The Ray Family: 2014

Monday, December 29, 2014

September

We had a beautiful Labor Day weekend in Boston!

The ducks were not crowded, so we visited them

On Saturday, we had a mini tailgate at the apartment and watched college football!

We decorated cupcakes!

Stella's first Major League game….Jordan didn't think she would last...

Mommy bought popcorn and she lasted the whole game!

We paid for standing room behind home plate….it worked well, the concession stand was behind us and Stella was able to dance and play!

Lots of breakfast for dinner when daddy is working late….

Within two weeks, the city of Boston had tornado warnings….I think it had been over 15 years since the city had been under tornado warnings.

ah…parenting!

We started Mommy and Me Ballet with a sweet friend

We had a playdate….where are Luke and Stella?!

Here we are!

Maternal instincts are kicking in, we are practicing

Lots of park time with friends

Riding the subway to ballet!

Saying goodbye…one last park playdate!

Monday, December 8, 2014

New Beginnings

We are having a baby!**

We are so excited that Stella is going to be a BIG sister!

**One of the many reasons I am so behind blogging!

When we moved, I really wanted to find classes and activities for Stella to keep her busy!

We were told about a great indoor gym, My Gym, and how it is perfect for classes during the winter. Well, one Monday, we decided to go check the place out and Stella and I attended a "Terrific Tots" class.

She loved it, and I did too! The class is very structured for her age group and the class size is rather small. There is a good mix of free play time and organized activities within the hour and the teachers are a lot of fun!

The downside with a lot of classes is that the cutoff age is 3 and of course Stella is only 2! I told Jordan we should have had her a year before ;)

Even though I have to be there, I am able to allow Stella to take direction from her teachers, and I like that a lot. There are some activities that are repeated everyday which I believe is good for a toddler to have routine but then they spice up the skills the kids learn and sing a new song, and have a new dance each week!

Do I have to tell you that we signed up immediately!?

The teachers are so sweet to Stella. Most are college-age or right out of college and they are extremely patient and fun!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Operation: no pacifier

Stella has loved her pacifier from day 1! Before I had children, I really thought I would be the type of parent that would be against the use of a binky, paci, or nunu….whatever you call it! I was never judgmental about others that used them, I just thought of them as kind of gross, hard to keep clean and unnecessary.

Then, I went to nursing school and learned all about non-nutritive sucking and y'all it's real! It's considered part of their normal development and some babies really use it for coping. Of course, the older a child becomes, they need to learn other coping mechanisms.

I can't remember at exactly what point we decided to leave the pacifier in the bedroom only--as in only for rocking and bedtime (naps and nighttime).

And that transition was easy…she was so busy during the day, she didn't need to use the pacifier. At night, though she used to go to sleep.

We decided to hold off on getting rid of the pacifier because we were moving, and even our pediatrician agreed if we were only using at night, it wasn't worth rocking the boat until we made the big move!

And then we moved….and honestly I was scared. Stella has always been a great sleeper, was this going to change her good sleep habits?

So we set a date! Jordan was going to be home and not working for Labor Day weekend and it would give us a long weekend to get over the transition. Stella has a little calendar in her room and I wrote down "no more paci" on the Friday before and would casually mention it to her!

Luckily we had baby Molly around who really helped….you see, Baby Molly needed some pacifiers ;) and Stella had some that we didn't need anymore--and that's what we told Stella.

The week leading up to no pacifiers we talked about it everyday. Together we went to the store and bought a bag for Stella's pacifiers to gift to Molly and on Friday we delivered the pacifiers.

Stella was such a big girl….until it was time to leave. She tried to take them back, but we explained that Stella didn't need them anymore, but Molly did.

Then, off to Target to buy Stella a happy for being a big girl. She was so proud of herself and walked straight down a toy aisle and picked out an Ana and Elsa doll set. It was so deliberate, Jordan asked if I had planned it….ha! No…I didn't train her to find the toy.

And then sleep training began…..ALL OVER AGAIN….

It was a rough weekend and I am so thankful we were both home. Jordan was really helpful and we kept reiterating the idea that Molly needed the pacifier but Stella was a big girl who didn't need them anymore.

By Monday, she understood and we were back to sleeping peacefully!