Time to get rid of the bottle...

Well, Kaylee is almost a year old! Can you believe it? I sure can't! With that milestone also comes the dreaded chore of getting rid of the bottle. Kaylee is quite fond of her bottle so it's going to be a difficult process (but I refuse to let my child have the bottle until she is 2....my sister!!). So the plan is to start with a bottle feeding each week. Kaylee typically has 4-5 bottles within a 24 hour period. She usually has one when she wakes up, then around her first nap, then right before her second nap, right before bed, and then on most nights she has one during the night (like around 3-5 am...because she STILL does not sleep through the night). I have taken away the bottle before her first nap this week. Next week she won't have her 2nd nap bottle. The week after that I wil probably try to get rid of the bottle before she goes to sleep. Lastly will be the bottle right when she wakes up (eventually we will get rid of the bottle during the night as I will probably give her a sippy as this time instead of the bottle). It's going to be a long, grumpy 4 weeks, but I just don't know that I can cut the bottle cold turkey.

For those who haven't had children yet, I can lend this advice:
Don't ever lay your child down with a bottle. We have done this and it just makes the child more attached to the bottle.
Introduce the sippy early!! Put milk in there that way they'll learn that the sippy isn't just for water/juice...whatever they drink.
Don't (if at all possible) let the child hold the bottle. I say that I won't do this next time, but I think back and Kaylee wanted to hold the bottle so bad that sometimes she wouldn't take it unless she held it. Even with the sippy, she'll only drink it sometimes on "her" terms. I don't really know that I could have done this differently...but I will certainly try with the next child.

Anyway, so we will see if I can hold out and not give in to the cries for the bottle. Hopefully, I will hold strong!

Painting ... again!

Well, I have officially decided that the color I originally painted throughout the whole house was something that I just didn't love! So, after a few trial and errors, I THINK I have found something that I really really like. Before leaving for Key West, I tried 2 colors in the entryway. We are going with the second color. Tonight, I painted the entire entryway and one of the hallway walls. I plan to just take my time with it. There is A LOT to paint so my goal is to just have it finished before Kaylee's b-day party on November 22nd. I definitely think I can manage that! :-)

Key West

We got in last night from Key West about 1:30 am. It was a very long trip, but we had fun. Clay and I had to fly separately because we couldn't get him on the same flight as Kaylee and I, but wee managed to work it out. Though I had some issues coming back (we had to go around Houston because of the weather and therefore had to make a pitstop in San Antonio for some fuel....I almost missed my connection to Seattle and had no time at all for anything!), we made it safely. We all had fun. It was miserably hot while we were there but coming home last night almost made us miss that miserable heat! It was FREEZING in our house last night. We are happy to be home and we are happy that Jill and Reid took us in and allowed us to stay with them for 5 days. We enjoyed Key West and we enjoyed the wedding.

Thank you to our sailors and our soliders

So, I was watching Good Morning, America this morning and I heard the saddest story. A 30-something year old man was killed in the war. The man has left behind a wife who is pregnant with twin girls. This is so sad to me. I know so many people that have husbands who are deployed while they are pregnant. It is so sad to hear that a father never had the chance to meet his children and that mothers of these fallen heros are left to raise their children by themselves. It truly breaks my heart. It also brings home how precious and how brave our soliders and sailors are.