From Thursday night on, William has been doing pretty well with his sleeping rules although Madelyn definitely makes it more difficult for him to fall asleep. She calls to him and is very distracting. Then she starts to cry and William complains that it is too loud and she wakes him up (he's not even asleep yet). Mommy often feels badly for him, but it will build character, right? That's what she tells herself anyway.
Proud Mommy moment: The afternoon of his first prize choice he said, "Now I have nine prizes left." The number of prizes weren't talked about since the day they were purchased!
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| Enjoying his "paint a piggy bank" prize! |
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| Madelyn happy to watch |
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| Action shot |
Adventure weekend #2 - The Butwins head to Sanbridge beach to visit Daddy's friend Aaron, his wife Meredith and their one year daughter Lyla. It was a rainy weekend, again, but it was a great visit. William loved walking on the beach and collecting shells in the rain. It took Madelyn 5 minutes or so to get used to it before she was walking around. She doesn't like getting wet, so the rain deterred her and back in the stroller she went. That is the ONLY time she likes being in the stroller!
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| Sandbridge Beach |
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Sunday was a quiet day. Daddy went into work for a few hours in the morning and then met Aaron at a sports bar to catch the Bills game. Yay Bills! 2-0!
Mommy, William and Madelyn decided to head to 10:30 mass at
Church of The Ascension. Mommy was initially impressed with the friendliness! New comers were asked to stand and introduce themselves. Mommy, without thinking, stood up and introduced herself and William and Madelyn! A nice warm welcoming. William and Madelyn behaved SO well! Mommy was super proud. The mass went extra long, 1.5ish. Mommy is hoping that was due to a financial report and wont normally be the case.
A couple of cute things William said: Pulling into the parking lot, "Mimi's is one of these cars."
As the Eucharistic ministers were waiting at the alter, "Look at all those people who want to sing with Jesus. Which one is Jesus? Do you know Mommy?"
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| Monday's prize: Cars puzzle! |
Since getting to Virginia Beach (and even before if you really think about it) bedtime has been a bit of an issue, taking up a couple hours of Mommy and Daddy's evening. One day this past week, Mommy and William made a poster titled, William's Sleeping Rules. Mommy and William talked about the rules, Mommy wrote them and William decorated the poster. The rules are: 1. Stay in bed until your clock is yellow. 2. Be very quiet. 3. Close your eyes. 4. Go to sleep. Later that day they headed to Dollar Tree where William chose ten prizes for his prize basket. He was very, very excited about the capsules that grew dinosaurs. He knew that was going to be his first prize choice. To choose a prize in the morning, William has to follow all four rules. If not, no prize until trying again the next night.
The first night (Wednesday) Mommy thought was going to definitely work because he was so excited about the dinosaur capsules. But no, no good. Mommy was on the second floor and she could hear William walking around and talking. Finally, he called her up and she had to hold in her laughter as she viewed the scene. William had his step stool out next to Madelyn's crib with her prize basket (her prize basket is more for show - not really a reward system yet) on the floor - half of her prizes in her crib. He said, "I'm giving her her prizes to try to get her to sleep." After cleaning up and a couple more times out of bed they were finally asleep. He was pretty disappointed in the morning.
Mommy also decided that she had to start waking William up at 7 o'clock. He will be starting school next week 8-12 and because of these two hour getting to bed nights he'd been sleeping to 7:45 - 8. Madelyn was still waking up too early in the morning, too. They were on different schedules and being in the same room is challenging.
Thursday night was our first success! William was so happy to pick a prize.
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| Dinosaur capsules! |
Friday, Mommy, William and Madelyn met a neighbor and her two boys at the aquarium. The boys names are Hunter and Henry, which is pretty funny because if Madelyn was a boy Mommy and Daddy were going to name him Henry Hunter Butwin!
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| Komodo Dragon and Madelyn |
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| Crocodile, William and Madelyn |
As you all know, the Matthew Butwin family is now residing in sunny VA Beach! The move was smooth and the transitions are as expected. Another week and they all should be into a healthy routine.
A recap of the first week and a half: The drive was fast thanks to Mommy's lead foot. Made the trip in a little over 11 hours. Daddy was not very happy with her driving, but everyone is safe, even if Mommy is a typical woman driver. Hmm.
The unpacking went smoothly and done in five days. Organizing is still taking place, but the house is definitely livable, hence organization slowing down.
Mommy, William and Madelyn have taken Duke on many walks around the ponds. There are aeration fountains in the ponds which William and Madelyn enjoy seeing. William especially likes the concept of the poop bags and cans stationed around the area. There are lots of ducks and geese that William didn't quite know how they got here from Chautauqua!
There is a small play ground in the area that William and Madelyn have played on a few times. Madelyn thinks she is 5 and it is bound to give Mommy some kind of heart failure in the future.
The weekend was great for adventures. It was raining so Saturday morning everyone was up and out of the house by 8:30 to get coffee and to the Science Center and Aquarium by 9. Can't say enough about the awesomeness of it! A highlight: Madelyn gave the alligator (or was it a crocodile) a kiss through the tank! No fear, that girl! William LOVED the puffer fish. Although, Daddy isn't sure they were actually puffer fish. They were pretty cool, nonetheless!
After the aquarium, off to eat at BIG SAM'S. It was a bit of a challenge in the restaurant with both William and Madelyn, but it was yummy and fun. Mommy is ordering seafood EVERY TIME she goes out to eat!
William was so desperate to see the beach that Daddy pulled the van over as close as he could get to the beach and ran him to the board walk in the pouring rain just so he could see. The rain was coming down sideways. It was really messy out, but William was happy to see it. Later, at home, William says, "It's not raining anymore, let's go back to the beach." Hopefully, the weekend weather will clear up in the future. The upcoming weekend is looking like rain too:(
Sunday was zoo day. The day was gray with spots of light rain, but it was perfect for a first-time visit! There were few people and William and Madelyn were able to see all the animals easily.
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| Sleeping after a walk through Mount Trashmore park. |
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| Hi! |
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| Wee! |
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| A cool morning in Virginia Beach. |
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| Look at that! |
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| High five! |
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| Cool tunnel of fish! |
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| What's that?! |
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| Sea turtle! |
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| Check that thing out! |
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| That fish is bigger than Madelyn! |
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| Wow! So cool! |
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| Just watching. |
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| Oh, no! A shark got Daddy! |
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| Is it really a puffer fish? Kind of big, huh? |
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| Looking at the puffer fish! |
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| Petting star fish! |
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| There's a black bear in the background. |
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| Had to get them in the stroller for Mommy's sake. Too much chasing after MJ! |
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| Giraffe, up close, eating! |
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| Such a great view! |
More to come now that things are slowing down here!
