Operation Ditch Paci

 Operation Ditch Paci has officially begun in the Malone House! 

I told myself that I would give Jackson until 2 to get rid of the paci on his own, but recently changed my mind. Jackson is very social (yes he takes after his Mama) and I refuse to have a child that takes a paci out of their mouth to talk. Jackson isn't quite there, but I wanted to stop it before it happens. The other week we decided that we could probably get J on the paci only when he sleeps and the change went surprisingly well.

That brings us to today=) Jackson was ready to go down for a nap and when I went to pull out a paci for him I realized that he didn't ask for it. I thought to myself why I was just going to get it for him if he wasn't asking/wanting it. I decided then and there we were going to give it up! 

I gathered up J and Kiki and we went to his room. Jackson didn't seem to notice what was different, but the look on his face told me that he knew there was something wrong with the situation. I said night-night and closed the door. There was minimal whining and he was fast asleep. SCORE!! 

Then....about 30 minutes later he was awake and pissed off! You could tell he woke up and fumbled for the paci and it wasn't there and just could not comfort himself back to sleep.

I knew he was fine, but my heart broke listening to him cry. Thankfully, I had the support from a lot of amazing friends on FB who told me to stay strong and told me that it would be worth it in the end no matter how much it hurt me to see/hear him like this. The worst part is that I knew he would just fall asleep if I gave him his paci. Quick and simple fix...right? I managed to stay strong and he fell back to sleep about 45 minutes later. It was seriously the longest 45 minutes of my life!!

I am very happy to say that I stuck with it and realized that since I started this at nap time there was no way I could give it to him at bed time. I had started the Operation without even knowing it! I was ready for a hard couple of days following, but surprisingly the next day it was like he never had it in the first place. I was SHOCKED! He tends to babble and chew a little more on Kiki when he's falling asleep now, but I figured there would be something like that as a new soothing technique. 

So proud to say that my boy is PACI FREE!!!!!!

Fresh Strawberries

I have always wanted to go to a farm where you could pick fresh fruit. I don't know if we just didn't have places like H&S Farms in Pocatello, but we never went when I was younger. As soon as I heard that strawberry picking season had started I was all over it and knew that Jackson would have a blast. With Aaron leaving in a month I wanted to make sure he was with us to partake in the hilarity that is Jackson. It ended up being a wonderful day with my boys. The strawberries tasted as delicious as they smelled and were enjoyed all week long!

It was a beautiful day!

Jackson saw the "balls" and was all over picking them, especially the green ones=)

Very proud of himself

"Helping" Daddy pick good ones!

Sampling the merchandise.

Not much room left

Couldn't get him to stand still for the life of me!

Not quite ready to go yet...more berries to pick

The Cheesiest Strawberry of the Patch!

Happy Easter!

Easter is upon us once again and thankfully Aaron is home to celebrate with us this year! As a special treat, Aunt Jess and Kaison spent the night to spend some extra time together before they left for Arizona the next day. Luckily, someone told the Easter Bunny about our plans and both boys woke up to Surprises this morning=)

The Goods!

Happy with his new Cars

Super Excited about a new puppy

The lawn mower was just icing on the cake!

After saying goodbye to Jess and Kaison so we could all get ready for the day, we enjoyed a yummy hand cooked breakfast made my Daddy!Not going to try to lie to you about how much of Jackson's breakfast was of the sugar variety! Hey...its a holiday and he is not your child=) 

 When we were all cleaned up from the eggs, sausage, peanut butter eggs, jelly bean breakfast we decided to head on post to one of the only Walkers-2yrs Easter Egg Hunts in town. I was very disappointed that there weren't many hunts that included toddlers. 

With my past experience with Easter Egg Hunts (what 5-6yrs putting on the NAACP's back in the day) I was prepared for the worst and just prayed that Jackson left with at least one egg!

 When we arrived at the designated area for the hunt, they had us line up along the perimeter of the fence. It was pretty comical and sad watching all of the parents trying to keep their toddlers at bay from the colorful eggs on the ground. Jackson was no exception. I wanted to make sure he saw the eggs and wanted to pick them up, but couldn't actually let him touch them and put them in his basket. This was a hard concept to grasp being 18months.

It was heartbreaking!

Lol, yet hilarious!

The worst part to all of this was that the people in charge kept us waiting while late arrivals came straggling in! Talk about a nightmare. If you're late you're late and sadly you miss out! Don't punish the rest of us with screaming kids while you yell, "Two more walking down" over the PA System.  

When it was Finally time to go Jackson was all over loading up his bucket with "balls". He did pretty good for himself by picking up about 12 eggs.

While we were waiting to get the green light to go and get the eggs we were standing next to a dad and his daughter, who had just started walking a couple days ago. He was trying to get her to pay attention to the eggs with very little luck. With her just starting out on her feet she wasn't making it to many eggs and decided to sit down in protest. With the quick on their feet toddlers surrounding her, the egg selection was minimal. 

Of course I felt bad about it and knew that we didn't need candy in our house, so I took a handful of eggs out of J's basket and tossed them right in front of her. *Bad Mom Award Coming Up* As soon as the hunt was over they announced that some of the eggs had prizes taped to them on a white piece of paper. I vaguely remembered a red egg that Jackson had picked up that looked like it had something on it. When I glanced in his bucket I realized I threw ALL of the red eggs towards the little girl. SOB!!! I gave away Jackson's prize!!! I felt awful!!!!!!! Obviously it wasn't meant to be for us and I just hoped that it was something that we already had. I hung my head in shame as we walked past the prize table full of movies, megablocks, push cars, and so much more. *Epic Fail Mom*

 After the Hunt we made our way to Aunt Jess' for a farewell bbq and Easter Egg Hunt for our boys! 

 

 

The second hunt of the day was a success! Both boys were happy with their treasures! The men paid attention long enough to snap some pictures before getting started on dinner. With dinner being prepped, we decided to let kids play in the pool for while to wash off the 2nd/3rd does of sugar they just inhaled. While Jackson was helping fill the pool up with water he started snooping around to find things to put in it. He took a step out of the pool and stepped on something that made him lose his footing. When I reached out to make sure J was okay I realized that the ground was moving and squeaking! This is what we found.

An nest of baby bunnies=) There were about 4 of them in there! So cute and so perfect to find on Easter!

As you can tell we had a fun and Busy Holiday! I hope yours was filled with as much fun and laughter as ours<3

Let's Dye Some Eggs!!!!!

Thank you Pintrest for your genius ideas of Koolaid Dye and Muffin Tin Cups!

Now that the eggs are done....Let The Eating and Sampling of Egg Dye Begin!!!!

Making the Most of Our Time Left

We don't have a lot of time left together, so we have to make the most of these moments! I don't know what I'm going to do without Jess and Kaison here. These boys have always been together. Its going to be hard!

He's Just Like His Aunts!

I don't know how it happened, but somehow Jackson has inherited a love for pickled flavored sunflower seeds from his Aunt Mari and Aunt Jess! *gross* I don't know what it is, but the kid can't get enough!

PLEASE can I have some Aunt Jess

Mmm...mmm...mmmm

and back for more!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Once again its that time of year. The day that Aaron Malone turns another year older! Of course as you all know he is not a big fan of celebrating his birthday, but I am=) SO...I talked him into having a bbq with friends and some guys from his unit. All I have to say is that it was a success! There was everything from delicious food to hit and runs by children in Jackson's car, to spontaneous gambling over a backyard wrestling and ended with smores after an uneventful search for firewood!

I pretty much consider it a success!!!