Fair

We went to the Benton County Fair yesterday and Jadon had a blast! Avery on the other hand, started out happy, but then got bored, then just got tired of being in the stroller.

Here's some pictures/videos of our time there. There are captions at the top of some of the photos, and i'm not sure why the video quality is so bad.... its not that way when I watch it on my computer. Anyways, it was a nice time. The weather was not very hot, and by evening when we left it was almost a tad chilly as the clouds had blown in and the wind was whipping! Last year when I was huge and pregnant and we went to the fair, it was 97 degrees, and I really thought I was going to die.

Happenings

I started water aerobics this week with an old, old friend. We had so much fun, it was more fun, and less like exersizing! However, we could definitely feel the burn during the one hour session! We will be going every tuesday night, and hopefully also on most thursday nights.

It was nice getting out of the house by myself with no kids, but at the same time, I really felt lost. I felt like I was constantly forgetting something.

Anyways, i'm really excited to start getting a little exersize and get a tiny amount of time for myself. :)

Starting water aerobics couldn't have come at a better time. Jadon's full swing into his terrible 3's (although I think its more like terrible, horrible, awful 3's) and he is really pressing buttons around the house. A break from him 2x a week for an hour and a half will be much needed until he outgrows this phase. It was a difficult week at our house as patience wears thin, and all my buttons have been pressed.

Every night when I crawl into bed, I have my prayer time, and i've been praying that God will load me with extra patience. I also pray that Lord will make me into the best mom that I can be for my kids, because lately I have not felt like I've been the best mom that I can be. This potty training thing has really been a test for me, on top of the terrible 3's, and I am mentally and emotionally wore out... some days i'm physically wore out too. I never imagined that my sweet, laidback, easygoing little guy would end up going through terrible 3's so terribly!

Potty training is still a work in progress even though we are successfully going poo in the potty. He's getting a little lazy with peeing and we've had lots of accidents (some truely were accidents, and a few were intentional) the last couple of days. And after 3 days of going poo in the potty with no troubles at all, the next day he was suddenly worried about pooing again and has been since. We are still pooing in the potty though, and for the entire week he's only pooped in a diaper once. This is great progress, and I hope that the more he poops, the more confidence he'll get and the more comfortable he'll be with it. As far as peeing, he just doesnt want to stop what he's doing to go pee, so we'll have to figure out something there if it continues.

Avery finally got another tooth, cant remember if I mentioned it already or not, but we've now got 3 teeth, and looks like a 4th and 5th one will be following soon. Jadon already had 6 teeth by this point, so it just seems like teething is going on forever with Avery.

This week she also started something new with her sleeping. For about 4 nights in a row, she would wake up at some point in the night crying and flailing and nothing I did would help calm her down, and then all of the sudden she'd just stop. I think she's started having night terrors, and after researching, I found out that night terrors start as early as 9 months. Teething can trigger night terrors, mostly because teething disrupts sleep, and lack of sleep can cause the night terrors. Jadon had a few night terrors right around the time Avery was born. Apparently I used to get them as a child also; not sure whether or not they are hereditary.


Other than that, I love her to pieces. I love the age she is at, but at the same time, I'm beginning to feel very emotional about her rapidly approaching first birthday. I just cant wrap my mind around the fact that its almost been a year since my little girl was born.

Jadon got this $7 lawnmower that he has been wanting for months and months, he got the lawnmower as a special treat for going poo in the potty finally. He was so excited to mow the lawn with daddy.

The story behind this one is: Avery is getting into everything that she's not supposed to get into lately. She's curious! Jadon was the same way, so to keep them out of the kitchen area when our hands are full (like when i'm making meals), we lay down one of our kitchen table chairs between the bar area and the couch, and it makes a perfect little fence. Jadon is able to climb over it still, but it is successful at keeping Avery out. She protests wildly whenever you restrict her roaming space.... like when she sees you put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs so she cant climb them, she screams in protest!
In this picture, Avery got herself into the center of the chair and was just having a blast in there. Obviously she's pretty proud of herself!

It wasn't just a fluke!

The poop in the potty yesterday was not just a fluke. I know this because, he pooped THREE times in the potty yesterday!!!!!!!!!! :)

HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

JADON POOPED IN THE POTTY ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I knew that if we just let him be and quit pressing the poop issue and let him decide on his terms, he'd come around to it!

I am so proud of him!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To celebrate we are going to meet daddy for lunch at Arby's! Jadon loves going to Arby's and always asks to go, so thats what we are doing! :)

A job and a birthday

Avery's 1st birthday is in just 2.5 months, and to say that I can't believe it is an understatement. I have absolutely no idea where the last 10 months have gone! I can't believe my baby is not going to be a baby anymore! :( It hit me hard the other night that her first birthday is just 2 short months away, and I feel like i've missed out on enjoying her. All my energy over the last 10 months have gone towards making Jadon feel extra loved and adjusting to the changes that come with being a sibling (and potty training!) In the process, I have had very little time alone with my daughter to focus on just her, and now I am sad for that. I wish there was more time in the day that allowed for me to spend time with each kid individually, spend time for myself, with my husband, getting the house cleaned/picked up and exersizing. There's just not enough time in the day to do all of those things.

There's just something about the kids' 1st birthdays that make me feel incredibly emotional and sad that they are growing up so fast.... probably because its the transition age out of babyhood.



So, I need to start planning her first birthday, and I dont know if I want to do a big party with extended family, or just a smallish party with just immediate family... I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!



I was just complaining about how I dont have enough time in life, yet I have decided that I need a job. I've been surfing the web for jobs that you do at home, on your own hours, and really all that I can find is selling things like Mary Kay, Avon, Tupperware, etc. I tried selling Home Interiors for a few months, that didnt go well, of course that was a bad year all together. I am not good at selling things, I hate having parties because I feel like people feel obligated to buy, and I dont want to sell things that way. Besides, my mom is the one who kept me in business anyways, and i'm afraid she'll go bankrupt because of her generousity! ;) I'd much rather just give the stuff away to be honest! So, i'm kindof at a loss for what I can do to make a little extra money, where I can be at home still, and do it all on my own time.

I'm pretty much talentless, so I cant offer any specialty services. If anyone has any ideas, id love to hear them!!



Friday is Derek's birthday, he took the day off of work, so we are going to take the kids swimming... i'm really excited! Then for dinner i'm making his favorite: baked spaghetti!



Derek and I have been looking online at houses for sale, and that is one of the reasons I want to have a job, so that I can make a little extra money to help pay for bills so that we can save up to buy a bigger house. We really want something with more property than what we have so that the kids can run around and have a swingset! We are very grateful for this house we are in now, and its been the perfect starter house for us, but we are outgrowing it rapidly. We've been in this house now for 6.5 years! Its hard to believe! I remember being SOOO excited to move in... and we had had a trip to Hawaii planned several months before we purchased our house.... we moved into our house in early April, and our trip to Hawaii was in early May.... I remember thinking how I didnt want to go to Hawaii because I was so excited to be in our house and I didnt want to leave it!

Its such a buyers market right now... unfortunately our house value has dropped dramatically over the last year.... and its incredibly depressing.

Can I crawl into a hole now?

***This post contains some material that may be unsuitable for weak stomachs- reader discretion is advised.***

Seems like the last few days have been pretty nonstop, and i'm plum wore out!

Friday, Derek got paid by his employer to go golf all day in Portland. He left around 9am, and didnt get back until almost 11pm! Knowing that the next 3 days we'd be stuck at the house potty training, I wanted to get the kids (and myself) out of the house for a bit, so I stepped out of my comfort zone and took the kids to the Willamette Celebration all by my lonesome. I was proud of myself, considering I do probably 95% of our outside the house activities with Derek (by choice for both of us.)

Potty training is going pretty much as we expected. He's doing fine with the peeing part, but the pooping part is not going well at all. Not. Well. At. All. Period. For some reason, the child is scared to death to poop in the potty, and because of this, he witholds his poop, and then he ends up in pain and misery, with a sore bottom and belly, which makes him even more afraid to poop at all. Its not going well. At his 3 year appt back in March, the pediatrician said we can give him some Miralax every day, so I started doing that a couple days ago, but apparently he's got a bottom of steal and can hold it in really well.

Anyways, between the drama of potty training and Avery's teeth coming in, and Jadon's stitches, things have been pretty nuts and stressful around here, and my face is breaking out so bad that I am beginning to look like a lawn with a gopher in it, and this afternoon I ended up with a migraine. I'm ready for a nice relaxing day at the spa, which at this point I can only dream about.

TGIF!

I always love fridays!

So the week was interesting. Jadon had the stitches in his arm removed on tuesday, but the doctor wanted to wait another 3 days for the stitches on his hand because it was still not closed up. Derek and I were prepared for him to have to be sedated again, but it was actually not too horrible. The nurse we had this time was a real peach (sarcastic), and she was not very sympathetic towards Jadon, who was screaming over and over "i'm scared! i'm scared!" while tears ran down his little cheeks. But, they managed to get taken out w/o any sedation. And we were in and out in probably 30 minutes from the time we stepped into the hospital, to the time we stepped out.

Other than that, Jadon is going through another horrible testing faze, followed by some MAJOR tantrums. I really hope its just his age, and that as he gets out of the 3's he'll get over this.

Avery is doing well, she's mastered the stairs. I followed her all the way up the stairs the other day, and then Derek did also another day. She climbs them like she's been doing it her whole life.... very minimal effort. EVERTHING goes into her mouth, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Its pretty gross. The other day I caught her with the bottom of my shoe in her mouth. So sick!
She's finally getting 2 teeth on the top. They are just there, right under the skin, just about to poke through. Last night I said that i'd be surprised if she woke up in the morning and they hadnt popped through. Unfortunately they didnt.
She is also really good at throwing tantrums whenever we take something away from her. How does a 9 month old baby know how to throw a tantrum??? Just blows my mind! And whats more, she's been doing this for several months now!

So, saturday morning we have soccer, then we head to the ER again to get the other stitches out, then we go home and will begin the potty training. I've been preparing for it today. I know it sounds silly, but I'm making a magic potty stick from the Potty Fairy that i'm going to place on the front porch all wrapped up with a letter from the Potty Fairy. The magic potty stick will help him to not be afraid to poop on the potty. I'll ring the doorbell and he'll find it there, all decorated neat. Whether or not it will help, I dont know, he's pretty smart, but i'm seriously desperate at this point, and the book suggested that, so i'm going to try it. It wont hurt to try.

Wish us luck! Please keep us in your prayers! :)

Summer fun

I finally got a slideshow together of the fun we've been having so far this summer (which has been only about 2 weeks here in the northwest), including soccer, enchanted forest, pool fun, and jadon's stitches (of course, those werent fun.) Sorry if you dont like the smilebox slideshows.... blogger just gives me too many problems when trying to upload pictures and videos, so i've given up on it. Plus, smilebox makes it really quick and easy to upload and arrange/edit photos.... and as we all know, free time is very limited around here with these 2 busy bodies that I call my children, so the quicker I can get them uploaded, the better! ;)

In case anyone's interested....

Just in case anyone is interested in what potty training method we are going to use next weekend, here is the link to the website:
http://www.3daypottytraining.com/

It will kindof being like going cold turkey, because we will be throwing away ALL his diapers, including all diapers in the diaper bag, and pullups, AND he will not being wearing diapers to bed at night either. They will no longer be his (or our) crutch.
Our hope is that he will realize that he has no where to poop but in the potty since all his diapers will be in the garbage. I don't know about the whole night training part though.... I don't expect that to work since he wakes up with an extremely full diaper every morning. We've already started cutting liquids after 7pm.... so far, it hasnt made much difference, if any. Let's face it, the kid pee's A LOT.

I'm making a request

I am asking everyone to NOT come over to our house on Saturday July 24th, Sunday July 25th, and Monday July 26th, and avoid making any events on those days as well. We will be doing an intense 3 day potty training program with Jadon, and in order to have the best chances for success, we need to be able to devote 110% to it, and not have any outside distractions.
We will not be leaving our house for anything on those days.

I am feeling very hopeful with this, as lately he's been randomly telling us that he has to go pee about once a day.
Even at Enchanted Forest, I went to the womens bathroom to change Avery's poopy diaper, and Jadon told Derek that he needed to go pee (w/o any prompting), and so he even went pee in a public bathroom by choice! Of course, its the pooping part that we are worried about.

Also, this is probably our last chance to get him trained in time for preschool, so I really want this to be successful.

We may, however, be calling people who are close to Jadon on those days if he is successful at any point in the training. If we do, I ask that you give him loads of praise, and absolutely no negativity. The point of our calling will be to build him up and make him feel really good about his success.

Thanks everyone!

Eventful summer

Well, summer finally decided to show up in the Pacific Northwest! It didnt seem like it would ever happen, but it did finally!

We've had a busy month so far! I try to plan lots of outdoor activities for us during the summer, since we are cooped up inside for 9 months out of the year.

So i'll do a recap of the last several days.
Saturday, Jadon started Lil' Kickers, which is a soccer class. I wanted him to do T-ball instead, but I didnt see that offered this year, so since I wanted him to do something, I put him in soccer. Its not really soccer though, at least at this point. Really they just played fun little games, like with a giant parachute, pretended to be hunting for sharks, and pretended a giant white ball was an egg. Lots of little games like that... organized play. He's in the 2.5-3.5 year old class, and theres only 2 other boys, so its a small little class, but still he had alot of fun!

Sunday, Derek took Jadon to church, and I stayed home with Avery while she napped, then later in the day we went to a going away party for Derek's brother, who is going back to Afghanistan for awhile.

Monday, Derek took the day off and we went to Enchanted Forest. It was a perfect day to go, because the day was overcast, and we even wore light sweaters. Good thing since I had to push Avery around in the big, bulky stroller up those big hills! Whew! My legs were burnin'! Also, there were not too many people there, so it wasnt packed! We had great fun! Jadon loved the kiddy train, the kiddy bumper boats, and the log ride. He had to go on the logride with a parent, so Derek and I took turns going with him. He had alot of fun with Daddy the first time, but I think I scared him to death when I went with him. Me not being much of a rides kind of person, the log ride is great fun for me since its pretty mild, other than the drops (which are actually pretty puny). Anyways, I couldnt help but scream at each drop. I was holding on to Jadon, and he was just shaking and biting his nails like crazy... I could feel his little heart just beating like crazy!! He said the part he didnt like was getting splashed. Anyways, Derek got a video of Jadon and I coming down the last and biggest hill into the big splash at the end, and I was screaming my head off. I may post that video just for Derek's benefit. He watched it several times. I prefer to just delete it, but I wont since it has Jadon in it.

So Monday evening we went for a walk, and one of our neighbors (not in the development) has a garden train in his beautiful yard, and when we walked by, he was out and waved us to come over. Jadon was in heaven! It was really neat! A VERY expensive little hobby! On the rest of our walk, Jadon went running down the road racing daddy, and fell and scraped his knee up. Of course, he would not let us touch it or clean it. And when I say this, I mean, he kicks and screams and will not let up.

Tuesday was like any other weekday. The kids and I went out to lunch with a couple of my friends, that was pretty interesting. When you're trying to keep two small children in line, as well as eat your own lunch and try to have a conversation with friends.... it didnt work well.
So after we got home, Jadon played outside for about 2 hours in the backyard. Some time in the late afternoon, I noticed that his water cup was upside down on the carpet between our two couches. I grabbed a towel to soak it up, and in the process I moved a mirror that I had been temporarily storing back there. Long story short, i've been doing some redecorating and improving of the house, and placed the mirror there because the kids are not allowed to go back there, and it was only temporarily. So, to soak up the water, I moved the mirror so it was leaning up against the back of our couch (facing the kitchen.) My next step was to move it to the garage to get it out of the house, but in all honesty, I forgot about it even being there.
So, I made dinner, Derek came home, and we all ate dinner together as usual. Right after we finished, we washed the kids up, put them in the living room, and I just turned on the water in the kitchen to start cleaning up dinner, and Jadon went running around the couch, somehow tripped over his feet, and went diving into the mirror. He managed to slice between two fingers and on the inner bend of his elbow, and blood was pouring out. Derek grabbed Jadon and held him as he was getting hysterical from the sight of his blood and seeing the big slice in his arm. I grabbed towels, and Derek held the towels on the wounds with pressure and we calmed Jadon down. After a few minutes we looked at the slice on his arm, and knew we had to go to the ER because it was a deep cut... you could see the fatty tissue in his arm. It took A LOT of convincing just to get Jadon to get his shoes on and get in the car. He was not happy to be going to the hospital. He was hysterical any time any ER people came near him. We ended up being at the ER for 4 hours. Jadon ended up getting stitches. They had to partially put him out for the procedure since he was so hysterical. They used a weird medicine called Ketamine, which they use alot for pediatric patients, and is used in veterinary medicine also (apparently its also a recreational drug too called Special K.) It induces a state referred to as "dissociative anesthesia"... so he was actually awake for the procedure. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay in the room for the procedure, because Avery started getting fussy, and they needed to have as little stimulation to him as possible for the drug to work well. It was horrible though, and it took every ounce of my being to not leave the room sobbing. The good news is, he will not remember the procedure.
So, on 7/13/10, on exactly Jadons 3 year and 4 month "birthday", he ended up getting 3 stitches between his fingers, and it looks like 4 in his arm.

Today, it hasnt bugged him at all, he hasnt complained of it hurting or anything. It was quite a fight trying to get the bandaids off and clean the wounds this evening and apply new bandaids though. We are supposed to clean it daily, and we go back in a week to have his stitches removed. Its going to be a VERY long week.

Can I just say that it really does hurt the parent more when the child is hurt? Its really the worst feeling, seeing your child suffering, the child not really understanding whats going on or whats going to happen... plus I feel guilty because I left the mirror out in the first place.

So, here's some pictures I snapped on my phone of my sweet little guy at the ER. I guess I should mention that these were all taken before the procedure.

The nurse offered to snap one of all of us together....we really couldnt have asked for a better nurse, she was so nice and accomodating for Jadon.

We all went home very very tired and cranky... except Jadon. He was in a good mood.... comforting Avery on the drive home because she was wailing. Such a good big brother! When we got home, the house was a complete and utter disaster. Dinner had not been cleaned up at all, so dirty dishes and pots and pans were all over with food dried into them. Kids toys were all over the place. My adrenaline rush was taking a fast dive south, I was starving, had a migraine, and by 10:30 that night when we got home, I was ready to crawl in bed for the rest of the week. Avery was a pain in the rear at the ER. She's not nearly as relaxed and easy going like Jadon was when he was a baby. She is a very high maintenance, demanding little girl. So she was quite tired, and cranky, plus she's cutting a 3rd tooth and has been extra cranky and not sleeping well to begin with.
Another thing, Jadon hears me call Derek "dear" all the time, so he has started calling Derek "dear" also. (really adorable, but drives Derek nuts) Derek said when Jadon was in his medicated state, he started saying "dear? dear??" He also told Derek that he looked funny. ;)

Avery's first word

Avery has been saying her first word for a week or so, but we just didnt realize it. She's been saying "ck" (like a cross between the 'ck' sound in the word 'check', and the word 'key')... anyways, we discovered tonight that she's saying "kitty." She starts saying "ck, ck, ck" whenever the kitty's are visible, and she crawls over to them. She likes the kitties! Its really cute! It blows my mind that she is old enough to start saying some words!

She will be 9 months old in just a few days.... it doesnt seem possible! She's doing well.... not only is she a great crawler now, but she also pulls herself to standing. Yesterday she stood for a few seconds on her own, so i'm betting that she might be walking by her first birthday. She follows Jadon around like a little lost puppy... she adores her big brother!
She keeps me on my toes! In the last month, she has managed to fall off a bed, fall off a couch, and fall out the front door!
She loves exploring the world around her, and is curious about EVERYTHING and wants to try everything herself. EVERYTHING goes into her mouth!
This evening, we were in the backyard, Derek was blowing up Jadons pool from last year, and Avery was crawling around in the grass, while I did a little yard work. I had a pile of dirt in one of Jadon's little toy wagon things, and she was going crazy playing in that dirt!

She is eating a wide variety of foods now, including most fruits, most veggies, and most meats. She eats 3 different baby cereals (rice, oatmeal and barley), and we've been working on some actual "solid" foods. She's had some small pieces of cheese, watermelon and strawberry. She gags on almost all the chunks. She also eats yogurt every morning for breakfast. I am still nursing her, and plan to until she's at least 1. Jadon was 15 months when I stopped with him, and i'll go as long as she and I are comfortable with. So, she nurses about 3 or 4 times a day, and then usually at night a few times as well.

Her sleeping has improved a tad. She now takes 2 good naps a day, or one okay nap and one really good one... either way, she gets 2 naps. Nights are still not the greatest, but have improved a little. The last 2 days and nights havent been great for sleeping, she's picked up a touch of the cold Jadon had last week, and gets woken up coughing. Plus, i'm just waiting for a new developmental milestone to disrupt her sleep.... they always do. I'm not too worried about the sleep thing anymore. I know that eventually it'll work itself out. Plus, our pediatrician made me feel better by telling us that both of her kids were horrible sleepers as babies, so I know its not something that we have done to cause our children to not be good at sleeping as babies.

She still only has the 2 bottom teeth in.

I spent all of last week painting our downstairs. Derek informed me that he wanted to have the new guy at work and his wife and their 3 year old son over for dinner in the next couple of weeks, and I told him I wanted to get the house painted first since i had patches of sample paints all over the walls. I want the house to be presentable! So, I dove right in, and I love the finished product. It freshens the room up!

Our 4th of July

Here's a little video of our 4th of July. We had Derek's family over for bbq and fireworks. The kids did really good... Last year Jadon was quite afraid of the fireworks, but this year he was pretty excited about them, he just had his ears covered all the time. :) Avery did much better than I anticipated.

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.