Little Boys

Jadon just amazes me every day of his life with the things he says, and his "insight" on things.
A couple of weeks ago, he and I were sitting at the table eating lunch, and out of no where, he says "If mommy puts me into the washing machine.... I will turn into clothes..... and then she will fold me." (no, i've never threatened to put him in the washing machine!) ;) It cracked me up! He's just so cute!

He's growing up so fast. For Avery's babyshower, my mother-in-law gave us these 4 books, and they are just little books with a sentence or two on each page, and its "shared wisdom from the heart" on raising boys and girls. One is "Mother to Son", there's "Father to Son", "Father to Daughter", and "Mother to Daughter." Anyways, these books have great little tidbits in them, some of them funny, some of them tear-jerking. One night before Avery was born, Derek and I were laying in bed reading these books, sometimes blurting out a funny line here and there. And then when you get to the very last page of each of the books it says "let him go" or "let her go".... talk about tear jerking! That almost had both Derek and I in tears!
Anyways, I LOVE these little books, and have read them multiple times since getting them.

One of the lines in the "Mother to Son" book says "Teach him how to make a peanut butter sandwich. This could be his main source of sustenance for the next ten years of life." This could not be more true, at least for Jadon! I have made him a peanut butter and jelly (or honey) sandwich almost every day for lunch for the last year and a half or so! The only times he has different is when I make him something different for lunch, or if we go out for lunch.... but he requests PBJ for EVERY lunch!

I love my son!

Avery's 9 month appt

This morning Avery had her 9 month appt. (half a month early) It went well! She's growing well, and just like the doctor thought at the last visit, she seems to be starting a new growth curve more around where she started at (50th percentile area.)
She's 27.5 inches long (just a tad over 50th percentile), and was 17 lbs, 14 oz (just a tad under 50th percentile.)

She didnt have to have any shots today, but they did have to prick her toe for blood, and she's just a tad bit anemic, so they are putting her on iron drops for a few months and that should fix the problem. She said often breastfed babies are anemic of their mothers are anemic, which makes me wonder if i might be a bit anemic, but i'm not going to make an appointment for myself just because my daughter, who happens to be breastfed, is a bit anemic. I've never been anemic before, not even during pregnancy, so I doubt thats the problem, although I imagine it couldnt hurt to add some extra iron to my diet as well.

Anyways, thats about it. Pretty laid back appointment, she's doing well in every area as I figured she was. A couple of days ago she pulled herself up to standing position, and has done it several more times since! I imagine she'll be walking before we know it!

We're back! Did you miss me??

Well, we survived the trip! After weeks spent preparing (and fretting and stressing on my part), the trip is over and life is back to normal!
The day started on Thursday morning. We got up, got ready, loaded the car and left the house at around 11am. Derek had 2 stops planned out in advance, first in Lake Oswego, where there was an Olive Garden right off I-5. I had a gift card for Olive Garden, so we thought we'd use that and eat lunch there. Big mistake, it was packed and there was a 30 minute wait.... we were not willing to wait that long, so we crossed the parking lot and ate at Applebees instead.
After eating, we took a long route back to the car to get our legs stretched a little, then it was back on the road.
After crossing the border into Washington, both kids passed out. Next stop was in Chehalis at a Super Walmart. Our intention was to go and walk around walmart, but Derek was anxious to get back on the road before rush hour traffic. So, after feeding Avery and changing her diaper, back on the road again.
The next stop was to be Bremerton (the final destination), but Avery was getting really tired of being in the car, so we had to make a stop in Gig Harbor and walk around, let Avery get some energy out and jump her legs a little. That bought us enough time for the last 30 minutes of the drive to Bremerton, where she started crying again about a mile from the hotel.

The hotel. Well, we were on the bottom floor, smelled very musty, and our window had no lock on it and no screen. It did however, have a stick in the window, about the size around of a pencil eraser. I felt like our belongings were really safe. (insert sarcastic face) Derek's dad was in the room above us, and it was a bit more updated than ours was. But, it was a place to lay our heads at night, and for naps, and a place to shower.

The evening that we arrived, we all went to Denny's up the road for a late dinner. And, again the next morning for breakfast, we went to Denny's. This turned out to be Jadon's favorite place to eat.... not sure why?

The first night did not go that great. Jadon had a hard time going to sleep, and Derek and I tossed and turned all night long on our concrete beds. (Derek shared a queen bed with Jadon, and I shared a queen bed with Avery.) Avery slept pretty normally though.

The second night, Jadon again wouldnt go to sleep, Derek and I slept a little better, but Avery woke up from 2-5am, not very happy.

Night three, we all slept better.

Most of the trip consisted of running back and forth from the hotel for Avery's naps, to restaurants to eat meals, to the nursing home where Derek's grandpa lives. Poor Jadon was pretty bored for much of the trip, and I wish we could have had a few more days so that we could have had plenty of time with the family, and some time for some fun activities. We did try to make the most of the time we had though. Day 2 when we came back to the hotel for a nap, the kids werent tired anymore (after Avery fell asleep from the nursing home to the hotel), so we went to the back of the hotel where there was a little "beach" (consisiting of shells and rocks... no sand) and explored around the hotel a little. And that evening, we went to dinner with family at a very nice restaurant that overlooked the Sinclair Inlet, which is part of the Puget Sound. It was a beautiful area, and had lots of fountains nearby that we walked around after eating. Derek, Jadon and I all really enjoyed that. Avery got tired though, so she wasnt as happy about it towards the end.
There were several jumping fountains, and these huge fountains that would suddenly explode loudly, and scare the daylights out of Jadon and Avery every time. I wish we could have stayed down there much longer, but it was getting dark, and Avery was getting quite unhappy.

Day 3 we spent mostly at the nursing home and the hotel. By then, Derek and I were starting to get extremely exhausted, so we grabbed some Domino's pizza's, and had dinner in Tom, Jane, and baby Rebecca's hotel room, then went to bed and the next day we left the hotel at 10:44am.

The trip up took us close to 7 hours, and the trip back took us about 6 1/2 hours I think.

The trip home- as I said, we started at 10:44am, 20 minutes later, Avery pooped, so that was our first stop to change her diaper. 2nd stop was about 3o minutes later, she was starting to get crabby and hungry, so we stopped and ate a quick lunch at burger king. After lunch, the kids both once again passed out for the rest of Washington, and didnt wake up until right after we crossed the border into Oregon. We stopped in Wilsonville at Fry's to walk around and feed Avery again for a bit, and then hit the road again, but of course, Avery pooped again, so we had to stop in Salem for a few minutes to change her. She was pretty much not very happy the rest of the drive home.... understandably so. Its hard for little ones to sit that long in one place.

Overall, Avery did better than I anticipated, and Jadon did a bit worse. He seems to have entered a very definant stage that is really tiring having to deal with.

Anyways, I have 44 pictures to show of our trip, and instead of uploading them into annoying blogger, I created a slideshow of our trip. FYI, it only gave me 3 songs to chose from, so sorry if the music sucks :) Oh, and I made an error on the very first slide of Jadon in the car. It was our second stop, not our first.... not that it really matters much.

I'm already ready for another vacation ;)

Mini Vacation

Next week we are heading up north for a few days to visit Derek's grandparents and meet Derek's new baby sister. It will be our first "vacation" since having Avery. Last January we took Jadon, and he did a really good job traveling, and other than having quite a bit of trouble sleeping at night in the hotel, he was perfect!
I'm really worried about Avery though. She's so highmaintenance (and LOUD), and i'm afraid that when she cries, she's going to get us kicked out of the hotel! I'm really stressed out about how the nights are going to go... i'm praying for a miracle!

We're also going to have to make lots of stops when we are driving to and from Washington. With Jadon, we only made 2 stops each way. One so that we could stretch our legs and pee, and the second was to eat. He just travels so well!
Avery gets very tired of being in her carseat though, so I imagine that we'll be stopping every hour.
I did order Jadon a new carseat/booster seat yesterday, and i'm going to switch Avery to Jadon's current carseat, and it looks like its alot more comfortable, so maybe she'll be happier in that carseat? I hope. Jadon's new carseat/booster will be with us for many years, 9 years actually. He will be able to grow into it for many years ahead. Plus, he's excited because it has 2 cupholders. ;) Not sure why a carseat needs 2 cupholders, but whatever. He can put his toys in one.

Ugh.... i'm really excited to get out of the house for a couple days, and have our first family vacation, but i'm also incredibly nervous.

Jadon's first dentist appointment

Today Jadon had his first dentist appointment. I tried to prepare him as best as I could, but since he had never been to this place, and never had an exam before, preparing him didn't do much good.

I dont know if you remember or not, but back in March, he totally blew our socks off with how well he did at his 3 year well-child checkup. We spent weeks and weeks preparing him for that appointment by buying a doctor kit, and practicing with him over and over what was going to happen at the appointment. But, he was also more familiar with that office, as he'd been there several times before that for Avery's checkups.

Lately, his confidence seems to have gone up a little in trying new things.... so I thought for sure he blow our socks off again and be totally cooperative at the dentist appointment. I was wrong. He was fine in the waiting room.... until they called his name. Que the waterworks and hysteria. Just being in the room where you get your teeth cleaned was almost too much for him. He would not even open up his mouth for the lady to look in, even when she promised she wouldnt even touch him. Eventually Derek tickled him to the point that he opened up for a quick second. The lady said that he has great spacing in his teeth now, which if fantastic for when his big teeth come in, they wont be crowded and we wont have to worry about orthodontics down the road. After that, she gave him a tour of the office and then he got a new toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste, and a little prize. And that was the extent of the appointment.

I took the camera because, as I said, I thought for sure he was going to cooperate, and I wanted to get a picture of my big boy on his first dentist appointment.... but, I only got some pictures of him standing outside the building AFTER the appointment. Of course then he was all smiles and was saying that he had fun and asked if we were going back again tomorrow.

Also, he mentioned on the way out how good of a job he did. ;) Poor guy.... I hope he doesnt grow up in fear of everything like his mommy, but its sure looking that way.

So, we'll go back again in 3-6 months, or even sooner for free if we want, just so he can get used to the office, and become familiar with it. Or we can just wait until we feel he's ready. I think we'll be having him go in frequently though.

Jadon golfing

Derek took Jadon to the driving range a few weeks ago, and ever since, i've wanted to go and watch. Tonight the weather cleared up and we all went! Avery and I sat and watched of course, while the boys golfed. It was really cute, I got videos of both the boys, but I'm pretty sure Derek would not be too happy with me if I posted the videos of him, so i'm just going to stick with one video of Jadon. So cute!

So Avery woke up at 5am this morning with Jadon's cold. Poor girl, its her first illness. I managed to keep Jadon free of illnesses until he turned 1, but I knew it would be much harder to do that with Avery since she has a preschool aged sibling who is always kissing her and getting right in her face playing with her.
By the time we finished lunch today, my throat started to feel scratchy too, and after work Derek said he thought that his felt scratchy too. Someone needs to let all the bugs know that the sick season is over with, and its almost summer so its time for them to take a 3 month break!

Garage Sale and church

So, its not looking like our neighborhood is having its annual garage sale this year. We have not heard anything from the lady who always puts it on. This is so frustrating. Of course, the year that we can participate and they dont do it! Thats how Derek and my luck goes though, so I guess I shouldnt be too surprised.

Jadon came down with a cold yesterday. I know there's a stomach bug going around right now, but I didnt know there was a cold going around also. I'll take the colds ANY day over the stomach bugs!! When I hear about stomach bugs going around, I start getting obsessive about the family keeping their hands washed alot, and keeping fingers out of mouths/nose/eyes. Why? Well, I hate vomit. Hate seeing it, hearing it, smelling it, and I have a fear of vomiting. Not to mention, when Derek gets stomach bugs, they stick around for several days. Its going to be rough for me when Jadon goes to preschool/school, when I know he's going to bring home every bug to share with the family. I'll be needing alot of prayer then for sure! :)

Anyways, we've been wanting to go back to church for a long time. We stopped going when I got pregnant because I was really nauseated most mornings (throughout the pregnancy.) We did go a couple of times, but thats the extent. Then after Avery was born and the whole H1N1 scare was at its peak, the pediatrician told us to stay in if we didnt have to go out because there were lots of really nasty bugs going around that were not good for little babies. And now for the last couple of months we talked about going back, but its right during Avery's naptime, and we really want to go together as a family. However, I realized that Avery is probably going to be having a morning nap for awhile still, so we would be waiting for a long time before returning to church. We decided that Derek and I will take turns each Sunday going with Jadon while the other stays home while Avery sleeps. Not really what we wanted, but Derek and I both want to be back in church, and we want Jadon to grow up in church.

So Derek took Jadon to church on Sunday, (and I'm guessing thats where Jadon got his cold from.) Jadon really enjoys going to church. He is such a content kid most of the time. He loves going anywhere. He is a joy to take to the grocery store or shopping anywhere because he never whines or complains about being bored. He is a delight to travel with... he is fascinated with the world around him and enthusiastically points out every big truck, bus, train, plane, buildings, signs, etc. He is content to ride in a stroller or walk and never complains. He impresses me with how far he can walk on his skinny little legs! He is such a good little boy. We are so blessed to have him.
I think his little sister is going to be quite opposite though. She already seems to have quite a temper, and is pretty whiney, and demanding. Thats ok though, she makes up for it with her chubby little smile and adorable squeals of delight! (And her cute little toes that I just want to nibble on!) I just hope that she grows up to be a strong, confident woman with those character traits! :) Funny how two kids with the same parents can be so different! Both of them are unique and have their own traits, and both of them are such a blessing to us.

Busy weekend

Not really.... we actually didnt do much of anything this weekend, other than a few errands and some yardwork.
Avery on the other hand, learned how to crawl, and how to pull herself up to a sitting position! None of us have actually seen her get into a sitting position, but we've looked over at her twice and she's suddenly sitting up. And just in case youre wondering, Jadon didnt help her.

My "job" just got more hectic! :)

More pictures

I havent been very good at keeping up with pictures on the blog, especially since I cant ever remember which pictures i've posted on Facebook, and which one's i've posted on blogger, and to be honest, I dont really have the time to go through each of them and see what i've uploaded. So, I keep a folder on my computer desktop of pictures for me to go through, and whenever i get a chance, i post them either on blogger or facebook. Below are pictures from the last few months that I dont remember if they are on facebook or not, and I dont think i've posted them on blogger either.

So, these first two are from easter morning, the kids opening their easter baskets

Avery being a ham (yet again)

One of the first times she got to sit in the grass

Jadon helping daddy in the yard with his "dinger binger"

The kids sitting together outside

The only zoo pix we have

Jadon was not happy that I was taking his picture

Avery, on the other hand, cant seem to get enough of the camera lately

momma and baby elephant

taking a break

Avery watching Jadon play Mario

Avery learned how to crawl today! 

Arent you lucky???

Another picture post! I'm just waiting to see if Avery's going to take a nap this afternoon, and then i'm headed to take a nap myself. Avery's getting some more teeth I believe, and has kept us up alot the last several nights.... i'm pooped! So, here's some random pix from the last couple of days.

Jadon playing on the computer while I cook dinner

Its a girl!!!!!!! Yes, she does have a few dresses, and look! tights too!
We made clay hand and feetprints a week or so ago, and Jadon and I painted them a couple days ago. Its really hard to see the shape of the hand and foot on Jadon's though.

Avery just ADORES Jadon..... shhhh... dont tell Jadon, but i'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual ;)

Mostly pictures

Sorry, i have not had time to blog.... seems like the story of my life these days! Although it feels good to be busy.
These pictures are in no particular order-

Avery's first tooth (2nd one is right by it just starting to come in)

BEAUTIFUL rainbow from the other night
Another shot of the rainbow... it was SO bright and beautiful!

Avery posing for a picture. Once I start clicking and the flash starts going off, she starts grinning. Little ham!

Jadon allowing a picture to be taken of him

Another hammy AveryHaving fun with her toys.

Jadon is really beginning to enjoy his sister sometimes

So thats about it for pictures. Kids are keeping me busy still. Avery's napping is going better, and she seems to be getting on a bit of a schedule now. Usually I am scurrying around trying to get something done while she's sleeping, and i've been successfully getting her down and Jadon into quiet time at the same time, so that gives me a moment of peace....

Ever since our zoo trip, we've been thinking in the back of our minds about getting a bigger, safer car. However, an SUV or minivan are out of the question- too expensive and/or bad gas mileage. We've been eyeing the Honda CRV, which is roomier than a normal car, yet gets better gas mileage than an SUV and the price is right (ok, the price is better... we'll have to see if the price is right if we decide to seriously buy one.) My heart will always belong to our old Honda Pilot though... I sure did love that car, it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo comfortable!

Wow, second post of the day!

2 posts in one day! Aren't you lucky! ;)

Avery's getting a few teeth in... her two front bottom teeth have broken through, and we think a top tooth might be getting ready to come in. She has been a B-E-A-S-T!!!!!! I swear, that girl is so high strung, and i'm not sure where she gets it from.
She has also started saying ga-ga, ba-ba, ma-ma, and da-da this last week. And has decided that she hates to sit. She wants to stand all the time, although she's still too young to stand by herself, so we have to hold her while she stands.
She is quite a little fireball, and I worry that she is going to be a difficult kid!

I've been scrapbooking the kids' babybooks, and i'm almost done with Jadon's. Looking back at his 7 month pictures and comparing them to Avery, they look a lot alike! Although her cheeks are fatter.

Thats all I have for now... Avery woke up at 2something last night and didnt go back to sleep until just after 4, so im tired and shes squealing so I better go!

Birthday Recap

Well I had a nice birthday. Derek took the day off (friday) and we went to the zoo, thinking it would be less crowded than if we had gone on saturday. WRONG! It was PACKED, took us a long time just to find a place to park. Really, it was like stalking the people who were coming out of the zoo and heading back to their cars to see if they were leaving. Turns out, a bunch of schools were there.
We got there at about 12 noon, and walked around for a bit, then ate some lunch. Oddly enough, at the little food cafe that we were at, there was a little girl there named Jadon (probably spelled Jadyn or something though) and a boy named Avery. What are the odds? I know our kids names are becoming more popular, and that both of them can be used for either a boy or girl name, but it was still weird.
Anyways, the zoo was a little disappointing. A lot of the animals werent out, and most of the cages only had 1 animal in them. The best part was seeing the polar bears, there were 2, and they were playing with a ball in the water.
Jadon did very well. We couldnt have asked for a better kid to travel with, i mean really, he does so well on long drives! And at the zoo, he walked for about 95% of the time.... thats alot of walking for his little legs!
Avery did very well on the way up (surprisingly!) And was even pretty good at the zoo, although when it was naptime she got a little cranky, so I had to carry her for a bit to calm her down, then when I put her back in the stroller she eventually fell asleep.
Driving home was unpleasant once we hit Salem. Avery was tired of sitting, getting hungry, and pooped her pants(which we were not aware of until we got home.) So she screamed the whole way from Salem until we got home.

We have a tradition that on our birthday, we go out for dinner wherever the birthday person wants to go. Well, after our long drive, i didnt want to subject anyone to riding in the car anymore, so we just ate at home, and went to dinner on saturday night instead. I chose Red Robin because its loud inside, so we dont have to worry about Avery getting cranky and loud. Although i'm quite tired of Red Robin.... and I dont even want to think about how many calories are in each meal. There really isnt much, if anything, on their menu thats healthy.

So, that was my birthday!

Birthday Eve

Well, this is it, the final day of my 20's! Seems so unreal... I dont really feel like i'm going to be 30. I've been dreading this day since my 29th birthday, knowing that it was my final year in my 20's. In some ways, I still feel like i'm 22. In other ways, 30 feels about right (like when i try to sit on the floor with my legs crossed for a little bit... my knees get sore.)

My 20's held lots of good (and some bad) memories, as i'm sure most peoples 20's do.
I met Derek (I take that back, I was 19 when we met), got married, gave birth to 2 kids and was pregnant 6 times, bought a house, bought a new car, bought an SUV, sold the SUV :(, got a new job, quit my job, went to Hawaii, went to Florida, and went on several other little vacations in Oregon and Washington, gained 45 pounds (baby weight not included...), lost 15 of those so far and still going! Thats all the major things I can think of.

My goal for my 30's: get in the best shape of my life, become a more confident person, make a good friend and be a good friend, decide what I want to be when I grow up (yes, I still dont know what I want to do with my life once my kids are in school.... been trying to figure that out for the last 10 years... surely my 30's will reveal it to me!), and MOST importantly, be the best mom and wife that I can be.
As far as material things... it would be nice to someday have a bigger vehicle, and a bigger house with more yard ;), and a couple of fun vacations with the kids for memories sake.

Goodbye 20's, you've laid a great foundation for me! Hellooooo 30's!

Boys will be boys

Why do boys have such an obsession with their...ahem... male parts? Well, i'm telling you, this obsession starts early!!
This evening, I was getting Avery ready for bed downstairs, Derek was upstairs in the office paying bills, and Jadon was informed that he was going to get a shower in a few minutes as soon as Daddy was done with bills. He loves baths and showers, so he stripped himself down to his birthday suit in preparation (and anticipation.) So here I was downstairs dressing Avery for bed, and Jadon's upstairs waiting for daddy to finish bills, and I hear him say "thats a big winky!"
A minute later he comes running downstairs, and I asked him "what's a big winky?" He proceeds to stretch his winky out with his fingers and he says "that is!" with a big smile on his face. I couldnt help but crack up!

Earlier this evening he was playing with a whoopie cushion that he got for Christmas (thanks alot Gramma Debbie!) and he would have it on the floor, and he'd jump up in the air, and land on his butt on the whoopie cushion... over and over again. Over and over again, because we laughed at him the first couple of times, so that of course egged him on.

Ah, boys will be boys! I'm so glad God blessed me with a son to entertain us! :)

My beautiful kids

There's not a day that goes by that I dont look at my kids and wonder how I was blessed with two of the most beautiful kids on earth.
I have a video of each of the kids, but blogger is not letting me post any kind of video's, so I uploaded them to OneTrueMedia, and i'll paste the link here.

The kids are so cute in the video's. Avery is in her jumperoo, and LOOOOOOOVES the thing and goes bananas in it! Despite hating to have his picture taken, Jadon enjoys watching himself on videos, so he was willing to let me video him for a few seconds. He's actually let us take a few pictures of him lately, so maybe that whole I-hate-getting-my-picture-taken phase is ending... I hope!

Then it ends with a picture of the two of them outside this weekend. They love it outside!

Kite flying

So apparently no one blogs anymore.....

It was a breezy (and partly cloudy/cool) day today. A couple months ago we got Jadon a kite from Costco for like $12, and we've been waiting for the perfect weather to do it. Usually when its windy enough, its also raining, or its late at night and too dark to do so. Well, today we had the weather we've been waiting for, so we got the kite out and Derek flew it for Jadon. Although there were lots of crashes because the wind would die down suddenly..... It still made it into the air many times, and even crashed into the neighbors house once!

Here's some pictures:

I love this next one, Jadon looks like a dog with his tongue hanging down to his chin!

In other news, we've made a joint decision to postpone potty training. We've been at it for close to 2 months, and its just not working, and yes, I know that it takes time, but we've been thinking for a couple weeks now that he is just not ready. Sure, he loves wearing underwear, but he wants to be able to use them like a diaper. He refuses to tell us when he needs to pee... when we ask if he needs to pee, he says no, and then 20 minutes later we find that he has peed and just carried on as if nothings happened. We make him go sit on the potty alot, and its a huge battle, he fights and screams and protests, and he refuses to use his little potty and will only go in the big one.
We've tried everything. We've tried positive reinforcement, reward systems, and even negative reinforcement ("Jadon, if you wet your underwear today then you dont get to play Mario tomorrow"... that kind of thing.) Loading him up on liquids doesnt do a thing (just makes more laundry for me), restricting liquids doesnt either (just plugs him up.) He just doesnt care. And for the last couple of weeks he's just been peeing more and more in his underwear.
He's just not ready. Period.
I'm afraid he might not get to go to preschool this fall, we've only got 3 or so months left and the only progress we've made is getting him to like wearing underwear.
I know they say boys are often more difficult to train so I was fully prepared. And every kid is different, no matter what. At this point, I probably still wouldnt have even tried potty training if it werent for the fact that I want him to go to preschool in the fall.
Oh, and pullups are not an option, he just uses them as a diaper, and not like the "training pants" that they are supposed to be. To him, pullups are just a glorified diaper with one of his favorite characters, Lightning McQueen, on them.

So, we'll reevaluate in a few weeks or a month and see if he's ready then. If not, then everything I've researched and read and heard from other people has said just let the child do the initiating and when he is ready he'll let us know. Otherwise it just becomes a power struggle between parent and child.
So thats my vent on that! I'm not even going to get started on Avery's sleeping, its getting out of control and I now feel that I am chronically tired. We've got to somehow get her sleeping under control because i'm starting to feel like my life is completely out of control!

On a more happy, pleasant note ;) we went to Home Depot tonight and got some flowers and plants for me to plant, and i'm soooooo excited to jump into my "nothing box" and plant away!! (haha, only men have nothing boxes, but lately I feel like I need one too!!!) I'm refering to a really great marital video- Mark Gungor's "Laugh your way to a better marriage." Derek and I watched it last summer (no, we are not having marital problems), and its a FANTASTIC seminar for ALL couples to watch, even if you're not having marital problems. Its also hilarious so its really easy to watch! I highly recommend it to all couples! Anyways, ive gotten completely off track, so I think i'll stop there!

Good Morning!

For some reason I think this picture is so cute! It was first thing in the morning, everyone had just rolled out of bed. I think I like it so much because everyone is smiling genuine smiles, even though Avery is the only one looking at the camera. Its always nice to see their happy, smiling faces first thing in the morning. :)

The little boy undies on the couch arm have been a permanant fixture on the couch for the last few weeks. :)

I'm done

I've gotten to a point where i'm just tired of constantly comparing myself, as a mother, to other mothers.
I've never been a very confident person, never had a high self esteem, i've always compared myself to others.... I compare my flaws to others strengths.... which is totally unfair to do to myself because my flaws will never measure up to someone elses strengths. So, its only obvious that i'd compare myself as a mother as well.
I'm always worried that the things I do/don't do for my children are going to "damage" them. Wondering if i'm failing because my daughter, at 6 months, is not sleeping through the night. Or that my 3 year old is not potty trained yet. Or that we spend the majority of our time at home instead of out doing classes and activities.
After some deep and careful thought, here is my conclusion: Parents (or guardians) are the only ones who know what is best for their children. Just because other peoples kids are sleeping through the night peacefully from day 1 doesnt mean that my kids will too. It also doesnt mean that I am doing something wrong. And just because I dont have my kids enrolled in 20 different classes, doesnt mean that they are going to fail in life.
Hopefully i'll be able to convince myself of this everytime I feel inadequate as a mom.

I'm also done stressing and obsessing about my daughters sleeping habits. The only problem that her nighttime wakings has is that it disrupts mine and Derek's sleep, so its really just an inconvenience. I dont know why so much emphasis is placed on getting babies to sleep through the night anyways. Jadon was a horrible sleeper, and shortly after his first birthday, he figured it all out, so I know that Avery will too someday. She doesnt seem to fit the mold when it comes to sleeping.

It sure is hard being a stay at home mom sometimes, and its not completely what I imagined it would be. My whole life I always dreamed of being a stay at home mom and wife, but in my dreams, I always imagined having a lot more time, a house that never needed cleaning, well behaved kids who never acted out, and the sun was always shining and the temperature was always 72 degrees. I also imagined weekly playdates with friends and their kids who were the same ages as my kids. Unfortunately, we live in Oregon where the weather is rarely sunny and 72, my house wont clean itself, and its just unheard of to think of children that dont act out sometimes... time is something that I feel i'm always short on, and I dont have any friends, let alone friends who have kids the same age as mine.

Life doesnt always turn out the way we plan, but I keep reminding myself that its all God's plan. I am very fortunate to be able to be home with my kids, and i'm so grateful for that. I'm glad I get to be there for all their "firsts", and be there for them everyday. I'm thankful that I get to be here to (try) to make the house clean and get a warm meal on the table for my husband when he gets home from work every evening. I'm thankful that I have such a wonderful husband, and two amazing kids that I get to spend my time with.

The many faces of Avery

Avery makes some pretty goofy faces, and lately she's been making this new face where she has her mouth open and her tongue hanging part of the way out... really goofy looking, but as her mom, I think she's adorable still. :)
Most of these pictures are of her making that face, although its hard to see her tongue sticking out much in the pictures for some reason. Anyways, there's also other faces as well as normal smiles...
The second picture from the bottom cracks me up... she looks like shes a little.... um, retarded? ;)

I love my little girl :)

I can't keep up

I can't keep up with blogging more than once a week, i'm sorry! As i'm typing this, i'm making dinner. The kids are just keeping me busy, and they seem to be getting more and more demanding of everything!

Derek and I have been busily going through all our junk and stuff and sorting from stuff we will keep, stuff we will sell, and stuff going to Goodwill. We brought all the boxes and stuff down from the attic and went through it all. Feels good to spring clean, but now we've got boxes of stuff sitting around the office (the office that we were almost done cleaning and organizing.) I keep thinking that someday, maybe, the office will be just an office, and not an office/storage/junk room. Someday....

I am happy to report that I am down 2.2 more pounds! Of course, thats over the course of almost a month, but still! I've lost 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, and i'm thrilled!

Avery had her 6 month check up today, and her height and weight gain slowed down quite a bit. I was expecting that... i've been weighing her at home and noticed it wasnt going up much. The doctor isnt concerned yet, as her weight did go up, and she said it could be starting a new curve, rather than continuing to gain so rapidly. She's now back into the 50th percentile or so, where she started out at when she was born.

Jadon had a traumatic event this weekend. Saturday night, he woke up an hour after going to bed, and threw up all over himself and the bed. It scared him into hysterics, and we felt so bad for him. Still dont know what caused this incident... I dont think it was a bug or food poisoning because after that one incident he was fine. Pretty sure the entire contents of his stomach was on his comforter though, and I had to wash everything several times to get the smell and excess chunks off. Anyways, it was pretty traumatizing for him. And of course for me too... you know how much I love vomit!!
Potty training has been going good, and since we've backed off on pressing the poop issue, he has gone back to his normal self. I'm so glad! Peeing has been going well, and he is getting better at holding it.
I cant remember if I mentioned in my last post or not, but Jadon got into the preschool!

Time to go, dinners almost done!

???

I never know what to post as titles for my posts. I'm just not very creative.

Anyways, we got our beautiful new desk set up, i'll take pictures eventually! Believe it or not, we are actually having a hard time filling up all the extra space, which is a GREAT thing!

We've been potty training for a little over a week now, and its going okay. Yes, just okay. He's getting pretty good about going pee in the potty, however he will not do it on his own will, we have to make him go on it and constantly ask if he has to go. But, he seems to prefer wearing his underwear now! We have accidents every day, but most of them are just little leaks that dont make it out of his underwear.
Pooping is not going well though. After holding it for several days (several days doesnt seem like much, but for a kid who usually poops 2-3 times a day, going several days without pooping is a BIG issue!) Finally one day he was so horribly horribly miserable, so we put a pull-up on and told him to go in the pull-up.... (we had to assure him we wouldnt be mad if he went in it.) After a couple hours, he finally went.
In the last week, I noticed a huge difference in his demeanor and his mood.... he was being moody, bored, zero interest in his toys and playing, and he was always laying around, sometimes we'd find him laying in his bed and he'd tell us "i just need to get some rest." I was starting to get really worried about him and so I did a little research, and I figured that we were stressing him out with the whole potty training thing, and I suggested we back way off on the pooping thing. We have done that for the last few days, and he is back to his normal self now. (and yes, it is possible to stress a child out, especially from potty training.) So, for now we are sticking with the peeing part, which seems to be going in the right direction, but when he needs to poo, he's been asking us for a pullup to poop in, and we've been allowing that. My hope is that he'll adjust to the idea of using the potty and peeing in it, and then one day decide he wants to poop in it too. OR, a month or so down the road, we'll try pooping again and see if he's ready, but clearly, he is not ready for that yet. And in my opinion, preschool is not SO important right now that we cause him so much stress to get him potty trained. If he's not potty trained by fall, we'll try getting him into a preschool when he's 4. (surely he'll be potty trained by then!) :)

Averys the same still. She can now eat all her #1 veggies: peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots and squash, and I tried prunes again on monday and so far so good, no diarrhea this time. She will be 6 months old in 2 days, and i cant believe it.
She rolled over again from tummy to back yesterday, but I dont think she'll ever roll from back to tummy. She's far too content just laying on her back, and as soon as she's on her belly, she screams, and if she was in a good mood before putting her on her belly, its completely gone. She's getting to be quite the little fireball. First she charms you with her sweet side, smiling at you all the time, making cute noises, but beware, a beast is in there just waiting to come out! And if you dont immediately tame the beast, it will continue to scream at you to the point where you have to wear earplugs. I'm not joking, she screams so loudly that your eardrums rattle in your head.

I'm not complaining though, I love my children more than anything in this world, but at this point in time, with Jadon in his terribly-awful 3's, and Avery's firey temper, its not a good combination... its an exhausting combination. I'm really having to pick my battles carefully with Jadon these days, because otherwise the entire day would be a battle with him.
On the other hand, he is to the point where he says some of the CUTEST things! I always mean to write them down, but forget to. I'm so blessed to have 2 great kids, and I know this difficult age will pass, and someday i'll be able to look back at it with fondness. :)

Switching gears. Every year in the spring/summer(i cant remember)our neighborhood has a big garage sale. This year Derek and I are going to participate in it. We have been going through all of our stuff (as i'm pretty sure i've mentioned before), trying to get rid of junk, and things we dont use anymore. The house is getting tight, and we dont need the extra clutter. So anyways, alot of the kids outgrown clothes i'm going to sell, as well as my maternity clothes. I know alot of the clothes from the kids were gifts to us, and I hate to make a profit off of gifts, so if theres anything that you want for any reason, let me know and i'll give it back.

Potty training and tax returns

We started potty training this weekend. We've had a couple accidents every day, but nothing too horrible. The first 3 days, he protested loudly and wildly to having to sit on the potty to pee, but yesterday was much better. I think he realizes that he doesnt get to use diapers anymore, and we have made that very clear to him.

Our problem is the pooping, which we knew would be a battle. For some reason he's scared to death to poop anywhere but his diaper. And I do mean SCARED TO DEATH. He's only gone twice since starting. Once in his underwear and again in his diaper first thing in the morning before we put underwear on him. Now, he is just holding it, absolutely refusing to go anywhere. At his 3 year appt, the doctor suggested giving him some miralax to help keep things soft and moving, and then he'll have no choice but to go, so yesterday I gave him a dose of that, and will do the same today. We just feel bad for him, and dont really know what else to do. I refuse to give him a diaper to poop into because I dont want him to think that he can hold it until he gets a diaper every day. I did, however, suggest putting his diaper on and sitting on the potty with his diaper on to poop, in hopes of eventually getting rid of the diaper all together once he gets over the feeling of sitting to poo. He didn't want to do that though. I guess I should add that a suppository is the absolute last resort.

In other news, we are getting a decent sized tax return this year. However, part of it is going towards paying off the new waterheater, another part will go towards new tires for my car. Unfortunately there isnt enough to take a much needed vacation, so we'll have to wait. We did however splurge and buy ourselves a new office desk. It was much needed!! Our office is fast becoming a cluttered mess because of lack of storage space, and this new desk has lots of storage and space. We dont have it set up yet, we have to get everything out of the office first because its an L-shaped desk and is 6ft long! And, its really heavy! So, you know what that means?? I want to paint the room before it gets set up so we dont have to move the desk later on!!!!! Yay! More painting! ;) The room is smaller, and its pretty dark as theres just one small window on the north side, so I want something thats brighter and cheery. I was thinking about a yellowish color, but I have to sell my husband on that first. He's not fond of the color yellow, and wants to paint it orange instead. (Nightmare!!!!!! Sorry honey, you know how I feel about orange walls in that room!) ;) Also, the desk is a dark finish.

Anyways, thats whats going on around here this week!

Happenings

Well life isnt slowing down at all, in fact I think its charging ahead full force and then some!
We've been busy, although not much going on. The kids keep us quite busy. They are both handfuls right now. Jadon's entered the completely-horribly-impossible-terrible 3's and wow does it get exhausting! I've decided that this summer (or spring... whenever its offered), i'm going to put him in a sport like baseball or soccer. Not for learning skills so much, but so that he can get out of the house, be around other kids, and burn off some energy.
Also, i'm going to enroll him in preschool for the fall. Derek's cousin found a really great preschool for her daughter to go to and told me about it, and it sounds fantastic. Its through a church, so they teach bible principles, the classes are small, and its about 2 miles down the road from us. We are going to go down and visit and sign up next week. I'm so excited, he really needs it now. He has recently started showing alot of interest in other kids, whereas before, he knew other kids were around but really didnt care. He's pretty shy around other kids, but please dont tell him he's shy. I'm shy and I really hate being "labeled" as shy... it really makes a person feel like they have a personality flaw, and I really want for him to be confident in who he is.
So, this weekend we are going to begin potty training, since he will have to be fully trained to go to preschool. Should be fun times..... that was sarcastic.

Avery... my my my... she's a handful herself. She has got a healthy (and I do mean HEALTHY) set of lungs and lets us know it for pretty much everything. She constantly wants to be held, and when we put her down she screams. Of course that doesnt stop us from putting her down. Especially during the day when I'm alone with both kids, I cannot (and will not) constantly hold her.... so, she does alot of screaming and crying on the floor. She's got quite the temper!!
She still isnt rolling over in either way (back to tummy or tummy to back), but she can sit unsupported by herself pretty good. She did roll over once the other day, but until she does it a few times, I dont qualify it as "rolling over."
She is eating some solids now, and really doing well and seems to really enjoy them. She eats rice cereal, oatmeal, green beans and squash. Tonight she tried carrots. Everytime we tried a new food with Jadon, he always made the most priceless looking grimaces, but Avery really doesnt make a face when she tries foods.
This weekend she tried prunes for the first time, and an hour and a half later she had a painful case of diarrhea and all the next day she had the worst gas (odorless, but very frequent) and was terribly cranky, so it could be a reaction to the prunes. I stopped the prunes right away, and i'll try them again in a week or so and see if she has the same reaction, and if she does then she could have a prune intolerance.

I've lost some more weight, and it seems to be continuing to go down steadily! So exciting!!! I guess thats why my sweatpants are starting to feel like they are going to fall off of me! Really, portion control seems to be all its taking at this point. I hope and plan to start exersizing as soon as I can... as soon as Avery gets on a schedule. Right now things are really pretty chaotic. Avery's been catnapping still, and Jadon's done with naps although he still has "quiet time" but its rare that I can coordinate her 30 minute nap with Jadon's quiet time. Theres just not enough hours in a day!

Dereks the same as usual. Nothing ever changes with him. He's the rock in our family :)

Spring is almost here!!

The kids and I spent some time in the sun this week, and i think they love it as much as their parents. Snapped a bunch of pictures and thought this one was cute... they look like they are posing, but they were watching the cat walk by. :)

Jadons 3 year appt

bear with me here, i'm typing one-handed as i nurse avery.

monday jadon had his 3 year appt with the doctor. we were not sure how things were going to go based on the last appts he had. rewind a couple months...back in i think january, we took jadon in to see the doctor because he had been limping (i cant remember if i blogged about that or not) anywho, the appt went less than well. jadon was freaking out pretty much as soon as the nurse called his name in the waiting room. screamed when we tried to put him on the scale to be weighed, and just about hyperventilated. would not let the doctor touch him, and barely let her look at him and talk to him without him freaking out.
while we were at the appt, the doctor reassured us it was very normal for him to get like that as some kids are very sensitive to any changes. so, knowing we had his 3 year appt looming in the near future, we asked what we could do or say to make him less apprehensive about the doctors office. she suggested we get a play doctors kit and practice with him. so, we did, but neither derek nor i thought it would make much difference.

fastforward to sunday. we had been telling him for several days that he was going to see the doctor on monday. sunday night, we practiced how the whole appt would go, from weighing to temperature taking, to even checking his reflexes. monday morning he complained over and over that he didnt want to go to the doctors. when the nurse called us back, he said "no" and was hesitant. but after that he surprised the socks off of us. he went on the scale with no complaints. got measured like a big boy. willingly let the nurse take his temperature. soon the doctor came in, and he looked a little worried at first, but that was the extent. she first chatted with us about things he was doing, eating, potty training, preschool, etc. and then her pager went off, and just like that she was gone- called away to perform an emergency c-section. so, they had another doctor ccome in to finish the physical part of the exam. none of us had ever met or seen this doctor, so i imagined jadon would have a meltdown for sure. he didnt. in fact, he didnt complain, flinch or hesitate as the doctor listened to his heart, look in his mouth or test his reflexes, and everything else. when he was asked to lay down on the table so the doctor could feel his tummy, he did so, but worry crept onto his little face and his eyes welled up with tears, but he kept still and silent and the tears went away. all was done! or was it???

i had told him he wasnt getting any shots thius time, but apparently last year there was a shortage of one of the vaccines and hewas due for it at this appt instead. great. then, we were told he needed his second dose of h1n1 nasal spray. SUPER! (his first dose went horrible)
so, the nurse came back in to do those, and jadon sat calmly on daddy's lap. i cant remember if they did the shot first or the h1n1 spray first, but really, it doesnt matter, he let her do them both without any protesting.

not a single tear was shed at the appt, and not even a wimper of fear! after the appt, derek and i were high on proudness for jadon. it was like day and night difference! the rest of the day, all we could think about was how brave he was, and how proud we were of him! our little man survived the appt that we thought would kill us all!

i will ALWAYS be proud of him for being so brave at that appointment. my heart just swells with pride. :) I love happy endings.

My baby boy is 3!!

Pictures are all of today and are completely out of order, but i'm too pooped to try to fix it.

I cant believe where the last 3 years have gone! I cant believe my Jadon is 3 now!

We had his party today at our house, and it went fine. Monday night I came down with a cold, and by friday I pretty much didnt have a voice, so today at the party it was hard to talk with very little voice.

The day started out good, and I was so excited for Jadon to open presents that I thought I was going to burst! So I hurried him through breakfast. I made up a treasure hunt for him to find his gifts, so we did that, and it was alot of fun! I think it was the highlight of my day! I'm so glad that he is getting to the age where he can do stuff like that now! Anyways, the treasure hunt took him all over the house and ended in the office where we'd been hiding all his gifts. We got him alot of little things, and a couple bigger items.

In the afternoon, we had family over to celebrate with us. I made a Super Mario cake for him, and it turned out alot better than his first birthday cake! This time I stayed away from red food coloring (which no matter how much you use, it never really turns red, its always a pink color)!

Anyways, we chatted, opened gifts and ate cake. It was a pleasant time!

Sorry

I know its been awhile since I last posted. Time sure flies these days!
I've been busily planning Jadon's birthday party.... and preparing my house for all the guests! Its going to be quite cramped, but thats ok. Anyways, I've also been painting my downstairs bathroom. My original thought was that I was going to paint it a green color, but then I decided to try something a little bolder and tried a red/terra cotta color. I liked the color, but it made the already tiny bathroom feel even smaller. It completely overwhelmed the space. So, I went back to my original plan and found a green color. After I got the walls painted, I wasnt sold on the green color.... the bathroom just looked way to "country" for mine and Derek's taste. The green color wasnt the problem... its the ugly wood colored trim and door that are the problem! So, I painted the cabinets white, and it already looks so much better! I still need to do the trim and the door, but i'll be waiting until after Jadon's party before I tackle that. We want to someday have ALL the trim and doors in the house painted white because this ugly faux-looking wood color is really awful!!!!

The kids are good. Avery still isnt sleeping very good... in fact saturday morning she woke up at 4:20am and didnt go back to sleep until after 6am. She had some gas that she was having trouble expelling that night! ;)
We are thinking that she is going to be cutting a tooth any day though. She's been cranky, and the usual things that calm her down are not working. Plus shes been drooling and chewing on things like crazy!!! I've constantly got my finger in her mouth feeling for teeth poking through.... its hard to look in there because she sticks her tongue out when you put your finger in there... plus she wiggles alot.

Jadon is doing good! He's testing us alot, but that comes with his age. I cant believe that in 5 days he is going to be 3 already! I always get emotional in the weeks before his birthday... he's just growing up so fast... i just dont know where the time has gone.
He's such a sweetheart though, and very sensitive.
I am so blessed to have two kids who are beautiful and amazing. I never take that for granted... even when i'm at my witts end because Avery isnt sleeping and Jadon's acting up. ;)

Lotsa random pictures

The pictures are all out of order... blogger is stupid in a few different ways when I try uploading pictures, sorry!

Jadon created a train out of his chicken nuggets a few days ago.

Our visit to the OSU lambing barns.... here's the baby we saw born. I thought it was amusing that it came out orange. ;)
Mommy and baby see each other for the first time....

Avery started out in her umbrella stroller, but then after about 3 seconds she freaked out. I think the barn scared her... new setting, weird and gross smells....

Jadon was more interested in pushing the empty stroller around than looking at the sheep.

Alpaca (i think)

Cute baby lamb

Another Avery picture

Jadon- he wouldnt smile for a picture, so this is the best I could get.

I realized the other night that I didnt have any naked buns pictures of Avery, so after her bath we snapped a few. You gotta have pictures of your baby's cute buns! Avery, however, has so many rolls, that even her buns have buns!

On the floor being goofy

Again, couldnt get a smiling picture of Jadon... its like he is a teenager who hates the world! lol! Anywho, he's playing his favorite- mario.

Avery has become quite attached to me lately, and so the other day she was screaming her lungs out while I was in the kitchen cooking, so I brought her in with me, laid her on the floor mat so she could be near me, and she was fine after that.

Time flies

Its really been a whole week since my last post already? Sheesh, time goes too fast lately.
We've had some incredible weather for the last week (sunny and upper 50's- low 60's) so we've been spending as much time as possible outside. The Lord knows that by this time of year, I need a few days like this! :)

Avery's sleeping hasn't improved much. During the day she has only been taking around a 30 minute nap several times a day, which is not sufficient. A baby's sleep cycle is 45 minutes long, so anything under an hour isn't enough of a nap. And a baby her age is supposed to have 4-6 hours worth of naptime sleep. It seems she's started catnapping for some reason. SO, I've got my work cut out for me! I'm HOPING that after a week or so of naptime "training," her napping will go for longer... which will in turn help her nighttime sleep to be better as well (she's been waking up a couple times at night... about 65% of the time..... some nights she'll go at least 5 hours, which is considered "sleeping through the night".) But, I just know its crucial that she gets good sleep during the day because good daytime sleep equals good nighttime sleep, and vice versa. I am really beginning to feel the sleep deficit though.

Jadon had a good fall at the playground the other day. Fell right on his head and face so his eye and cheek are a little scratched up. Derek and I both witnessed it, and its no fun seeing your child fall headfirst off of a play structure.

Saturday morning we went to the lambing barns and got to see a lamb being born! I think I was the only one excited about it though. I'll post pictures another day... for now i've got to go.

I did it!!!

I lost 10 pounds! So i'm officially 10 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight! Yay!!!!! My new goal is to lose 10 more pounds, and then possibly another 10 after that, and then i'll be about at the weight I was when we got married! Crazy to think that I gained that much weight after getting married! Its so easy to put on weight (unless your name is Derek), and sooooo hard to lose it.

Avery's been eating rice cereal every night for dinner. She seems to really like it, and almost all of it makes it into her tummy! It may be helping with the night wakings too, but i'll need a few more nights to make a good conclusion.

Avery's 4 month stats

Avery had her 4 month appt today, and she's doing good. She was 14lbs 6.5oz, and 25.5 inches long. Her length is in the 90th percentile... no surprise there, and her weight is about in the 75th percentile. She's the complete opposite side of the grid than Jadon was, he was always struggling to stay in the 10th and 25th percentiles!
She still has a tiny bit of cradle cap that I need to scrub off.
She was very social with the doctor, and the doctor thought she looked just like Jadon, and said we should have another baby because we have beautiful kids. ;) I dont think that is reason enough for Derek though. lol!
She should start rolling over this month, and i'm going to start her on rice cereal every evening. I really hope that it will help with the nightly wakings. Last night she was up again every 2 hours eating. Little porky pig. She also got 2 immunizations today, and another oral dose of the rotovirus immunization, and now she is sleeping good! I remember Jadon always slept really well right after his shots too. Must be a coping mechanism or something...

Well while our neighbors to the east are getting snowed in, we are having unseasonably warm weather for this time of year. Its been in the 50's. Still rainy like normal, but its been much warmer. I saw this morning on tv that in Vancouver they are having to bring snow in for the olympics. Apparently to our north its been much warmer than normal as well. Our rose bushes even started growing again a few weeks ago. Very odd. As well as my hydrangea's and lilac bush.

Just over a month left

Until Jadon's 3rd birthday. And it's official.... I'm making him a Super Mario cake. Yes, hopefully this one wont look as horrible as his first birthday cake did, but i'll try my best, and not set my sights on anything too extravagant.
I got some pans this weekend, as well as some fondant that I am going to try using. I've never used it before, but it doesnt look too terribly hard, and all the objects that I plan on making with it are flat, so hopefully it will be ok! If anyone has any suggestions for working with fondant that you'd like to offer me, feel free!!! I could use all the help I can get! :)
So, here's the cake that i'm kindof going off of:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/205/456019475_3d982c36b6.jpg

I ordered some little Super Mario figurines off of ebay today and I cant wait to get them!

Jadon has developed a love of Super Mario over the last few months. I dont remember how it started, but we started letting him play, and he has gotten REALLY good, i'm impressed. Anyways, I got Derek the new super mario for the wii for christmas, and since then Jadon's love for mario has really taken off. He plays it every morning while I am getting ready, and requests to play it all day long, but I have set a limit on around 30 minutes once a day. Once in awhile Derek will play the wii mario with him in the evening for a little bit, but thats not very often.

So thats that! Now that he knows he's getting a mario cake for his birthday, he can hardly wait! The pressure is on for me to make a good cake! :)

Avery will be 4 months old on monday already! I cant believe where time has gone. She's growing so fast! She's been wearing 6 month clothes for a couple of weeks now. And it wont be long before she's outgrown her #2 diapers. I'm hoping that during this month she'll start rolling over. And I'm pretty sure that sitting up by herself is in the near future as well.

Lotsa pictures

Most of these pictures are of Avery, but I did manage to get Jadon to let me take his picture a couple of times. :)

He loves his little sister now.... and the feeling is mutual.

Although he does get a little jealous when Avery is getting attention. Here I was taking her picture, and he came and stood in the way.

Even the side of her face is cute!

Jadon had just eaten a cookie and had pink lips, looked like he was wearing lipstick- but not so much in the picture.

The rest are all of Avery smiling tonight.

Wahoo!

I'm just 2 pounds away from being 10 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight!! I'm so excited!! And I havent even started exersizing yet...its amazing the difference that just portion control alone can make!

Sunday was a beautiful day here in the Willamette Valley. It was sunny, and not too cold... I think it was mid 50's. Late Sunday afternoon, the 4 of us went for a little walk. Avery was due for a nap, and I thought for sure that the stroller ride would put her to sleep, but apparently it just invigorated her. She just kept kicking her legs in the stroller, and when we got home I took her out of the stroller and she looked at me all bright eyed. I said to her "you liked that little walk didnt you?" and she smiled. Anyways, she napped after we got back. The point of my story is, its amazing what a little fresh air and sunshine can do in the dead of winter! It was very invigorating!
Today we're back to gray, cloudy and rainy. blah! The good news is, the sun is setting later each day now, and its now setting almost an hour later than it was in december! AND, next month is daylight savings time! Finally, some light at the end of the winter season tunnel!!!!

2am

Thats the time that Derek and I have been getting to go to sleep for the last week. Miss Avery has decided that anytime before that is just not going to happen. And Jadon gets up probably 5 days out of the week in the middle of the night, and then again at 5 or 6 am. Needless to say, Derek and I are running on empty, and I can actually feel gray hairs growing out of my head, and wrinkles popping up on my face. Ok, not really, but what i'm trying to say is "i'm tired."

I dont know what goes wrong. She takes good naps for the most part during the day. But no matter how hard we try, we cant get her to stay asleep after putting her to bed, and by midnight, she's majorly overtired and screaming her lungs out. She's like a completely different baby at night than she is during the day. Her 4 month appt is coming up soon (yes, 4 months already!!) so if we are still having issues we're going to talk to the pediatrician.
She's lucky i'm so majorly in love with her, otherwise I might have sold her on Ebay or something! ;) Just kidding!

On a different note, I spent the evenings this week painting our masterbedroom. I picked a blue-toned gray color, and I had so much fun! I'm not real fond of painting, but I LOVE the end results, so it makes it totally worth it! It took all week to do it.... I only had about an hour every night, so I basically just did one wall at a time, then the next day I would put a second coat on and start another wall. I'm still not done... I have to do around the windows still, and around the ceiling, but other than that its all done. I'll post pictures when I get the room all painted and set up how I want it to be. I've been in the process for several months now of getting rid of basically anything we dont use, and any extra clutter. (HINT HINT mom!) :) So once I get it all organized i'll take pictures.
My next project is going to be our half bathroom downstairs, and i'm thinking that i'll be a little braver this time and go with a redish rusty color. If I dont end up liking it, its a small bathroom so it will be easy to repaint.

I am SOO ready for spring/summer. I have been dreaming about working out in the yard, pulling weeds and laying bark mulch, etc, and bascially making up for all the work I didnt do last year because of being pregnant (and tired and nauseated all the time.) I CANT WAIT! :)

More cute Avery pictures

Once again I dont have any pictures of Jadon because he refuses.

Yes, I know her outfit doesnt match in the next ones

She recently found her feet and now she is constantly pulling her socks off and trying to eat them.

Also, I think i'm going to be starting her on rice cereal at 4 months. For the last couple of weeks, shes been eating alot more during the day, and several times at night. I've been spoiled for the last 3 months since she would sleep through the night, but she hasnt slept through the night in a couple weeks and I think its because she's hungry. So, she'll probably be getting some rice cereal before bed. I notice that when my sleep at night is so broken, I tend to get more headaches and migraines.... not to mention I have less energy. So, this is a problem that I'm eager to fix!

We ordered a new nightlight for Jadon to hopefully get him to stay in his bed during the night. I'll explain more later... i'm out of time!

more pictures

We had a rough night last night... Jadon couldnt sleep because of the wind and rain, and Avery was up at least 6 times eating (if not more.)... hopefully its just a growth spurt!

Anyways, it was just a rotten night, and none of us got adequate sleep. Surprisingly everyone has been pretty happy today though...

Pretty sure I posted a while back about Jadon being done with naps. He has "quiet time" now for an hour or so. Today I went to get him from quiet time, I put Avery on the floor while I went to get him, and this is what I found when I got to his room:

He climbed up on the changing table to take a snooze. I couldnt help but melt when I saw him there.... reminded me of a little kitten all curled up on there!
When I went back downstairs, here's what I found Avery doing:

Thats Jadon's Thomas the Tank firestation and Avery decided it made a better teething ring than a firehouse. I couldnt help but melt at that too. So, in a matter of a minute, both of my kids made me melt into mush. ;)

The rotten night???? Its now forgotten :)

I think she grew up overnight.

Messy messy messy!

I dont know about all the other baby girls in the world, but Avery makes some of the worst poo messes!! Its because she holds it all in and then lets it all out at once in a massive explosion! Similar to this video. I already posted it on facebook a while back, but everytime Avery poops I think about this video!

Water heater

A year ago Derek went outside to put something in the trash can, and he smelled that rotten egg, sulfery smell, so long story short, we called and had someone come out and take a look and make sure we didnt have a gas leak. I think we did, but I cant remember now. He suggested we have the heating people come out and clean our waterheater vent or something(I know, I sound intelligent dont i? ;) Well, we never got around to doing that...
So on Monday we finally had a man come out to do a routine check on our waterheater. What he found was not good. Basically our waterheater has been unsafe for who knows how long. (Think Mythbusters blowing up the waterheater episode......) I'm so thankful that nothing terrible happened, and i'm so glad we got it looked at when we did BEFORE something terrible could have happened.
Anywho, so tomorrow morning we are getting a new waterheater installed. It will be more efficient and hopefully save us $$$ on our water bills.

Rewind 2 weeks. The day after christmas I was doing laundry and the washing machine broke. 8 days and $200 later someone was finally able to come out and fix it.

Also, i'm now afraid that my dryer is going out because its making a funny noise when I first start it up, and its not getting as hot as usual.

So, the new year is not off to a great start with our house and appliances.

Like usual for this time of year, i'm sick of being cooped up inside, sick of the rain and gray clouds, and I get a big itch to do indoor home improvement. So last week I went and bought some paint samples for our masterbedroom, and for the downstairs. I've also been crazily looking online at lighting fixtures. Needless to say, its hard to find 5 minutes of spare time just to use the sample paint! It seems as though both of our kids need to have the attention of their parents 110% of the time. So, for now i'm stuck just dreaming about what my house could look like if I did all these projects that are dancing around in my head!

I think Avery is teething... she has been drooling like a faucet, and gnawing on her little hands like they are meat and she's a hungry animal!
She has really taken an interest in Jadon over the last week or so. She smiles at him alot, and tonight he "beeped" her nose, and she giggled at him. He effortlessly got her to laugh and she wasnt in a very good mood at the time... Derek and I have to work hard to get her to laugh, and she's got to be in a really good mood. Shes growing like a weed. I'm sure she's over 13 lbs now. She's just starting to look like a big baby now, and not a newborn. She's getting a little personality too.... lets just say, her hair is pretty red in certain lights, and her temper can be just as red too.

Jadon's doing good. Last week, and the weekend we had an issue with his pooper... he was constipated. We think he started holding it in rather than going potty when he should have. After researching it, it sounds like its a common thing for toddlers to get constipated during the potty training time, and its a big sign to back off for awhile. So, we wait. We hadnt even officially started the training yet.
Last thursday Jadon and I went on a "date" together and went out to dinner and a quick stop at the grocery store. It was nice to spend that time with him.
Everyone is always so impressed with how well he talks, and I guess we never thought about it before. The guy who came to give us an estimate on new waterheaters was really impressed with his vocabulary. He thought Jadon was 4 based on his vocabulary!

2009 Recap

Its hard to believe how fast the year went! For me, it was a year of sunshine in comparison with 2008-the year of rain for me personally (which I couldnt wait to say goodbye to!)

We started out the 2009 year by heading up north to Washington in mid January to see Derek's grandparents. It was a nice, short trip, and Jadon's first trip. He did very well, other than at night when he had a hard time with the sleeping arrangements. He was a dream to travel with! He is so fascinated by all of his surroundings that he was pretty well entertained the whole trip by pointing out landmarks and trains.

January 23rd, I took my first pregnancy test 4 days before Aunt Flo was due, and it showed two, nice, dark lines. It was both a beautiful sight, and a scary one.

Februrary for me was spent mostly laying on the couch with headaches and nausea.

March was a bittersweet month. Jadon turned 2. I'm afraid i'm going to have a hard time with every birthday because the years are just flying by so fast that its just hard to fathom that he is growing up so fast. We did venture out to the lambing barns in early March, and Jadon enjoyed that.

April started out with ending the first trimester, and at the end of the month I started progesterone shots. It was also the month that I first felt Avery move and ordered my doppler so I could listen to her little heart beating anytime I was feeling uneasy.

May. Derek and I took a week long golf class together. It was alot of fun! I also turned 29 that month... the last year in my 20's. On May 26th, we had our big ultrasound and found out that the baby in me was doing well and that she was a girl.

In June, we went to see Thomas the train in Hood River. So much fun, and i'm so glad we got to do that with Jadon before the baby came. We also went to the coast for the kite festival, which turned out to be much less exciting than I was anticipating... it was also REALLY windy. But Jadon loves the beach, and still to this day, talks about the beach Every. Single. Day.

July was really stinkin' hot and so I spent most of my time inside, still nauseated and still lacking any energy whatsoever.

In August we went to the Benton County Fair- Jadon's first time there. He rode a few rides and loved it! And he still wants to watch the videos of himself on the rollercoaster. We went to Enchanted Forest as well, but I think Jadon was still a little young to really be able to enjoy it to the fullest.
August also brought our 6th wedding anniversary, and our baby shower.

September, I was increasingly tired and uncomfortable and hot. We started weekly OB appts that month, I finished the progesterone shots, and Derek and I had our 10 year "anniversary" of being together.

October, I couldnt believe it when I reached October and was still pregnant. But, October 8th she made her grand entrance like a freight train. And she was born perfect, healthy and beautiful, and the answer to our prayers, and for me, the end of a very long, hard, worryfull pregnancy.

Over the last 2 months of the year, we didnt do a whole lot since the pediatrician recommended staying home as much as we could to avoid all the nasty bugs going around.

I made my yearly slideshow, and after looking back at the pictures of Jadon in the beginning of the year to the end, I am blown away by the fact that he started the year still babylike- sucking on his fingers (which he quit doing on his own at the end of January), and unable to say more than a couple words in a sentence. He also didnt start calling me "mommy" until early Februrary. Now he is a tall, skinny, very active, little boy who has normal conversations with us and talks in huge sentences (the other day I counted a 15 word sentence) and speaks very clearly. He counts to 15, knows all his colors and ABC's, and overall, just amazes me so much every day.
Avery also has made leaps and bounds already as well. Growing like a WEED, can almost sit up by herself already, "smiles at anything that moves" as her daddy puts it, and 2 nights ago, she blessed us with a beautiful gigglefest! Her first laugh- music to our ears!

2009 was a year of blessings for us, and a small part of me is sad to see it go because its just a reminder of how fast time is marching by, and how fast my kids are growing.
With that said, here's our yearly slideshow. It goes fast- I crammed a lot of pictures into a single song in order of the beginning of the year to the end. The song has a lot of meaning to me. Hope you enjoy!

Wishing you all a happy, and healthy new year and decade!

Christmas recap

Hope you all had a great Christmas! We had a nice time. Christmas eve night was spent with my family as usual, and as usual it was crazy! Every year my mom says she's going to scale back on gifts, and this year was no exception. She informed me weeks before christmas that she was going to just give the adults gift cards, and get all the grandkids a few little things. Again, as usual, she went majorly overboard! I think she just has a very giving heart and cant help herself. :)

Anyways, it was a nice time as usual!

Christmas morning Derek and I got up at 6am so we could get showered and dressed before the kids woke up, then we opened our gifts together as a family. Immediately after that we went to Derek's moms to celebrate with his side of the family. And again it was a nice time!

That night we came home and took down our tree. It was super crispy and with all the gifts we got, our house was a disaster area and we needed that extra space where the tree was to organize gifts.

Saturday, the day after Christmas, Derek and I spent the day organizing all our gifts and playing with our new gadgets and playing with Jadon and his toys. It was a very calm day after having had 2 really crazy days.

We would like to thank our families for all the wonderful gifts and for spending the days with us.

Things are settling back down now, and the house is now mostly organized (whew! I sure do hate a cluttered house!) I got the camera out and took some pictures of Avery last night and tonight. She's growing up so fast... starting to get strong neck and a whiny cry like a girl!

Here's Jadon a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately I dont have any more pictures of him... he's going through a faze where he hates to get his picture taken (unless, of course, i'm taking pictures of Avery.)

This one of Avery was also taken a few weeks ago.
The next 2 were taken tonight after her bath.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Today Avery is 11 weeks old... I had lost track of how many weeks old she was after she turned 8 weeks. I cant believe she's 11 weeks already... where has time gone???
And Jadon is 2.75 years old... only a few short months and he'll be 3! My children are growing up so fast and I dont know how many times i've said it, but its so bitter-sweet to see your kids growing! I know that in just the blink of an eye they'll be moving out of the house, going off to college, or getting married. It will be so rewarding to see them as successful adults with families of their own, but I will always treasure them being little. They bless me every day just by being.

I cant believe Christmas Eve is finally here! I've been so excited for this day since the holiday season started, because I know that this year Jadon will understand whats going on a little more than he did last year. I cant wait to see his eyes light up in wonder as he comes down to the living room on Christmas morning, and sees that the cookies we left out for Santa are gone, and the tree has lots of gifts underneath that Santa left. I think i'm more excited this year than I have ever been in my whole life! Of course Avery wont have a clue whats going on. But thats ok... just having her with us is the best gift! :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!!

Pictures

I haven't been posting many pictures because i've been working on my yearly slideshow and if I posted more pictures i'd be posting all of the pictures that are in the slideshow... so, sometime at the end of the year you'll get to see more pictures of the kids in the slideshow. In the meantime, here's one of each of the kids...

This one of Jadon cracks me up... the look on his face is so funny!
I've been having a hard time getting pictures of Avery smiling because she's so fascinated by the camera that she just stares... like this picture. She is really fascinated with her surroundings, and seems to look at and stare at everything!

We only have a couple of her size 1 diapers left, and we're finishing them up just in time! The little butterball hardly fits in them anymore, and when she poops, she might as well not even be wearing a diaper because it just explodes out the sides! Its quite messy, but the good thing is that she loves getting her diaper changed, so I get lots of smiles while cleaning her up. :)

Nights have not been going well for Derek and I. Avery gets really fussy late at night (usually sometime between 9:30pm-1am), so when we finally get her to sleep, its at least midnight or later. Then Jadon usually gets up once a night at some point.... he had a couple nights in a row where he was awake in the middle of the night for several hours. Then he usually gets up at about 8am.

Monday night, Jadon woke up at around 9:30pm complaining of a tummyache, so we were prepared for a rough night thinking that he had picked up a bug or something. He slept fine the rest of the night. I finally got Avery to sleep at 1:45am, and managed to sleep from 2am-5am, then woke up and basically dozed on and off until 7:30am, when Jadon got up. Avery slept until 9am. I am really looking forward to them sleeping good someday!!!! :)

I'm happy to report....

... that i'm 4 pounds lighter than I was when I got pregnant! Woohoo! I havent been "trying" to lose weight yet.
What's my secret??? There's several reasons:

#1- breastfeeding!!! Need I say more?

#2- Having two children under 3 years old demanding 99.9% of my time! Right now when I sit down to eat, I have to grab something quick because Avery always seems to wake up or be cranky right at our meal times. So, I dont even have a chance to think about the food i'm eating really or if I feel full. This is a good thing, because now i'm not overeating, which is a problem that I have because I love food so much. I dont have time to think about how good the food is. lol!

#3- I'm just plain busy! Its hard work having 2 little ones now... I look back at before Avery came, and it seems so simple now! Now I am constantly on the go at home unless i'm feeding Avery.

#4- Overabundance of energy- When I was pregnant, I was pretty immobile because I was either nauseated or had a migraine, or was SOOOO painfully tired. I think my body is trying to make up for that now because I have a hard time just sitting down to relax. There's always something to do, and even when I do sit down to relax, my mind is running 100 mph.

Now I just need to incorporate a little exersize into this lifestyle! I started doing some situps the other day, but it still feels like my pubic bone hasnt grown back together yet and it hurts when I do situps, so i've just been doing crunches instead. Also, when i'm holding Avery, I try to incorporate a little exersize into it. Also, as Derek and I have always done, I try to park a distance away from the building where i'm going, so that I can get a little extra exersize walking to the building.

Unfortunately after you have a baby, your body doesnt look the same as it did before the pregnancy. Even if you lose all the weight, you've still got extra skin and fat around your middle, and things just seem to shift around. It is SO worth it though.

2 mo appt

Avery had her 2 month appt today, and she is growing like a weed! She's 12lbs 1oz now. Almost double her birth weight... babys usually double their birthweight by 6 months. She's also 23.5 inches long now too... 4 inches longer than she was at birth. Both her weight and height are in the 50th percentile, so she's doing quite well.
The doctor says she's eating so often during the day because she is sleeping so long at night, and at this stage, she is going through a major growth spurt so she's gotta keep up her calorie intake somehow!

We also have to do some at home physical therapy with her, if you will. She tends to look only to one side, and kindof rests her head that way. Most likely do to how she was laying in the womb. Anyways, we have to stretch her neck the other way and try to turn her head in the other direction when she sleeps and stuff. The reason its important to do this is because the muscle on the one side of her neck wont grow as long as the other side. The issue has a name, but I cant remember what the doctor called it.
Also, she's got a nice case of cradle cap, which I've been aware of for awhile now, but just thought it was something that would fix itself. Doctor said that it wont go away on its own, and can even get worse.... so now I have to wash her hair daily and put baby oil on it and scrub her scalp to get the flakes up and comb them out for a couple weeks.
The other day I discovered a red patch on the back of her neck, which I have figured out is a stork bite.

Other than that, she's doing really good. She had to get 5 immunizations today, and an oral immunization for rotavirus. She's been pretty cranky all day from those, and has slept ALOT. Poor girl, those shots are so much more painful for mommy than they are for baby. :(

Thats about it! We've been really busy here... of course life in general is much busier than it used to be now with 2 little ones!!
Here's a picture of Jadon and Avery together... I think he is beginning to warm up to her some ;)

Busy Busy Busy

Its been a busy week, and i'm sure it wont slow down much until after Christmas.
We got our tree a week and a half ago... I love having a tree in the house because it smells so nice. Jadon has done well with it this year and has not bugged it much. He even got to help us decorate it this year! We still have quite a bit of Christmas shopping to do, but thank goodness for the Internet and online shopping!! Going anywhere these days is quite a task and challenge, so online shopping takes on a whole new meaning for me now! :)

The kids are doing good. Jadon is completely in his terrible two's stage now, and completely exhausts me everyday- physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. EVERYTHING is a battle with him.... he says he wants something, then when you say ok he has a fit because he doesnt want it anymore, and that process repeats. Over and over, with everything. I really miss my sweet, cuddly little man. I look forward to when he comes back again!
He has not taken a nap for the last couple weeks... this is something i've been dreading, but saw coming for a long time. I still send him to his room for awhile to play so that I can have a break and get something done in the house. He's not too happy with this arrangement, and I have found him several times on top of the changing table in his room playing with the blinds.
He also doesnt tell us when he's pooped, and I get a whiff of him and go to change his diaper, but find that he has been marinating in it for awhile, and now has a diaper rash.
We are hoping to start potty training after the first of the year, but I'm not sure if he'll be ready. He has no problems going pee in his potty, and seems to like it, but he is scared to death of going poop in it. I dont see the rush in getting him trained anyways, other than for Derek and I so we dont have to change his diaper anymore. Everything i've read on potty training suggests not pressuring your child into using the potty- when they are ready, they are ready. Obviously he will someday use the potty...its not like he's going to be 15 and wearing diapers still if I dont train him before he's 3. ;)

Avery is doing good! She's such a little chunk... I call her my little meatball. Shes just about to graduate to size 2 diapers now. I'm guesstimating that she weighs somewhere in the 12lb range. She has her 2 month well baby checkup next week, so i'm eager to find out. She's also getting long too! I held a tape measure up next to her yesterday when she stretched out, and it was 24inches. Of course, that could be way off, but we'll find that out at her appt as well. She is really smiley, and it takes almost nothing to get her to smile. She sleeps really well too. She slept 8.5 hours the night before last, and last night she slept around 8 also. Of course, 2 nights ago, neither of the kids wanted to sleep... so Avery finally went to sleep at 2am. Jadon had went to bed and slept normally that night, until 1am, then he woke up and couldnt go back to sleep. Needless to say, I didnt go to sleep until after 4am that night, then Avery woke up at 6:15, so I had to feed her, and Jadon got up at around 8am. So, we only got a couple hours of sleep that night. It was a miserable night.
Anyways, Avery is wearing 3 month stuff now. She's growing so quickly... she should be... she's been eating every 1-2 hours during the day this week, so I hope that she's just having a growth spurt.

Well, it was a miracle that I got to type all that out, so I think i'll leave it at that.