Tantrums

Whoever said the terrible twos are hard has never had a 3 year old. We are in the middle of the threes and tantrums at this age are more than I have ever experienced. All my friends with older kids warned me of this and wow I had no idea what they were talking about until we got there. My son Kai knows what he wants and if he does not get it he gets into a full blown tantrum than can last up to 20 minutes. I am at the point where I just leave him alone until he calms down because otherwise nothing works to settle him down. I have learned not to say we will do something unless we really will because otherwise it turns into a tantrum.

At 2 Kai was not aware of the world as much, he was not able to explain himself as well and was easily distracted but at 3 he knows too much and can articulate so well that he knows what he wants. If he does not get it then its tantrum time.

My advice - if you have a 2 year old or younger - enjoy it because it will only get harder before it gets easier again (at least I have been told there is light at the end of the tunnel).

I will have to go through this again 2 years from now - at least I will be prepared by then.

Who Knew?

3 1/2 years ago my husband and I were thrown into the whole baby shopping world completely clueless. I has know idea what a onesie was nor did I know what a travel system stroller meant.  My son Kai's dia[per was the first diaper I had ever changed. i was not even comfortable holding a baby. We had a steep learning curve and wow did we learn a lot. Who knew that 3 1/2 years later we are "experts" on baby advice. I don't meant experts in the academic sense but just experts because we have 2 kids so we know a little about baby things.

Recently i had a friend ask me which monitor to buy - well from my personal recommendation I told her to get a video monitor. A few of my friends are against video b/c they say it makes you more paranoid but I really like to see whats going on when my kids cry - do i need to go in or will they settle down? It makes it easier on us. The one we bought is this one:

I like being able to see my kids. We bought 2 cameras and so we can switch channels to see both kids in their respective rooms. They now came up with a fancier video monitor that scans between 2 cameras every 8 seconds. Its good if you really need to watch both kids at all times. I usually keep my monitor on my younger one b/c I know the older one is old enough to get out of his bed and get us if he needs. This is by far a fantastic video monitor and I high recommend video over just sound. 

The next thing that I was recently asked about is double strollers. There are so many out there and its so hard to decide but I really think it depends on your needs.  We got the Phil and Teds sports Buggy With Doubles Kit. I love the stroller because it can be a 1 seat stroller or you add the 2nd seat when you need it and it can be a double stroller. The seat reclines to flat for a newborn or sleeping baby. When the seat is flat then the second seat can be placed on the top so the older cihld can sit. Its so compact compared to all other double strollers out there. I love it!