Goodnight Jade

As I mentioned in our vacation post we had a bed on order for Jade. I want to leave her room just like it is when the baby gets here but we need the crib. Teagan was so excited to put together Jade's bed. Ian had some catching up to do so he was gone most of the day on Friday. Teagan waited and waited for him to get back so he could help put together sister's bed. Jade wanted to help to as you can see from the pictures. Excuse the mess. We just dropped everything in the living room when we got home. :)

Jade would stick bolts in every little space she could find.
Headboard check!
Jade like balancing on the planks.
As Ian was taking the crib apart to move out of Jade's room I moved the mattress onto the bed. Jade watched cartoons in the living room in here new bed.
Now in her room the kids played in it.
As I was snapping pictures I realised I haven't really documented her room since we moved. It used to be a really pretty green in the old house with big white trim windows. Here all the white looks a little stark but it's still cute. Plus when you get free rent and are asked not to paint, you don't paint! The changing table will go into the baby's room as well. Santa told me Jade is going to get a kitchen for Christmas. That will go perfectly on that wall. So here is Jade's room.

Okay so I catch episodes of Supernanny online sometimes. I used to be a nanny myself so I relate to the caring for other people's kids thing. One episode was getting the kids to sleep in their own beds. Our kids sleep in their own beds from birth. Occasionally when Ian was out of town I would let Teagan sleep with me but not often. When Teagan was a baby we would put him in his crib and let him get to sleep on his own. He cried a little for the first few weeks but then just stopped. Jade never stopped. She cries every time we put her down so I knew a bed she could get out of would be an issue.

I wish I had a video of what happened. We tried to follow Supernanny's advice. Which was when they get out of bed tell them lovingly it's time for bed and put them back. Then when they get out again tell them firmly that it's time for bed. Then when they get out of bed again say nothing and direct them to bed. I kid you not, Jade got out of bed at least 75 times before she went to sleep. The weird thing was she wasn't upset. She didn't seem to be trying to be defiant. She was just getting out of bed because she could because we would turn her around and she would get in bed and want to bed tucked in.

Jade got to sleep over an hour past her bedtime. The next day nap time was the same problem. Finally I told Ian we needed to do something different. So we shut her door. That made her mad. Jade cried and banged on the door but eventually and much more quickly she got in bed and went to sleep. So that is how it goes now. It's unpleasant but we aren't sure what else to do until she understands she needs to stay in bed. When she gets to sleep we put a finger guard on her door so she can leave her room herself in the morning. It's not the ideal situation but she sleeps in her big girl bed and is happy in the morning. Goodnight Jade!

SeaWorld Day 2

We hit the pet show first thing when we got to the park. We thought Jade would love it. She was half interested. Teagan really liked it though.
Teagan liked the set especially. All the cool ways the animals came out.


Afterwards the kids went forward the pet the animals. I thought it was pretty neat that these were all rescued animals.
After the pet show it was time for our picnic with Shamu. Teagan thought the movie they show in the beginning was the show. He was in for a surprise. Jade enjoyed eating every one's lunch but again only half paid attention to the show.



Wow! Ian wondered how you train such large animals. I'm wondering that as well.
Today is a new day. Teagan really wanted a shark tooth necklace. I told him he had to earn it with bravery. After the sesame street incident the day before I figured he needed some bravery. So touching a starfish was his first task.
The flamingos.
Grumpy flamingos.
Ian had me take this picture. He liked the mounds that they build.
More pretty flowers.
I decided we had better get a picture of us and as I did my camera died. There were so many more pictures I would have liked to have taken but oh well. The boys went on the sky tower while I walked Jade to sleep. Right by the sky tower was this awesome tree. Roots dropped down from the branches. I had to assume it's some sort of swamp tree but I have no idea. We went to the arcade and the Teagan and Ian won a bunch of stuffed animals. Jade was a happy girl when she woke up to lots of friends to cuddle with.

Teagan got a whoopee cushion there which was great entertainment on the way home. Seriously the boy laughed so hard. It was a good trip. We did almost everything at the park. We would have done everything but the second day was really crowded. I'm so glad we did two days. We were worn out but it was worth it. I apologized to Teagan for being grumpy that morning. I really was. Anyway he told me I wasn't grumpy. This kid is so forgiving. Love him! Teagan gets to mark this off on his goal board for the year.

SeaWorld Day 1

My handsome boys after getting their sunblock on. Ready for a fun day at SeaWorld.
Jade not looking so ready. Poor girl was very tired from the late night the night before.
We went to the Clydesdales first. I loved these horses when I was a kid and I really forgot how big they were. You could tell they wanted attention but the signs with warning about being bitten were enough to keep me from petting through the bars. I think Teagan was very surprised by their size as well. There was one that we could pet. Teagan was very excited to. I took Jade to pet the horse as well. She was so excited about it she couldn't stop petting to take the picture. She kept saying, "Oh cute!".
Atlantis. As soon as we got here Teagan wanted to go on this ride. I looked at it and knowing my son I knew he didn't realise what he was getting into but I said nothing. So the guys waited in the long line to go on the ride while Jade and I walked around.
Aren't these dolphins pretty? I forget their name but it was cute listening to the kids come up and look at them. Almost all of them thought they were baby orcas. So pretty!
Jade loved watching them. I could pull her stroller right up to the glass.
Here are the guys at the end of the ride. Teagan is crying and Ian is talking to him. Teagan was in a pretty grumpy mood after this because the ride scared him so much. I just kept telling him that I was so proud of him. Then he would tell me that he didn't like it and it made him seasick.
Ian and I really liked this section of the park. So did the kids. Our favorite part was the lovely air conditioning and the kids loved the animals.
Teagan loved seeing the polar bear.
This is a different one you could see through a little window.
We stayed here and watched the white whales for the longest time. Boy would I hate to clean that fish tank.
I didn't get a picture but Jade was pressed up against the glass with here whole body. You could tell the whales were loving the attention. One saw Jade and on his next pass he rubbed against the glass right where she was standing. It was cool but shocking considering they are so big. She was thrilled and chatted and yelled about the fish.
I forget the names of each area but this is the one with the sesame street characters. This was Jade's favorite. It was hot and I thought the kids would like to get wet but as you can see below not so much.
Jade only managed to get her toes wet.
Teagan did this maze/playland twice. He loved it. I was a wreck the first time because I was afraid he wouldn't be able to find us when he got off.
Jade spent a lot of time here.
See the little boy in the black shirt attempting to steal a block from a baby. That is who Jade played with most of the time. She would help them stack blocks and he would knock them down. She could have done this all day.
The Shark Encounter area.
Tiny little sharks.
SeaWorld surprisingly doesn't have any big sharks. Not any you would be worried to be in the water with.
The dolphin show was pretty neat. Jade fussed most of the time but she was really tired.
This little girl in front of the whale (I think it's a whale) was such a good sport. Too cute!
Pretty!
This is Rosey the highest jumping dolphin they have.
I loved the landscaping and had to get pictures.

This was at the pond where you could touch starfish and other creatures. I touched a sea cucumber and it was so gross. It felt like a rotten banana. Teagan wasn't willing to touch anything. We went to the 4D sesame street movie right before this and it totally freaked Teagan out. You get sprayed with water during the movie and he lost it. Screaming and saying he wanted to go to the hotel. We could not believe it. We still aren't sure what that was all about. We had a good day with a bad ending (with the whole freaked out six year old in the sesame street movie). We went back to the hotel and went swimming then got ready for bed.