way to school. All because I wasn’t wearing my blue coat. Nighttime is when I lose my temper the most with him because he fights me on bedtime sometimes. He wants to stay up until 10 or 11, but I try to get him in bed between 8:30 and 9. I’m hoping once we get him a big boy bed this year he will sleep better. I’m praying he will, because having a child who does not sleep through the night, has been the hardest part of parenting so far.

We are trying to start potty training, but that’s not going so well. Jack wants nothing to do with the potty. I try to get him to sit on it as often as I can, but he fights me. When I ask him if he wants to sit on the potty he quickly responds with “nope”. I’m pretty sure he will learn how to read before he learns to poop in the toilet. I’m praying that when he’s ready it just clicks, but for now, it’s a big frustration for me.

Even though it’s not always easy, I honestly don’t know how I ever lived without this little angle in my life. He fills my world with love. I say this all the time, but there is no greater title I have than being “Jack’s mom”.

Summer Vacation Recap

July 9, 2018 by Katie Haller

Every year, the first week of July, I get a week off work. It’s always well deserved. We usually head back to Michigan for the week, but this year we have a big vacation planned with my husband’s side of the family this month, so we decided to postpone our Michigan trip until later in the year. We still were looking for something fun that we could do close by that wouldn’t cost a lot of money. We decided to spend a couple days in Mesquite, NV at the Casablanca resort. They have a really nice pool, and that’s pretty much all we were looking for was a nice pool to relax by. We also haven’t explored many places in Nevada outside of the Las Vegas valley, so we thought it would be fun.

This was the first time that we took a trip with Jack to an actual hotel room. In the past we have stayed at our families houses, which makes traveling with a baby a little more comfortable. This little trip was much harder than our trips of the past. Jack is so used to his schedule and routine, that he was so thrown off by our trip. It wasn’t the relaxing trip we had hoped for. We had to take breaks by the pool because for one it was 110 degrees and if we weren’t in the pool, I worried about Jack over heating. And also we had to get Jack down for naps mid day or we would have a nightmare on our hands by dinner time. When Jack is not at school, the only way I can get him to take a nap is by putting him in his car seat and going for a drive, so that’s what we did.

My husband kept comparing Jack to a dog that needs lots of space to run around and play and that was the prefect comparison. Jack brought out all of his toddler 2 year old behaviors. He tried running away from us through a busy casino, threw stuff at us and screamed when we were eating in restaurants and he tried running off into the pool on his own. He basically did everything he could to give his parents a heart attack. He acted like we have never taken him out in public before. My husband kept saying how nice it would be if we left Jack at home with someone. Yes, it would of been nice to spend one on one time with Kevin, but we are at this stage in our lives and we just need to embrace it. Does having a 2 year old make it hard to relax and enjoy yourself when you go out? YES! Do I wish it was just the 2 of us still? NO!

Even though things are harder with a toddler, he’s adorable and funny and we love him so much. He always makes us smile no matter what. I know that we will one day look back on our little mini family vacation and have happy memories. We will laugh at his two year old behavior and think it was cute (not yet, but one day). We will miss his little words that he tries to say and the way he acts out his videos that he watches on YouTube kids.

All I have to say is that if you are a parent, don’t let the fact that outings and trips are harder hold you back. Yes life was easier before kids, but you do what you have to do. Your toddler may not remember the trips you went on, but you will and it’s so worth it in the end. Now I’m only hoping that our California trip goes a little smoother.

Confessions of a First Time Mom- Appreciating the Moment

November 6, 2017 by Katie Haller

Sometimes I feel like it’s hard to appreciate the present. I’m always thinking and planning for the future or reminiscing on the past. Sometimes I forget to take in the moments and appreciate where I currently am in life. I often look back on certain times in my life and wonder why I didn’t just appreciate that time. Time goes by so fast, especially when you have little ones. I feel like I had a newborn just yesterday.

My current life is so busy. I work full time, then when I’m home, I’m trying to catch up on all my responsibilities at home. My weekends are spent doing laundry, grocery shopping, meal prepping and cleaning. I’m really trying hard to set aside my busy life and just soak in my time with Jack. My husband has been busy this fall training on a new airplane, so I’ve had a lot of one on one time with my little guy. I’ve been trying to just enjoy my time with him as much as possible. I know that he’s only going to be little and sweet for a short time. I don’t want my busy life to take me away from those little moments. That’s why I take him to the park as often as I can. I push him on the swing and I go down the slide with him. I read him books. I tickle him and give him as many kisses as I can. At bedtime, I lay next to him until he falls asleep. I have been the only one who has put Jack to bed every night since he was born, and I’ve never spent a night away from him. That’s important to me because one day he won’t need me to put him asleep.

I’ve taken a little step back from blogging, just to get that extra time in with Jack. I love writing and working on new blog posts, but I’m not going to stress if I can’t get all my posts out that I’d like to. I usually do most of my blogging on the weekends and at night after Jack goes to bed, but lately, he’s been staying up later. I put him to sleep around 8:30 and after he falls asleep, I’m ready for bed too. If I don’t get around to working on a post, then that’s okay.

One thing I’m learning as a parent is that you just need to slow down and look at what’s in front of you. I once was told that when you have kids, the days are long, but the years are short. It’s so true. Not to mention, one day I hope to have 2 kids and that means life will get even crazier. I need to soak in this one on one time that I’m getting with my little guy while I can.

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