The Big Bad Toddler Bed...

Such a big, silly boy!:)

Yep, you read that right, Hayden has finally graduated to his toddler bed! We actually have his "Big Boy" room all ready for him now too, but we haven't made that transition yet. We figured we better get him used to sleeping without being in a cage first!:) So, we converted the crib to a toddler bed a little over a week ago, AND.... he is sleeping in it just like he has slept in it his whole life. There was no transition. No awful crying at night. No up and down banging at the door. We thought this was going to be so hard and he would have such a hard time, but nope. Nothing. Just sleep. Even at nap time... just sleep. It is so strange to me because I have always heard horror stories of taking them out of their cribs and moving them to the oh so scary toddler bed. Well, no horror stories here. The only thing I will say is that he seems to love it. He loves that he can get up and get out when he is good and ready and he actually enjoys crawling in it just as much as crawling out! He has always liked his sleep, but who knew he liked it enough to actually put himself in the bed?!? It is a little more challenging when he does get up, because you have to go in there right away or he will have the room upside down from playing with his toys, but other than that it has been great. Truthfully, I let him destroy the room every now and then because it just seems like he is having so much fun in there by himself with all his toys. Sometimes at nap time I hear him talking to his animals, toys, lovies, etc. for a good 20 minutes before he gets to sleep, but I don't interrupt him unless he gets too loud and I think he may have forgotten why he went in there in the first place! Most of the time, I guess he just plays for a minute and then gets in the bed and takes his nap. I guess we are just lucky that this transition has been an easy one for him! Oh, and please let me mention here about the toddler bed itself. Apparently we got a "good" mattress that makes the use of the toddler rail a bit unnecessary. You had to purchase a thinner crib mattress for the rail to sit up higher, so Hayden just gets a little mini rail for protection... oh and only on half the bed at that! I mean I guess it would prevent him from rolling off if he was in the right place at the right time, but other than that... pretty useless. It does however make me feel a little better. When I go in the room and his head is actually facing the direction of the rail. Which in case you were wondering is only about 50% of the time. But, good news is coming. The rails on the twin bed he will move up to shortly are much better than this "toddler rail." Go figure. Of course I go in and check on him almost every night just to see which way he is sleeping, etc., so I have quite a few pics! I think he is ready for me to stop coming in there and "checking" on him/taking pictures, because I have accidentally woken him up a few times and he grunts and kicks his feet on the mattress as hard as ever. Note to self: Don't mess with Hayden's sleep!:) I'll try to remember that(and by that I mean just be quieter when I go in there!!!!). No really, I think he has this toddler bed thing down, so I can probably quit bothering him now!

He actually wanted to pose for this picture for me... crazy huh?!?
I got out the camera and he ran to the bed, crawled in it,
sat down and started saying..."CHEESE!" Funny huh?!?

I told him to lay down and pretend he was
going to sleep and this is what I got!!!

And this is what "OK, now close your eyes..." looks like!:)
So funny right?!?

We do have a lot of fun when it comes to bedtime...

Especially with his lovies!!!

It's kind of nice now that he can get in himself!!!

And he loves making the process VERY dramatic!

And dragging it out as long as possible!

He will literally smile for picture,

After picture...

After picture!:) I swear he just likes being in his new bed!!

Cute as pie!

This was one of those nights I accidentally woke the little monster...:(

But he quickly laid right back down!

I have come to find he has many different sleeping positions...
I personally like this one where you can see the drool
spot next to his face! Yes, he is getting
in those 2 year old molars. Ouch!:(

This is what I mean about the rail not doing much good...

And this is what I like to call "Butt up in the air!"

One thing is for sure... no matter which way he is facing,
he is definitely a stomach sleeper! Oh, and he always
looks so comfortable and peaceful!

Our morning game of peek-a-boo!!!

He has decided he likes to stick his feet through the holes and still try
to reach his lovies after he has thrown them below. Again,
he is all boy... I am certain a girl would not even waste
her time thinking this might be a good idea!:)

Trying to escape without cleaning up his mess one of those
mornings I let him play before rescuing him!:)

Don't worry... it didn't work! No escaping your
room leaving Momma with the mess!:)

One thing is for sure... this is one HAPPY, HAPPY boy!:)

Last blast of summer!!!

Such a cutie!

Yes, we have been super busy running around getting in some last blast of summer activities. There is some type of activity going on all the time right now. I guess that's good because we won't be doing too much of that in a week or so when Sawyer gets here! We have had multiple birthday parties, a trip to Lake Lanier Beach and Water Park, tons of swimming and so much more. Although it has been a hectic past couple of weeks, it has been a great past couple of weeks at the same time. Hayden has been having an absolute blast in the water. He is getting much more brave and really loves splashing around. The pool is much less crowded now that school is back in session, and he has loved having it to himself a few mornings!:) Daddy and I like that as well... kind of nice for a change! When we took him to the beach and water park at Lake Lanier on the other hand... VERY crowded! But, Hayden loved it. There were quite a few different slides for toddlers and he had a blast going down them over and over. I'm not so sure Daddy had quite as much fun as Hayden though... he was having to help him go down those slides over and over! It was pretty cute how Hayden would go down once and then throw those hands up in the air just so Daddy would take him again. I think he could have done this for hours! Next time we go to a water park we will definitely make sure we can both assist in the slide riding!:)

He enjoyed it this much every.single.time!

It was so funny to watch Matt do this slide
behind Hayden... I laughed each and
every time. He just looked so giant!
Oh, and Hayden thought he was
big stuff because Daddy didn't
have to "help" him!

Cheese!

Not only have we been having a blast in the water, August has also been the month for birthday parties! Boy has Hayden loved it! Matt has had to work most of the weekends we have had parties, so my Dad came along to help me out with Hayden. I'm pretty sure Hayden thought he had hit the jackpot.... not only did he get to go to all these fun parties, he got to do it with Grandaddy!:)

Having so much fun on the carousel at Alexander's birthday party!

Waving to Momma...

This was at Hayden's second cousins Dirk and Hurley's
skating party... and boy did he love it!

Although we didn't put skates on his tiny little feet,
he went out on the rink just like everyone else! He
never noticed he didn't have on skates... he loved
it! Oh, and he really loved the lights and music!

This was his version of skating. He would actually scoot his
feet on the rink floor just as if they were rolling like
everyone else. It was so funny to
watch.... very entertaining!

Now on to the pool....

Like father, like son!

Matt and Hayden have been having so much fun at the pool playing with the coconut tree and the mushroom. I haven't been doing too much of the getting up and down and running around with them at the pool, but I have had fun watching and taking pics! I am just a little too pregnant for all the running around our crazy little man likes to do at the pool! I do just fine sitting in the shallow and watching them have a great time together though! Hayden does however demand I take part in the activities every now and then, so we have also done our fair share of swimming and jumping off the side!

I'm not too sure what we were doing here, but as you can
see he has really been enjoying his pool time!

Especially the time spent under the mushroom!

He loves chasing Daddy around the mushroom...

And even enjoyed standing right under it and getting splashed!

He even decided to crawl one day... who
knew crawling would be fun again?!?

Taking time out to wave to Momma!

A fun game of catch the bucket...

Such a good throw!

Can you tell he thought this game Daddy created was the funnest game ever?!?

I was smiling for the camera, Hayden was growling like a lion!:)

Swimming with Daddy...

Giving the sweetest little kiss!

He finally learned he could touch in the 2 feet of water... not just the 1!

But still enjoyed jumping from the 1 foot ledge
much better than walking down it!

And jumping off the side of the pool even better than that!

Our cute little frog all dried off and ready to go home!

Until next time...

I guess we could find ourselves at the pool one or two more times this summer, but with Sawyer's pending arrival any day now, I figure my last blast of summer title is probably pretty accurate! Don't worry though, if we do manage to make it out for more fun in the sun before our newest little addition makes his arrival I will be sure to update you!:)