Brent & Amy haven't had a night away from the kids since Carter was born, but went away to Manning Park Resort this weekend! Carter is two years old, and Devin is nine months.
Carter
Devin
Let me start by saying I haven't babysat in ohhhhh probably six years. Now we were planning to tackle a full weekend of it?!
Spark notes version... It was awesome. Everything went SO much better than we expected. I expected many hair-pulling moments and tears of defeat, but David and I worked together and tag-teamed when necessary. Brent & Amy have done an amazing job raising these boys. They're so happy, confident and well-adjusted. Love them!
Here are some things that stood out from this experience:
1. Kids do very well with routine. Thank goodness Amy and Brent left us very prepared for our days (aka there was an hour-to-hour itinerary of their daily routine). Getting Devin to sleep takes all of 10 minutes. A warm bottle and then put him down with his noise maker and you don't hear from him! Without this cheat sheet we would have been at a loss. However, with it we were able to accomplish all the daily tasks and budget time for ourselves too!
2. Two year olds have their own vocabulary. Brent & Amy also prepped us by letting us know some of Carter's most frequently used words such as: danu, pa-pole, uppie, woofwoof. Translations for these respectively are sandwich, Paw Patrol, Happy (the Pharrell song), and dog. We had to figure out for ourselves that noona means noodles!
Carter was THRILLED to take selfies. Hard to pick just one to post when he insists on taking 50!
3. Babies are happy as long as they're fed, have slept, and have clean diapers. Well... maybe not all babies, but Devin is definitely one of the happiest children I've babysat for! With the exception of the first evening when he refused to eat and cried for a while, but that's to be expected when your parents leave you with "strangers".
"Mmmmmmmmmm....!!"
4. David changed his first diaper ever! Go David!
5. It is a LOT of work. Between changing diapers, making bottles, changing clothes, feeding kids, convincing the two year old things are/aren't a good idea, doing dishes, making food, playing with toys, cleaning up toys, handling tantrums, carrying babies, and more... it's a full-time job! I don't know how single moms do it. Especially with two kids. Props to them!
Our walk around the block where Carter promptly decided he was "all done" in the stroller. We distracted him and made it twice around the block. Best distraction for a two year old? "What sound does a.... monkey make?!" He is such a bright little guy.
6. While it's a lot of work... We did it... We can do this. David and I make an amazing team.
7. I am weak. Mom's and Dad's must be ripped! Carrying these kids around all day! I never realized how much a nine month old weighs after a while. All this lifting and holding has done a number on my left arm in particular. Quite the work out!
8. Sherlock is about as ready to take on a baby and a toddler at the same time as we are. He is exhausted and over-whelmed too, but overall he did very well with the kidlets.
Playing with Carter in the backyard
10. With a sound routine you can still have time for yourself. During the day between 1:30 and 3 both the kids are asleep. On Sunday during this time David finally built a sweet train set-up! He'd been excited about this all weekend. Evenings are also great for down time. We started watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but it's definitely interesting.
Carter was tracing his hands on the big paper we brought him. Yes... he's still in his PJ's... He may have stayed in his PJ's till after he woke up from his afternoon nap.
Sherlock & Carter vs. the neighbour's chimney! {Sherlock had never seen a chimney before and was pretty spooked}
Devin enthusiastically watching Carter and Sherlock play from inside!
CHEEEESE!
Oh I just wish this photo was in focus!
Devin playing with his toy. I'm guessing Paw Patrol was on in the background. Every time the theme song for that show came on he would stop whatever he's doing and start dancing like a maniac. Adorable.
Run Sherlock Run!
Watching from outside this time after our walk.
Oh Sherly... Carter thought it was pretty funny how Sherlock kept running away from him.
This is much more a game of keep-away than fetch.
Carter walking his imaginary dog
Winding up...
Great toss Carter!
Our handsome first born
Enjoying the show!
Well isn't HE a handsome specimen?
Haha Sherlock looks like maybe he's the only one enjoying these kisses.
Carter hammin' it up for the "cheese!" (Camera)
Out of order: this pic was from the first evening after Brent & Amy left. David keeping the boys occupied so they wouldn't miss Mom & Dad too much.
With the boys awake David had to make train sets on the floor - ones he wasn't TOO excited about because a child Godzilla was sure to storm through it at some point.
Devin. AKA Mr. Happy.
Carter sharing his noodle dinner with Sherlock.
Sherlock being a good big little brother not minding Carter trying to steal his peanut butter bone.
A big BIG TRUCK!
Who wouldn't love waking up to this face?! Even if it is 5am...
Carter was still very sleepy after breakfast Sunday morning!
Devin playing with this super cool toy at the nursery at church!
Overall this was an extremely rewarding experience. Thank you to Brent & Amy for trusting us with your babies! We had a blast :) We miss the boys already! We definitely had Paw Patrol and the Frog Song stuck in our heads all evening on Sunday.
This weekend was definitely a reality check, but yes... we still want kids!
Way to go guys!
ReplyDelete