Growing Up.....No. 1

August was a BIG month for Isaac......we started off the month with a "BINKY PARTY". It is alittle embarrassing to admit that we had to resort to bribery to get rid of the binkies; but at least we FINALLY did it.

We talked to him about if for a week or so before the party. Isaac LOVES the garbage truck so we told him we were having a Binky Party where he would throw his binkies in the garbage truck and then he would get a present! But, then the binkies would be ALL GONE; NO MORE Binkies. So, we talked it up and he was ready for a present. We went to the store and he picked out what he wanted....then I got it for him later and wrapped it up.

Dad and Isaac the night before the binky party!!
Isaac waiting outside with mom for the "garbee" truck to throw away his binkies.

VIDEO OF THE ACTUAL THROWING AWAY:
The "garbee" truck was later than usual that morning (of course) and Dad needed to get to work....so we resorted to the garbage can. He didn't seem to mind because I had the presents wrapped and in the family room that morning and he REALLY was dying to open them.

Opening those presents...........
And yes the irony of the whole story........what did he pick out at the store as his present???
This "garbee" truck!! What can I say....he is fascinated with the garbage truck right now!!
And now the results of the Binky Party.............Mom had to resort back to reading the sleep book.
We knew the first week or so would be rough; but figured it would pass soon enough. Besides there had been a few nights or naps when the binkies couldn't be found and he went to sleep without them. And in fact, after a couple of days he quit asking for the binkies and when he would ask...we would go over that he threw them in the garbage, got a present and Isaac would then say "and binkies ALL GONE."

However, it turns out our great little sleeper.....might have just been laying in his bed sucking on those BELOVED binkies and NOT actually sleeping. Like early in the morning when he first woke up (for maybe even over an hour) or at naptime for awhile before he eventually fell asleep. He ultimately was sleeping....but probably not as much as we thought and probably because he ONLY got the binkies for naps or night he was content to just suck on them and lay in his bed.

So after the first week....all kinds of "new" sleep problems were occurring. Getting out of BED alot.....one morning he was up wandering the house at 5:30am (which woke up Drew...so we all got to get up at 5:30am that day)! Getting out of bed at naps! Lots of crying and whining at bedtime and naptime, etc. Most of you know the story.

So, I decided to give Dr. Weissbluth's suggestion a try (under sleep problems for toddlers).....Sleep Rules. Seemed "ify" especially with Isaac's comprehension level but seemed like a better first alternative then locking him in his room (more so because I was worried he would just trash his room and I didn't want to have to pick it up everyday). So, we made the poster with Isaac's help (as suggested); we decorated it all up with stickers. Put on calendars and told him he got a star sticker and a treat at bedtime and naptime if he followed the rules. It is actually working really good at bedtime; he gets a sticker most mornings!! Naptime is a struggle....but only because of the whining he does in his room for a few minutes when I first leave him. He now knows ALL the rules and we go over them at night and at naps and he says them back to us (it is very cute). Hopefully, the rules start to sink in more and we will start getting TWO stars each day! (And an added bonus....I learned the power of stickers with kiddos...they love them)!
And finally, Isaac started pre-school again on Monday (the 25th). Here he is ready to go......
He goes M-Th from 9:00 to 11:30am. Dad drops him off on his way to work and I pick him up. He can actually ride the bus....but MOM isn't ready for that, yet. We started a new school and teacher closer to home; but it is going really well. A little crying (by him) on the first day and then none today when Jared dropped him off. It wasn't as sad to see him go this time since we did 6 weeks in the spring before school got out. We are excited to see his progress and what strides he'll make in the program!! WHAT A BIG BOY!

Something New

I know, I know it is really time for a NEW post!

So, I thought I'd start off with a picture of our NEW HOUSE:
After getting the run around from our landlord on how long we could continue to rent before he "let the house go"...we decided we had better start looking. So, we found this great foreclosure and made an offer and ended up getting the house. We moved in the end of June; thanks to alot of help from my sister Kim and Jared's parents!!

This SHOULD be our LAST move for ALONG time (or at least for 5 years until the Vegas housing market settles down some). Luckily, we were able to find a house with a third car garage (tandem 3rd car) to store all of our stuff from our Utah basement (since the homes in Vegas don't have basements). Here is a picture of Jared getting it organized after our move.And to go along with the NEW house......a NEW LEATHER COUCH AND CHAIR!!!
This is so BIG; it is actually deserving of its own post......something like "One of these pictures is not like the other....." followed by pictures of our family rooms with the old couches in every place we have lived during the last ELEVEN years of marriage expect our new house in Vegas. But, you know me and posting....so here they are. We finally got rid of the brown, bumpy hand-me-down couches we got from Grandpa and Grandma Cisney when we were first married. After seven moves and eleven years it was almost sad to see them go. Here's to another 11 years with some NEW brown couches!!

Here is a NEW photo of the boys in their matching outfits for the 4th of July!

Followed by an even HOTTER one.....the boys watching the Summerlin Fourth of July Parade. It was pretty toasty at 9am; but the boys did better than we thought. Isaac especially liked the "fire engines" and "motorcycles"!
Drew is really enjoying his NEW DIET courtesy of Grandma Truman and Grandpa Frost!!

For those of you shocked right now, please note that it is at least CAFFEINE FREE Coke that we feed Drew! (j/k the can is EMPTY; I promise)!!

And of course, LOTS of NEW family photos from our FUN TRIP to Utah.

Uncle Jared with the two baby boys...Brody and Drew
Isaac with his cousins Jace and Tyler enjoying the zoo!Our little family at the zoo.Followed by the whole "darn" family at the zoo(well....almost)! Grandma Truman and Drew, Aunt Kimmie and Brody, Jace, Tyler and Isaac on the train at the zoo.Jared and Isaac enjoying the merry-go-round at the zoo.Isaac enjoying the rides at Lagoon....the helicopter ride and........the train ride with Grandpa Frost.
Uncle Jared with baby Hank (as Ike calls him).
Grandpa Frost and Drew.....this is shortly before the Coke drinking!!The Frost Boys (Dan, Colby, Dad, Jared and Mike)
Isaac with his "birthday buddy cousins" : Megan and CarterJared and Crystal enjoying the fabulous BBQ we had.
Finally, I just wanted to note that Drew has become the NEWEST mover and shaker of the family. He started crawling the day we returned home from Utah. And now he is all over the place and LOVES to pull himself up. I won't bore you with the long videos of his first shakey crawls; but thought I would added to all the NEW items.

What's SO Funny?

A few weeks ago I was doing the dishes in the kitchen when I heard screeching from the living (toy) room. I quickly grabbed the i-flip and started recording......



Drew just LOVES watching Isaac as you can see; he already loves hanging out with his big brother. However, we still have some work to do on being "SOFT" with the baby because Drew gets roughed up a bit; but I guess that is what being brothers is all about!! (Or being a Frost brother, at least)

Some Firsts

Since I am not a diligent blogger like ya'll we've had alot of "FIRSTS" happen this last month or so that I thought I would catch up on.


Isaac's first day of school (pre-school) April 17th
Ike started pre-school in mid-April through the school districts' head start program so he could get speech therapy. He goes M-TH from 9 to 11:30am until June 4th. I know he needs it; but it was pretty sad to send him that first day. Boy, times goes fast!! He doesn't seem old enough to go to school already. Of course, he cried a ton for the first week, some the second week and now he just gives us a "Bye-Bye" with a quiver in his voice and a wave!! But, I also get the BIGGEST smile and HUG when I go pick him up!!

Drew's first bites of rice cereal!
The very first day; he didn't seem to mind it. He didn't really pull any faces and he ate it like it was no big deal. However, the next 5 or so times he cried his eyes out or got really mad at me! Not sure why? It seems like I have to catch him in the right mood to eat. We have given up on rice cereal for awhile and have tried: squash, sweet potatoes and peas with some success. Next week we are going to try oatmeal and see if that goes any better.

Isaac's first self-portrait!
While my mom and I were busy taking video footage of Drew's first bites; Isaac took the camera off of the table and snapped a few photos of himself!! This first one isn't too bad; especially for a 3 year old!
Drew's first tooth (followed the very next day by his 2nd tooth)
I know you can't really see his two little bottom teeth....but the first one cut through on April 29th followed by the other one on the 30th. I couldn't get him to stop chewing on things for the picture.........in fact, we still CAN'T get him to stop chewing on everything. It looks like his top two teeth are also pretty close to cutting through. Regardless of teething he seems to be a "I put everything in my mouth" baby....Isaac was never as chewy as Drew.

Isaac's first night in his toddler bed!!
Yes, this is just his crib minus the front rail. (And yes, he was 3 years old and still in a crib...and yes, those are his binkies still in his hands.....and yes, I know I am a bad mother). We ordered the toddler rail for his bed while we still lived in Utah. When it came the move was getting close and we had decided to wait to take him out of his crib until after the move so we left it in the box. Well, when we took it out this weekend to put it on we found out that Babies 'R Us actually ordered the wrong rail. The rail we have doesn't fit on his bed. So, we just left the front of the crib off and decided to try it out! Amazingly, it has gone great so far!! Two days into it and he really hasn't even tried to get out (even at nap time -HALLELUJAH)! In fact, the first morning we woke up to him saying "I want to get out" while we was still sitting in his bed. Very funny!!
First post of the boys in MATCHING outfits!!
The first of many too come. I got lots of great bargains on some matching clothes for the boys at the Children's Place (my favorite kids clothing store).

A Dream Come True and More

On Saturday Melissa Payan invited the boys and I to "Touch-A-Truck" since the guys were working all day. It is a chance for kids to get up close and personal with their favorite big rig! A fire truck, police car, construction vehicles and many other vehicles were on display for the kids to climb into and "drive" etc.


ISAAC LOVED IT!!!
HE RAN from one truck to the next saying "BIG TRUCK" or "Let's go drive BIG TRUCK", etc. Baby Drew and I could barely keep up in the stroller as he darted through all the crowds!!

Here are some pictures of him driving some of his favorite trucks.

Isaac in the "sweet" semi-truck. This thing was decked out!! The back cabin even had a fridge and microwave in it.

We saw a mixer truck, many semi-trucks, an army hummer, a regular hummer, paramedic trucks, fire engines, an Air Force fuel tanker, SWAT team trucks, the K-9 unit SUVs, moving trucks, TV station SUVs & vans, and there were even some motorcycles and a helicopter there!! It was A DREAM COME TRUE FOR ISAAC!!! Probably the best day of his short 3 year life.

AND here is the latest photo of Baby Drew AKA BABY FAT. Drew already has a million nicknames. (Baby Drew, DB, Drew Doggie, Drew Puppy, Helmet Head, Mr. Pain in the Neck, Chucker Pants, Firecracker, Short Stack, etc.) But his newest is "Baby Fat". Someone here in Vegas recently told me the following: (note that she doesn't speak English every well) "First time I see him he SOOO little....he NO little; he FAT!!" Jared and I got a good laugh about it and ever since "BABY FAT" has been added to the list.

AND FINALLY....Drew keeps getting up earlier and earlier each morning. It used to be 7:00am, then 6:30am, then 6:00am and finally this morning he got up at 5:15am ready to play for the day. His early rising is killing me and Jared. Jared is working until the wee hours of the morning and I can't seem to get into bed any earlier than 11pm by the time I get both kids in bed and clean up, finish the laundry, do some taxes myself, etc. And often Drew will still get up in the middle of the night to eat. Anyways, one morning when Drew woke up BRIGHT and EARLY Jared said, "I'll get him, you sleep alittle longer." When I dragged myself out of bed about an hour later this is what I found............

YES, Jared was sound asleep!! I came in the room, left, got the camera and took a few pictures before his eye finally cracked open alittle bit!! Not exactly what I had in mind; but at least Drew has a nice helmet to protect him if he got dropped, etc.