Sick..... again.

I'm stuck home again with sick children. Its ok, i dont mind being at home, i'm a homebody, but I do feel bad for the kids... they've been sick constantly, and so we have not left the house much in the last month. I hate to be one of those moms who takes their kids everywhere when they are at the peak of their bugs, hacking and snotting all over the place.

Once again, they are sick with colds... and last night the vaporizers once again came out of their boxes to sleep in the house with the kids. Each kid has one, thank goodness! However, Jadon's has been used so much in the last year, that we discovered mold growing on his windowsill. So, in the effort of trying to be proactive against any more mold, I've been spraying vinegar around all the windows in the house every friday afternoon. And, in an effort to try to control the spread of more germs, which is pretty impossible when you have young kids i've found, especially when one of them goes to preschool, and the other one sticks everything in her mouth.... i've been wiping down all door handles, locks, light switches, fridge door handle, remote controls, faucet handles, computer keyboards and mouses, stairway railing, and my cellphone, with bleach every friday afternoon. And, in an effort to revive my poor houseplants, i've been tending to them each friday afternoon as well.

Well, to try to make this post less depressing.... i have a document on my computer where I type out any adorable things that the kids say... or, just Jadon at this point since Avery really cant say much. And I was reading them this morning... so funny! Here's a few more... I know i've posted some before, but I cant remember what ones so you might have to read them again:


• If God wants me and you to go outside while avery’s napping, then that’s what we should do.
• “Dear Daddy i love you so much and this world is made out of computers”
• I’m going to clap my hands really fast- like catching a fruit fly
• When I get 40 10 (age) I can be a conductor
• When I turn 7 I’ll be a mom
And, one that he says quite often "cleanup on aisle 64!" This is said while playing grocery store.... its a really really really big store..... ;)

The boys

I know you're all wondering how we're doing in the poo potty training process. I'm happy to report, that on the evening of my last post, he FINALLY pooped in the potty. It had been a good 3 days since his last movement, and he was miserable. It didnt happen without a fight though. Over the whole weekend, we probably spent more than 3 hours sitting in the bathroom with Jadon, trying to convince him to go, and he WOULD. NOT. GO.
So, as horrible as it sounds, we basically had to scare the poop out of him to get him to go. We told him that he was going to have to have a suppository if he didnt go....... You didnt think that would get him to go, did you??? Of course not!!! But, when I told him I was leaving right that second to go to the store to get some suppositories, out came the poo! Two times! I know its not the best way to handle potty training, at least according to all the books and doctors, but every kid is different, and so far its the only thing that we could do to get him to go.

So, the next day, he was fine most of the day, then afternoon Jadon started getting lethargic again, I kept asking if he wanted to go in and go poo, and of course I got a "no." After dinner, Derek was going to sit down and play with Jadon, but Jadon was dancing around again like he had to poop, so Derek asked him if he wanted to go sit on the potty and try pooping before they played, and he said "yeah" and practically ran to the bathroom, and immediately pooped!

And basically the same thing happened last night as well. He will not initiate going, but if we make him go in and do it, then he's going... at least thats how its been the last 2 nights. So, I hope that if we can just keep him doing this, he'll eventually get used to it and will be comfortable going alone and doing it on his will. Please keep praying for him! We are SOOO proud of him for the progress he's made so far!

Well, Derek doesn't have whooping cough, but his cough has not gotten any better, and now he's having pains in his chest and abdomen everytime he coughs. Today he was a little short of breath than normal, and since he has asthma, he decided to go to urgent care. They took an xray, and saw that it looked like fluid was beginning to accumulate in his lungs... and it was looking like he could possibly get phneumonia, and its pretty certain he has bronchitis.... so, he's been given antibiotics, and was told to take 4 ibuprofin and 2 tylenol together to help with the pain. So, hopefully the antibiotics will do the trick!
I'm looking forward to getting some sleep again! ;) of course, that also depends on Avery. Last night she woke up at midnight and didnt go back to sleep until 2am... and then started crying again after 20 minutes, but went back to sleep a short time later. I'm exhausted. The lack of sleep over the last month is starting to get to me, and i've had a migraine and/or headache off an on for the last 2 weeks. Its amazing how not sleeping well affects so much of your life.

Why?????

In case anyone's wondering, the poop training is not going well. In fact, its going pretty much exactly like the last time. Jadon has a really normal schedule with his bowel movements, once a day. It has now been 2 days, and we are beginning the 3rd day of him not going. Derek sat with him in the bathroom for at least 2 hours total yesterday trying to convince him to go, but he won't do it. And he's starting to get lethargic and just wants to lay around... obviously! Who wants to be up and running around when you've got to go so bad but are trying so hard to keep it in!
At this point, we really have no idea what to do! It doesnt matter what we say to him... we tell him all the people in his life poop in the potty- gramma's, grampa's, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends from preschool, his teachers, etc. He doesn't care. We tell him that we would be soooooooooo proud if he went. We tell him that his grandparents would be soooooooooo proud if he went. We tell him that his teachers would be sooooooooo proud if he went. But, he does not care. We've tried ultimatums, like Jadon, if you poop in the potty then we can go and do this or that. He doesn't care. He's aware that if nothing else works he may end up with a suppository. He doesn't care. He says he wants to go, but he's scared. We are struggling to understand why he is SO scared! During the summer, he had those 3 days where he went poop all by himself just fine on the potty, then on day 4 he was suddenly afraid again. Nothing changed on day 3 to make him worry again on day 4!!!
The only advice we got from the pediatrician was to give him miralax, so then he'll pretty much have no choice but to go. We tried that last time, but he's stubborn, and that did not make him go. So we really are at a complete loss and have no idea what to do.
This is so emotionally draining.

Oh dear

We are down to 1 diaper for Jadon.... so if "things", *ahem*, progress like they do on a normal daily basis, we will be starting our poopy potty training tomorrow. He knows this, we've been counting down the diapers since we had 10 diapers left. He doesnt seem worried at all, and he knows whats going to happen after he uses the last diaper. So, keep us in your prayers in the coming days!!!

Derek went to the doctor yesterday.... he's had this awful cough for the last week+. I've been telling him to go get looked at for several days, and finally he decided he'd had enough. So yesterday he went, and he was less than impressed with his overall visit... waiting for an hour and then seeing the disconnected doctor for just 5 minutes. Whats with doctors? They make you feel like you're wasting their time.
Anyways, from the sounds of it, the doctor thought it was either bronchitis or whooping cough, and they tested him for whooping cough, but the results wont be in for a few days. Gave him an Rx for cough suppressant (that only works a little) and that was it.
Between Avery waking up so much at night lately, and Derek's middle of the night coughing fits... I was ready to pack up and go to a hotel at 3am last night. On top of that, the kids and I have colds again... ok, i cant complain too much, its really not much of a "cold"... more like just a constant runny nose, and the kids have been coughing a little at night. If I wasnt dreaming of summertime already, I certainly am now!

The good news, I got a drink at Starbucks this morning!!!!! :) I never go there, I refuse to waste my money on a $5 coffee. So, the only time I go is when I have a gift card... Derek got one at a christmas party we went to last month, and since he doesnt drink coffee, he gave it to me. :) I got what I always get when I go there- a carmel frappachino. 16 ounces of heaven topped with a load of whipped topping and drizzled with carmel syrup. It literally made my morning! Silly, I know, but i was literally smiling as I was walking into a store after buying it (and drinking 3/4 of it in 10 minutes.) I look forward to my next one... in a year or two.... ;)

Its that time of year....

...When the holiday season is over, and there's nothing to look forward to for awhile (other than Jadon's birthday), and I start getting really sick of the gray, wet Oregon weather. I'm sick of hearing about the rest of the U.S. getting dumped on with snow, while we sit in 50-60 degree weather getting poured down rain on. It seems impossible for us to get snow around here... when the weather finally gets cold enough, the precipitation is not there... then it warms up, and the rain pours on us. Frustrating! Very Very frustrating!

Anyways, its that time of year when I start dreaming about the spring and summer months, longing for warmer and longer days, and being able to take the kids outside. Today while Avery was napping, and Derek was working on the budget, Jadon and I took a nice little walk around the neighborhood in the rain and our rainboots, stomping in puddles, and just enjoying being together and outside. The other day, we were in the car and it was of course raining, and Jadon says "its never going to be sunny again." I know how he feels....both my kids LOVE the outdoors, and its apparent that Jadon loves the sunshine just as much as his parents do.

So, this time of year, I always start brainstorming how I want our spring/summer to be... and getting ideas of what kinds of things I would like to do as a family- for example, go to the zoo, have picnics, etc. I also start to get antsy with the house, and want to start doing home improvement inside and out. I've already got a list going in my head of the things that I would like to get done with regards to home improvement in the warmer months. Of course, the indoor stuff can happen at any time. :)

To switch the topic, Avery is feeling much better, and its totally obvious!!! Thank goodness for Amoxocylin (sp?) She is a much happier kid, and doesnt spend all day wanting me to hold her and crying when i cant hold her. In fact, she spends most of her day NOT hanging on me again. Its nice to see her back to her happy self (mostly happy....) ;) She has been sleeping HORRIBLY though. I think I may have mentioned it in a recent previous post. For most of this week, she was waking up at 11:30pm (just about the time when my head hits my pillow...and before I have time to fall asleep.) Then, she wont go back to sleep until 2am. Then, we're up again for the day between 6:15am and 7:30am. Thankfully last night she slept for most of the night though...woke up at 9pm-ish, and again at 1:30am, but luckily after going in to comfort her and help her find her binky again, she went back to sleep. It was the best nights sleep i've had in a few weeks! Although i'm so behind on sleep now that it will take a little time to catch up again.

She goes back in a week to have her ear looked at again. The doctor mentioned that she could hardly see inside Avery's ear because it was really waxy, and suggested we try dewaxing her ears with Debrox so she would be able to see in there better. She apparently inherited her daddy's waxy ears. ew.

Jadon's back in preschool again after the break, and he is SO happy to be back! He asks me every morning if he gets to go to preschool. He talks about his little friend Elijah all the time, and said that he likes him because "he laughs at me all the time." Jadon must think he's just little mr. funny pants... he just LOVES for people to laugh at him, and it just eggs him on. (he gets that from his daddy also.) This is the reason I quit laughing at Derek when he cracks a joke... it just eggs him on. Now I just roll my eyes at him. ;)

In the world of horticulture, I'm having a heck of a time with my house plants this winter! I'm not sure what the deal is.... I'm not sure if I am over watering them, or underwatering them... I feel like I water them alot, and when I start to think that i am overwatering them, and feel the soil, its bone dry. Derek says i'm just overthinking it too much now. I used to have the greenest thumb, and everything would grow beautifully for me. I'm getting frustrated now and i'm not sure what to do. Any tips??????

Yet, on the other hand, I noticed today that my outdoor hydrangea's are already starting to get new leaves on them....??? what in the world is going on???

I'll leave you with this picture- We had a cold snap a couple weeks ago (of course, no snow), and I noticed the cats water dish. Very very strange.... i'm not sure how in the world it froze like this, there was nothing dripping down on it, to my knowledge. I dont know if you can enlarge the picture or not, but its really neat looking inside.

Need your prayers!!!

I'll start this post off with 2 recent pictures of the kids.

Jadon- he doesnt want his picture even taken, but at the same time, he doesnt like it when Avery gets her picture taken (cuz then she is getting attention), so this is one of those instances. I was taking Avery's picture, and he wanted the attention, so he asked me to take his picture, but then he wouldnt cooperate, and this is the best I got of him.... little stinker!

The victim in an episode of CSI: Albany

We're going to be working with Jadon again on pooping in the toilet. We've been telling him for the last couple months that when the last box of diapers we got for him ran out, we weren't buying anymore and that he was going to start pooping in the potty. Its taken forever for him to get through the box, since he only uses it for his #2's. But, alas, we are almost done with them.... there's only like 7 diapers left...so approximately 1 week's worth of diapers! Yikes!!! I'm scared! Remembering the last time we were potty training... of course at that point he wasnt pee trained or night time trained yet either.

He is doing extremely well with day time pottying and hasnt had any accidents in a really long time, and incredibly good with nightime pottying too! He hasnt had wet sheets for a couple weeks now!

You'd think that he'd be wanting to poop in the potty too, but he is still scared. You'd think that after seeing all his friends in preschool using the potty, he'd also want to ditch the diapers and poop in the potty. But, no. When he announces that he has to poop, we always offer for him to use the potty, but he insists on a diaper. He pretty much does it all by himself... puts the diaper on himself (its a pullup), goes in the bathroom and does his business... the only thing missing is sitting on the toilet. So, i'm still really worried about how things are going to go after the diapers are gone.

Avery's no where near ready to potty train. Although it would be nice if she was! She gets a rash on her tushie so easily if we dont change her poopy diapers right away. A few weeks ago, she had an ugly rash on her bottom, thanks to the mandarin oranges that she consumed, so one evening after changing her poopy diaper, I let her go bottomless for a little bit. She had only had the diaper off for a few minutes, and she already peed on the floor. Then she pooped on the floor right after that. Then peed again, and pooped again... all within a very short period of time (like 15 minutes.) It felt like we had a puppy or something! Pretty gross!!!

In case anyones wondering, we're going to be cleaning our carpets in the near future! ;)

Avery's 15 month appt.

Was today, and it couldnt have come at a better time. She has been seriously cranky and really out of sorts the last couple days.... understandable since she's still recovering from the nasty cold, and she's getting her molars.... on top of that, she's got an ear infection. Her first one... and the first one between both my kids. Jadon's never had one.

So, its been a rough road with her lately!

In 3 months, she barely gained anything.... not even a pound. Today she weighed 19lbs 15.5oz ALMOST 20 pounds, but just not quite. So, she's now in the 10th percentile for weight. She started out life in the 50th, then jumped to the 75th, and from there on its slowed some, and really alot this time! But, her height is incredible in the 90th percentile, so, big surprise, she's tall and skinny, although she doesnt look that skinny. The doc said that her weight just couldnt keep up with her dramatic height increase. Not to mention, she only eats like 5 foods.

Food.... well, theres not much we can do at this point, but keep offering her what we are eating, but also include something that we know she will like. She's too young to say "if you dont eat what is served to you, then you dont get anything else"... so we'll just keep on doing what we're doing. Milk on the other hand, is something we really need to try to get her to drink. We've tried everything, so i dont know what else to do for that! Could get interesting!

So, lucky girl, got out of shots today since she's got an ear infection, but we go back in a couple weeks to get rechecked, and she'll have her vaccinations done then.

Art

Well aren't you lucky! My second post of the day!!

So, Jadon comes home from preschool almost every day with art projects that he did in school, and as his mommy, I LOVE all of them! Of course, and unfortunately, I cant keep all his projects, but I do select a few of my favorites to save. The others I have taken pictures of, and thought i'd auction them off to family (read Gramma's). Not sure if anyone wants them, but I am having a really hard time throwing them away.... like, they are sitting upstairs on the desk just waiting to be thrown out, but I cant bring myself to do it. So, i've taken pictures of them all, and thought i'd see if anyone wants any of them.

Auction item #1- Picasso Thanksgiving Turkey

Auction Item #2 and #3- Glitter Bell or Rudolph

Auction item #4- Picasso Fence Pumpkin

Sorry, this next one isnt up for grabs.... I tied a bow to the top and turned it into a christmas ornament, but thought id share it with you anyways.

This one may have been turned into an ornament also, but I cant remember for certain?Apple with shiny paint... this one mightbe in my "keep" pile, but i cant remember

Item #5- button corn- i dont think this one is in my "keep" pile, but i'd have to double check that.

Popcorn corn... this one actually DID make it to the garbage can, but very reluctantly. :(
And here's the one he brought home this past thursday. We noticed that he made a female snowman..... of course, when I asked him what the circles were on the snowman's torso, he said they were buttons. Hmm, i've never had a sweater button that way....but then again, i've never seen such lopsided boobs either! oh, and its not up for grabs either... at least not yet. I keep all his projects hung up for our viewing pleasure for at least a couple months.

And finally.... Jadon has never had a whole lot of interest in drawing objects.... he's always just scribbled for a minute, then decided he was done drawing. He NEVER wants our help with drawing things, or trying to help him write his name. He's never even had interest in writing any letters. So, the other day I was cleaning the kitchen, and he was drawing with Avery's doodle pro (remember, I said we were going to get her it for christmas...) and he says to me that he was drawing a picture of Avery. Then after a few seconds he said "Look mommy, I drew Avery." With my hands wet and soapy, and he being all the way across the room, I asked him to hold it up so I could see it. I just about fell over when I saw this picture that actually resembles a bit of a human form! It (Avery) has a head, eyes, mouth, body and legs! He actually drew something! I cant tell you how proud we were of his drawing! Funny how even just the smallest things that your kids do can make you feel so much pride for them!
And here he is- my budding little artist ;)
He's been quite testy lately.... really pushing buttons, pushing limits, showing his frustrations... He got a timeout this morning because he, Avery and I were playing a game, and he was doing a really good job taking turns with Avery, but then after a bit Avery decided to plop down in my lap instead of take her turn to play... Jadon got mad, and threw the toy at me. Luckily if we follow through with our discipline, he seems to catch on pretty quickly and starts obeying. Consistency and following through with our punishments is crucial!
I've also noticed a bit of some jealousy going on with the kids. Avery's had alot of cuddles this week since she's been sick, and has been wanting to be held and cuddled more than normal lately... Of course, whenever she's in my lap, Jadon wants to be in my lap too. And vice versa... if he is in my lap, she starts having a cow. So, its quite frustrating.
Its really fun to see how they've evolved into their brother/sister roles though.... Jadon treats her... well, like a little sister- picking on her, tormenting her, pushing her and taking her toys. And she follows him around, imitating his every move, trying to do everything he does. Its funny because for the first 6 months after Avery was born, he pretty much kept his distance from her. I'm glad that he has finally and fully adjusted to having a little sister.
And, because I dont want to end this post on a negative note, because Jadon really does have good, sweet moments, but being that he's 3.5 almost 4, they are just few and far between... someday my sweet little man will return to us........
On one of his particularly good days, a couple weeks ago, I had to go to the pharmacy and pick up some Rx's. I never go get our Rx's, because the kids want to touch everything, and I dont dare let Avery down because she'd have the place torn apart in seconds! So I make Derek go after he gets off of work. (Too bad we dont get our Rx's filled at Walmart or somewhere that has shopping carts... i'd just throw the kids in that, it would be so much easier!) So the other day, it was right before the holiday weekend, and the pharmacy would be closed, and we needed our prescriptions, so I had no choice but to go. I made it clear to Jadon that he was not to touch anything. I dont make this request of him very often, because I know its tough and boring for him to be somewhere and not be able to touch things that look interesting. So on this day at the pharmacy, one of the prescriptions was not ready, so we ended up waiting for 15 minutes or so. Jadon was SO good, he did not leave my side, he did not touch one thing, he did not whine or complain once! I was SOOO proud of him!!
And earlier this week when I went to the grocery store by myself, he told me the next day "Mommy, the next time you go to the grocery store, you need to take me and avery with you, because I missed you." And from what Derek says, it sounds like he really did miss me... and Avery did too. The kids were already in bed when I got home, but Jadon was sitting up in bed waiting for me, and Avery started throwing a FIT when I went in to kiss her goodnight. She was thoroughly distraught, so eventually I went in to hold her for a couple minutes.... that did the trick, she just wanted a mommy cuddle before bed. That was one of those nights when the struggles and strife of motherhood are so totally worth it!

An unpleasant week!

I hate to be a complainer, no one likes a complainer, but this week was just stinky.

Friday afternoon we finally got our new heater... well, new motor for our heater anyways. Monday and Tuesday were FREEZING cold, and I dont know if temps ever got out of freezing on tuesday. Luckily for us, the temps went up for the rest of the week. Its amazing what a 10 degree change outside can do for the temperature inside. Tuesday it took the whole day to warm the house up to 70 degrees. Considering we started at 55 degrees at 7am, and by 10pm it was finally 70 (with the help of the oven being on during dinner) the temperature rose in the house by approximately a degree an hour.
Its good to finally have our heater again, and i'll never take it for granted!

On top of losing our heater, Jadon and I started the week finishing our colds, and Avery's just got worse. She slept terribly all week, taking a really short nap on most of the days, and waking up every hour at night. Yes, every hour from 8pm to 1-2am. And on top of that, she's started waking up in the morning earlier- 5:45am-6am.
Tuesday night, I took off and went to the grocery store after dinner (by myself!!!!!! peace!!!) because we were extremely low on food. I figured a tuesday night would be pretty quiet at the grocery store, but apparently it was college night because all the college kids were there.... it was busier than the day before thanksgiving! On top of that, they were out of everything, and nothing was restocked. Then i get to the check out, and for those that dont know, at Winco you do your own bagging. They were out of paper bags, so my almost $200 grocery load had to all go in small, wimpy plastic bags that kept ripping. It couldnt have been a more frustrating trip.

Jadon finally got to go back to preschool on thursday, and he was so excited! We think he was so excited that he was having a hard time sleeping the night before, because he woke up twice on wednesday night. The first time he wanted a drink of water, and the second time he just wanted to talk. ;)

We were stuck home all week long because of our colds. I didnt want to go anywhere with Avery sneezing and snotting all over everyone and everything. But Friday morning I decided we HAD to get out, even if just for a bit, so we went on a quick trip to Target, then to my friends store because I had 10 tutu's to drop off.

So, if you're counting my outtings, thats- 1) grocery store 2) two minute drive to preschool and back 3) target and friends store. About 3 hours outside the house.
So, needless to say, I was a very tired, cranky mommy this week. Among many other little annoyances. I dont blame anyone though, its no one's fault, its just how the week went. It just seemed like the world was against us.

Avery's getting a couple molars in, so on top of her nasty cold, she's been bothered by her teeth too. Poor thing! :( She has been incredibly unpleasant all week!

But, on the bright side, it was a really good week for FHTM! :) And at my friends store, we're doing custom orders on tutu's now, and I already have a request for one! Don't forget to spread the word! Anyone who has a little girl in their life, whether daughter, sister, cousin, niece, friend, granddaughter, etc, might be interested in a tutu, so make sure you get the word out to everyone! And they are great for any kind of event- pictures, playtime, costumes, parties, weddings, holidays, gifts!

Thinking about having kids???

I saw this on another blog and thought it was great!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone who's thinking about having kids,
Try this 11 step program first!

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

January's....

Must be something about the new year that things decide to break on us. You may recall last year right after new years, probably even the exact same day, our washing machine broke, and we had to have it fixed (there was a tiny baby mitten that clogged something or other if i remember correctly)... and a week later our water heater died, and we had to replace it with a new one.

Well, Sunday night, our heater died. So yesterday a guy came to look at it, and it appears as though the motor is shot and we have to get a new motor. It will take a few days for that to get taken care of, and wouldnt you know its been absolutely freezing here...20's at night, 30's during the day. So, we've been freezing our BUNS off! I woke up this morning and it was 55 in the house. We have a small space heater that does nothing to heat the house, and we are borrowing a loaner heater from the heater fixer company, but it takes a long time to heat the house up (like many hours.) The icing on the cake is that the kids and I have colds (Derek's already finished the cold.) Its been a nasty cold... the worst we've had in a while, and probably the worst Jadon's ever had. Its really taken its toll on both the kids. You can see just how much better mine and Derek's immune systems are than the kids'. So, I cant really leave the house to go somewhere warmer because the kids are sick and I dont want them sneezing and snotting all over everyone and everything. Bad start to the week!!

Jadon's missing his first day back to preschool, and it dawned on me, he was sick for most of his christmas break. Poor guy. I'm already looking forward to summer warmth and less illnesses!!!

Sugar and spice and everything nice....

I'm not sure thats what Avery is made of. She's my little handful... testing my patience daily with her temper, putting everything imaginable in her mouth and grossing me out all the time... plus, how can something thats made of sugar and spice and everything nice make such discusting messes in her diaper 5 times a day?????

In the last couple of months she has:
1. eaten a slug
2. licked the bottom of Jadon's shoe
3. played in the toilet
4. stuck the tip of Jadon's soap dispenser in her mouth... you know, the part where you push down with your germy hands to get the soap out....
among other things that are gross, but these 4 things take the cake.

Why does EVERYTHING have to go into her mouth? Funny how she will put anything in her mouth, but when it comes to eating meals, she turns her nose up at almost everything and wont bring it near her mouth.

She is sharp as a tack too! She has her 15 month checkup coming up next week, and in order to speed up the check in process, they mailed us the questionaire regarding her development. One of the questions asks "does your baby say 8 words besides mommy and daddy?" So we were trying to figure out all the things she says. She will repeat pretty much anything you say. But here's a list of things that she will say on her own: dada, mama, peekaboo, all done, bye bye, pee-yoo, oh no, uh oh, tickle, there it is, horray, stinky, hello, car. Thats what we came up with so far, and that is 14 words. After filling out the rest of the survey, you add up the totals and they are put onto a scale so you can see where baby needs improvement. Well, she's scored 100% on almost all of the categories.

But, dont be deceived by her cute little smile and big blue eyes!! She's got the temper of a ..... well, i dont know what, but she's got one heck of a temper!!! And she thrives on a very strict schedule, and if this schedule is thrown off.... BEWARE!!! I hope this temper eases up as she grows up!!!
Jadon was always such a laidback kind of guy at her age.... Derek an I marvel all the time at how two siblings can be so different- like day and night.

Regardless, we love them both so much!!!

2010 Year In Pictures

The long awaited Loveless Family 2010 Year in Pictures is here finally! Ok, so its probably only long awaited for me! :) I look forward to these slideshows every year. I love to see where we've been and how far we've come... how much the kids have grown, and all the things we did over the year. It also reminds me of just how blessed I am. And, I love making them! I dont know how everyone else feels about them, but I do them mostly for me anyways. ;)

This year I changed it up a bit. Instead of using One True Media like I have in the past, this year I decided that I just couldnt stand the poor quality of the pictures when using One True Media. I'm sure that the quality would be better if I paid a monthly fee for using it, but since I am too cheap to do that, and settle for basic, thats the best i'll get out of that website!
This year I used Windows movie maker, and uploaded it to Youtube. We didnt have a Youtube account, so I had to create one of those as well, but the finished product is SOOO much better! You can actually see the pictures clearly, plus I can really fine tune things with Windows movie maker! I love that!

I try to make them fit into one song as best as I can, but I just couldnt do it this year, so its 2 songs long this time (about 8 minutes... sorry!) I also spend months trying to find the perfect music for them because the music really impacts a slideshow (in my opinion), but this year I had a heck of a time finding the music. In the past, i've always known exactly what songs to use, but this year was a struggle. I try to find songs that sortof portray my feelings about our family and the year we just completed. I ended up choosing "Lead Me" by Sanctus Real (i'm sorry, most of you will probably have no idea who or what the songs are as they are christian music)... its one of my favorite songs, not only for husbands and fathers, but also for moms, and all of us as children of Christ. The second song I just heard for the first time the other day, but I liked the sound of it and the lyrics seemed fitting.

So, i'll stop jabbering and share the link with you! For those who may not know, if you click the little box with the 4 arrows in it at the bottom right of the slideshow, it will make the slideshow full screen.

A look back at 2010

When it comes to new years eve, we are hardcore party animals! Yeah, you’d probably never guess that about us! I’m just teasing! Actually new years eve is pretty much like any other evening in our house… except Derek and I stay up a bit later, watching tv, playing games, then when its almost midnight, we turn on the tv to watch the ball drop, then shortly after it drops, we head to bed. Hey! We’ve got young kids that need healthy parents early the next morning, so we cant afford to have hangovers the next day (we don’t drink anyways), or be tired zombies!

I cant use the kids as an excuse though… this is pretty much how Derek and I have celebrated new years eve since we met! ;)

2010… what a year! Here’s what we did this year starting with January and ending with… well, today!
Here goes! replaced our water heater, my parents celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary, visited the lambing barns, jadon celebrated his 3rd birthday, signed jadon up for preschool, started potty training, stopped potty training, had too many illnesses, Alicia celebrated her big 30th birthday, took a day trip to the zoo, took our first family vacation to Washington, Jadon’s first (and second) dentist appointments, derek did lots of golfing, considered buying a bigger vehicle (but obviously didn’t), an outing to the swimming pool, Jadon started soccer, went to enchanted forest, took jadon on a trip to the ER for stitches, took jadon to the ER two more times for stitch removal, started potty training again, picnic lunch at the park, Alicia started swimming aerobics, Derek celebrated his 29th, Benton county fair, partial success with potty training!!!, wedding dress shopping with jenny, Derek and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, took a day trip to the coast, took a train ride to salem, celebration festival, had a major flea infestation that took weeks to fix, had a garage sale, jadon started preschool, Alicia chopped her hair, beaver football, more soccer, joined mom club, visit to pumpkin patch (twice), Jadon quit wearing diapers at night, Avery celebrated her 1st birthday, trick or treat!, joined fhtm, started making tutu’s, veterans day parade, got a dusting of snow, downtown twice around parade, storybook land, Christmas programs, Christmas parties…. Breathe….
And of course, Avery had most of her “firsts” this year!

And possibly the thing that happened this year that I’m most proud of (besides my beautiful family), is me losing over 25 pounds this year! I’m so proud of myself, and I had planned to just lose maybe 10 pounds this year, tried not to put too much pressure on myself, and I far exceeded that! I’m now less than 10 pounds away from my “ideal” weight, and that’s about the weight I was at when Derek and I got married! Yay! Go me!!! :)

So, I’ll be posting our 2010 Loveless Family Year In Pictures slideshow tomorrow, but we have to take our annual family picture on January 1st for me to add to it!

I'm looking forward to another big year! My parents will have their 20th wedding anniversary in a few days, Derek will turn 30, Jadon WILL become fully potty trained, Derek's little sister will be getting married, and his other little sister will turn 1... I expect 2011 will go by even faster than the previous years!

Happy new years everyone! We hope 2011 brings you all lots of good memories!

Allergies

We discovered a while ago that Avery had a skin allergy to something, though we weren't sure what. Whenever she eats, she gets food all over her face, so it could have been anything!

We figured out the other day that her skin allergy is to cinnamon. I always put cinnamon on Jadon's applesauce, so I started doing the same to hers, and wouldn't you know, she ends up with welts around her mouth, and chest if it gets on her chest as well. It only lasts for about 30 minutes and then goes away, but still it looks terrible.

I didnt understand why she would get this rash when I put cinnamon on her applesauce, but not when she eats cinnamon graham crackers. I briefly researched and this is what I found: "Because many products contain cassia and not true cinnamon." Interesting. You just never know what you're really eating!!

So, we'll mention this cinnamon allergy to her pediatrician at her next well-baby check up. Not sure if we should cut out the cinnamon all together, or if its fine for her to eat since it only causes a rash around her mouth.

Its almost here!!!

I'm so excited for Christmas Eve night! I've been looking forward to that time for over a month! So excited to get all the presents out while the kids are sleeping and place them under the tree!! Cant wait to see their little faces light up when they see that Santa came! I'm pretty sure I wont be sleeping much that night... I dont think i've ever been so excited for Christmas! It sure is so much better with kids! And each year it gets even better because Jadon understands it more!

Of course, this year we have started trying to teach Jadon the real meaning of Christmas, and about giving. He doesn't really "get" it that much yet. We did Operation Christmas Child with him, and showed him videos from the website of less fortunate children. I know with time he will come to understand it more, and each year we'll be teaching him the joy of giving. At this point, he doesnt understand the world.... to him, everyone he sees lives in his town, in his world and does the same things he does, and has everything he has. Someday he'll understand that the world is a huge place and people live all over it, and some are less fortunate than we are.

We decorated cookies last night. It only lasted for about 15 minutes.... Avery got bored quickly, and of course all she could do was eat the cookie anyways. Jadon got bored as well, and he told me later on when I asked him if he had fun making cookies, he said "Yeah... I was a little bored." I love the honesty of children sometimes!

He's feeling better now... although he is a big time worrier like his mommy, and hasn't been wanting to eat breakfast, and starts getting almost panicky at night when we get ready for bed. Anytime he feels anything at all in his tummy, he says it hurts and starts worrying. Poor guy, I really feel bad for him because I know how badly it stinks to be such a worrier, and not be able to do anything about it. I've been worrying just as much as he has been over the last few days... praying that the rest of us dont get sick, and worrying about him worrying. I really hate that he worries like me, and I try SO hard to not let my worrying show to him. Its taking its toll on my stomach as well, and I have lost 3 pounds this week from not eating much. I know, i'm pathetic! But i've been looking forward to Christmas, and I dont want us all to be sick on it and not get to spend our traditional Christmas eve with my family and Christmas day with Derek's family. It just wouldnt be Christmas if we were all sick.
Anyways, I probably wont be posting again until after Christmas, so I want to wish you all Happy, healthy, very merry Christmas! :)

Sicky

Poor Jadon came down with a stomach bug on saturday night.... it wasnt pretty.... of course, when is a stomach bug every very pretty? As i've mentioned a bazillion times, I hate vomit intensely. I thought for sure we had made it through the stomach bug thats been going around for the last month, but obviously I was wrong.

Sunday for most of the day, he seemed pretty much like himself, regardless of having had been up half the night throwing up. He was requesting his usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, and pizza for dinner (obviously we didnt allow him to have that though!) He did eat some applesauce, yogurt and crackers though, and was fine most of the day, until right before dinner he started acting sicky again and wanted to lay down on the couch again. So we put on a movie for him, he fell asleep around 5:30pm without dinner, and later on Derek moved him to his bedroom, and he slept most of the night until 7am Monday morning. Monday morning though, he was very lethargic, and just laid around most of the morning, didnt want to eat, had a little water, but that was it. Finally around 10:30-11am, he started perking up, and by lunchtime he was his normal self again, and has been fine since.

I'm just praying that none of the rest of us get it, and end up having a miserable Christmas! If any of us do get it, we will not be attending either of our family functions though, Christmas Eve with my family or Christmas day with Derek's family. I do not want to pass it on to everyone else.


Saturday late morning we had gone to the mall so Jadon could sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Hopefully Jadon didnt infect Santa at that time! Can you believe that they wont let you take pictures??? They have a photographer there taking pictures for you, and you have to pay to get the picture! So, it was like $40 for 4 pictures or something!?!?! Holy cow!! It was a miracle that Jadon actually sat on Santa's lap. In the past, he has wanted nothing to do with Santa, and just wanted to look at him from afar. We were proud of him for being brave!

After that, Jadon begged and begged to go to Red Robin for lunch... which we did because we had a gift card. Its possible Jadon could have gotten food poisoning from Red Robin, but probably unlikely.

So, the last few days have been busy for me, just cleaning the house, disinfecting everything, and doing vomit laundry. I hope this has taught Jadon to keep his fingers out of his mouth though! He always starts gnawing on his fingers as soon as flu season hits, and it drives us bonkers!


Anyways, I snapped a couple pitiful pictures of him while he was laying on the couch Saturday morning. Pitiful indeed.


It really breaks your heart to see them feeling so bad! I almost cried when he started acting like himself again.
AND, I have to say, I have the BEST husband in the world, and the kids have the BEST dad in the world... Derek slept in Jadon's room with him that night to be there with him when he would get sick. I couldnt ask for a better father for my children! Thank you Sweetie for being such an incredible father and husband!

Christmas program #2

Was SOOO cute!!! AND, I didnt cry!
So before you watch the video, let me explain it real quick. Jadon's preschool is made up of two different classes- the 3 year olds that meet tuesday and thursday (Jadon's in that one) and the 4 year olds that meet monday, wednesday and friday. Each class sang 2 songs alone, and then at the very end they sang a song together.
Also, the kid Jadon is standing next to is extremely enthusiastic in his singing! His name is Elijah... Jadon had soccer with him last session also, and I think Jadon and Elijah are becoming buds... Jadon always talks about Elijah.
Anyways, enjoy the pictures and videos! I will forever enjoy them... I just wish it were better quality video's.

Christmas program #1

Jadon has two christmas programs this year... one at church and one at preschool. Today he had his church one. If you want to call it a "program"... they only sing 2 songs. He has his preschool one on tuesday, and I believe he is singing 2-4 songs... cant remember exactly how many.

As I said, he had his church one today. I'll start off by saying that Derek told me I was just like his mom in the fact that I cry about everything. I admit, when it concerns my children, I do cry... its hard not to.
For example, at every birthday when we are singing "Happy Birthday" to them, I have to will myself to not cry.
On Jadon's first day of preschool, I cried before we even left the driveway... actually, I was crying before we even got in the car.
So, today was no different than any other day. As soon as I saw him standing up on the stage, before they'd even started singing, I was fighting back tears... then once he started singing I actually had to stop watching for a minute to try to compose myself... yeah, I know, i'm pretty bad. Its a good thing Derek recorded the whole thing so I could go back and watch it again. I managed to keep the tears from spilling over, but it was tough!!

Anyways, i'm pretty sure theres nothing cuter in this world that a group of preschoolers singing! Poor Jadon is stuck with mostly girls at church, but at this point he doesnt care.

Anyways, I posted the video on the next post, enjoy!!! I'll be posting a video of his preschool one too i'm sure, so stay tuned for that!

Jadon and the dentist

Jadon had his 2nd dentist appointment today. I dont know if you remember the first one or not, but its a good thing the first appointment was just basically an evaluation, and no cleaning or anything. He wouldnt even sit in the chair, and it took quite a bit of convincing just to get him to open his mouth for the hygenist, even when she said she wouldnt even touch him. It didnt go the best.... I was proud of him regardless since he's such a worry wart like his mommy! Baby steps!

Today's appt again made me very proud of him! First off, we went into the first room where they do the xrays. Jadon was willing to sit on daddy's lap in the chair, and he even was smiling when she raised it up. He even let her put the heavy apron on, and get the bite thingy in his mouth to take pictures. It wasnt until she brought the camera over that he started crying. So, that was as far as we got with that, but a HUGE improvement!!! I hate seeing him cry, he hardly ever cries, so it breaks my heart :(

Next he went to the seat where the hygenist would clean his teeth. He had to sit there all by himself, and he did! She got him a toy to play with, cool sunglasses, and a "bib", got everything set up and ready, but then he got scared again and didnt like the instruments. She showed him what they all did, and said that it just tickled, even tested it on daddy's hand and Jadon's hand, but he wasn't ok with that whole process, so we ended it there.

The dentist came over at that point, picked up the little mirror so he could look in Jadon's mouth, Jadon saw him and the mirror and instantly started crying. The dentist managed to get Jadon to open his mouth so he could stick the mirror in and count his teeth and look for cavities. The dentist said his teeth looked really good, and didnt think there were any cavities... told the hygenist to just make him feel really comfortable so it wasnt scary for him (in a nutshell.)

Then he actually let her take his new toothbrush, put the polish on it, and brush his teeth good. Then she got out the floss, and he showed her how he flosses, and she helped him floss the back teeth.
THEN, she asked him if he would be comfortable if he stuck the sucker thing on his lips before he left, and he actually agreed to it, and after a bit of convincing, he let her put it in his mouth and stuck his lips around it! P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S!! We are so proud of him!!!

Knowing what its like to be a worrier, I know that any little progress is BIG progress!

Happy December!!

Hard to believe its already December!!! Seems like this year just started!

Avery has decided that she doesnt need 2 naps a day anymore. I was afraid of this happening so early... Jadon stopped taking his second nap shortly after his first birthday, and Avery is following in his footsteps. Except she is trying to drop her afternoon nap, which is backwards. So, i'm trying to get her to stop taking her a.m. nap and then go down a bit earlier for p.m. nap.

She's soooo smart! I have no idea how many words she says, because she'll pretty much repeat anything you say! We work with her at signing, mostly just about meal times.. for example, she signs "all done" and says "ah duh" when she does it. And she signs "more" and "eat." I've been trying to get her to sign "water" because she drinks water like crazy and constantly needs more, but thats a bit harder to sign as you have to make the sign for "W" and do the action as well.... "W" is a hard one for little, uncoordinated fingers to do. So, instead, when she wants water, she'll either: bring us her empty water cup; or if she cant find her cup, she just whines and cries until finally we figure out she wants water. The second one is why I want to teach her to sign "water."
She also gets really scared when things are on her head that she cant get off... for instance, big brother likes to torment her by putting blankets on her head that she cant get off. Or, putting the empty laundry basket on her head and she cant get it off. She freaks out. He loves it. Typical big brother tormenting his little sister!

Jadon's suddenly developed food issues. He's always been pretty good about eating things... he's always loved fruit and veggies, but now he suddenly has issues with the way a food looks or feels. For example, he doesnt like banana's anymore because they have "black stuff" on them. (Open a banana and in the middle there's little tiny black things... just part of the banana) so, needless to say, he doesnt eat banana's anymore. He wouldnt eat my DELICIOUS homemade applesauce because it had lumps in it.
Avery's even worse! She pretty much wont touch ANY food unless its fruit. She likes corn and peas, but doesnt really like any other veggies. She turns her head and clamps her mouth shut at almost anything else. This sounds horrible, but several times i've shoved a small bite of food into her mouth that she wont eat, and she ends up liking it and eating the rest of it.

So Derek and I have decided to move Avery out of Jadon's room and into the room that is currently used as the office. We are going to attempt to move the office into the master bedroom. Its going to make our master bedroom very crowded, and the symmetry will be off, but i keep telling myself its for the kids. Drives me nuts when things are "off balance" in a room... not symetrical. Makes me feel calm when things are even! :)
The reason for this move is because Jadon needs his own space that Avery cant get his train tracks and toys that he's playing with. Eventually Avery will need her own space too. Currently, we've got Jadons train tracks laid out in the master bedroom so that he can still play with them while Avery is napping in his room. The other day, he was upstairs playing with them, and Avery and I were coming upstairs and he started freaking out that Avery was going to get his tracks, and he didnt want her to come anywhere near the master bedroom. It was then that I decided we had to get her out of his room so he has a safe haven to escape to, and then I can still enter my bedroom with my toddler!

Tutu making has slowed down suddenly. I'm waiting on several people for responses regarding tutu's they are wanting.... I also had to raise my prices a bit, otherwise I might as well have been giving the things away, and as much as I'd love to be able to do that, its just not something that we can afford to do! But I havent had any more requests, so hopefully my pricing hasnt turned anyone off. My pricing is actually quite low compared with others that i've seen.
My friend is still having good luck with them at the store, and they are selling like hotcakes!
So, id love it if you'd share my website with friends and family!
OH, and I made a blog to link to my website... if you're intersted in seeing it, its listed under the blogs I follow on your right of this page, called, Lovely Little Tutu's.

Also, just a friendly reminder to do your shopping through me! You can get some really great deals! If you're looking for a Droid, you can get a really great deal through me, as an example. Theres other things too though, so check it out! Its just like shopping online normally, theres no hoops to jump through, no catch! And dont forget about the Rewards Mall! I've done most of the kids christmas shopping on there, and I will be doing the same for the rest of the people we do presents with! Nothing beats sitting in the comfort of your own home shopping! No crowds or cranky people to deal with! Just my kind of shopping! :)
Also, i'd love it if you would refer me to your friends and family for this too! Whether they'd be interested in joining also, or just interested in getting great deals, i'd LOVE to have them as a customer! They dont need to contact me at all (unless they have questions, i'm always happy to answer!), just go through my website! Thanks a bunch everyone!! All 2 of you that read this blog still! ;)

Pix

Here's some recent pix, not in any order.

This was today, Avery was in her little Beavers outfit, Derek was trying to get her picture before she outgrew the outfit (she's only worn it twice so far.)

This was a couple days ago, Avery was cooking dinner while I was cooking dinner.

And, here's Jadon at about the same age as Avery... well, he was 1 year and 1 week old in this picture... but they both loved "cooking" in the kitchen at this age. Its crazy to me how much they look alike! So darn cute!!!!!!!
Yesterday Derek put up Christmas lights, and the kids have been DYING to go outside lately, so I bundled them up and they played in the freezing cold rain while Derek put up the lights. Avery just LOVES it outside... definitely an outdoorsy girl!

A few weeks ago, I made a thanksgiving tree, and on all the leaves we wrote down things that we were thankful for.

Here's our November snow from earlier in the week. Maybe a quarter of an inch... just a dusting. But Jadon was sooo excited to go play in it, and as I mentioned earlier, Avery loves it outside so she was excited too. Avery LOVEd the snow, and Jadon was making grass angels... oops, I mean snow angels. Unfortunately my camera died right as I took this picture, so I didnt get any thing else... took a couple on my phone, but the kids wouldnt stop moving so none of them really turned out.

A month or so ago, Jadon and I made caterpillars out of egg cartons. I'm not sure why I drew "faces" on them.... like, noses. Jadon enjoys doing crafts... as long as someone is doing them with him. Occasionally he says he wants to paint. If I set him up with paints and paper, he'll paint for about 2 minutes. If I sit with him and paint, he will make it about 10 minutes maybe. So, his attention span is quite short still.

So thats about it.. Things have been busy here as usual. We took the kids to a Beavers basketball game a couple weeks ago. We will not be taking the kids to another basketball game, or any other game for that matter, for awhile still. Avery did pretty good, especially considering she didnt want to take her afternoon nap that day, so she was tired. She was really enjoying the game at the beginning though. Jadon surprised us though, and was pretty bored almost the whole time.

Hard to believe its almost christmas already!

She works hard for the money

Its been a week since my last post... i've been trying not to let more than a few days pass between my posts, but this time things just got too busy.
This tutu thing has really taken off! I'm quite shocked actually! Karla posted my website link on the hospital's public notice, and since then my email box has been blowing up! I'm working on two orders right now, and both orders are requesting 2 tutu's each (so 4 tutus) plus 2 more prospective ones, plus one that I just sold! Its crazy! Everyone wants to order tutu's for christmas for the little girls in their lives... really cute actually! And I love to know who its going to and what its going to be for. Most of them have just been for dress up clothes, and I love to imagine the little girls faces when they will open up their christmas present to a beautiful, sparkly tutu made just for them!
Tiffany has been having alot of success with the baby tutu's also, so she asked me to make 5 more for her store Sunnypatch. So I dropped those off yesterday, and I came up with some cute color combinations for those. Very sweet!
Its tough also though... its like taking 2 steps forward, and 1 step back (money-wise.) Except I start out in the red.... make some tutu's, sell them, get closer to getting out of the red, but then I need more tulle to make more tutu's, so there's my step back. One of these days i'm going to be breaking even though, especially if things keep up as they are!

Unfortunately i've been so busy with the tutu's I havent had much chance to work on the other business, so I just want to remind you all (AGAIN) that if you're looking to purchase a new cellphone, switch to Dish network, buy vitamins, or just do any online shopping, you can do it through me!

Also, I've got some of the True Essentials vitamins (Fruit Essentials and Vegetable Essentials) that I will sell to anyone who wants them. They are regularly $50 for one bottle of 60 capsules, but i'll sell them 2 for $25. I've got a ton of them, and I plan to use some after I'm done nursing Avery, but I've got a lifetime stock of them.... ok, not THAT many, but i've got alot! So, let me know if you want to buy them! My website link is up in the left corner of this page.

We're battling colds right now. Last week, Derek and I had this awful chest cold, I was afraid Derek was getting broncitis at one point, but he is better now... but before I could finish my chest cold, my throat started hurting again, and low and behold, i've got a head cold now, and so do the kids. Jadon's missing preschool today because his nose wont stop running and he's hacking pretty good. Have I mentioned how much I hate being sick??

I do have some great news though! Jadon is doing so well with nighttime potty training! Its hardly been considered training though, since it was all his choice anyways! He's dry probably 80% of the time in the morning now! I'm so proud of the little bugar!! There's been a couple of nights when he's had alot to drink right before bed, and we suggest he wear a diaper to bed, but he says "I want to try wearing my underwear to bed again." Yes, he's come a long way this year!
Also, for the last 3 out of 4 nights, Avery has slept all night long in her own bed! She still wakes up, but she's staying in bed all night.
A few months ago, we decided to bite the bullet and move her crib out of our room, and into Jadon's room (yes, they have to share a room.) This is something that we did not want to do until she was sleeping through the night good, because we didnt want Jadon to have to suffer in the room with her screaming her lungs out. Its been a rollercoaster. I think she likes being in the room with Jadon, so going to bed has been easier (although she still protests LOUDLY for a minute.) Jadon just lays in bed with his hands over his ears. Poor guy!! The part that I hate is when she wakes up in the middle of the night. He always gets woken up from it. Last night, she woke up an hour after going to bed and was very upset... i think she had a bad dream. It woke Jadon up, and I think it scared him. We think that he was having a dream and when Avery cried in his dream it sounded like thunder, and it scared him, because he said that he was scared of the thunder. I look forward to when she sleeps through the night and doesnt have to disturb Jadon anymore.

A few weeks ago, Avery was climbing on her stroller in the house, fell out of it and landed on her head on the linolium. She was very out of it after that, so we had to watch her for a day or two to make sure she didnt suffer a concussion. She ended up being fine.
Last night, Jadon was trying to crawl into his booster seat, mustve lost his grip or something, and fell backwards, hitting his back and head. So, now we're keeping an eye on him. He's been fine... think it knocked the wind out of him for a bit, and he was a little dazed right afterwards, and looked quite green around the gills. But I turned on a show to try to distract him, (and his daddy who freaks out anytime the kids hurt themselves.) ;)

I'm SO excited for the holidays this year!!!! I think every year that I have kids, it gets more and more exciting! Plus, Jadon's at the age where he knows what toys he wants, so I sat down with him a month ago and he told me everything he wanted. Of course, any toy on tv that he sees he wants. ;) I can understand why kids these days have so many toys though... I just want to buy him everything! I have been doing my research for the last month and a half on what toys to get the kids, what we will get the most bang for our buck on, reading all the ratings, and searching and searching where I can get the best deals, and of course then going onto the rewards mall to see if those stores are on the rewards mall! I also signed up to recieve black friday ads, so for the last week i've been getting those in my email! However, I in NO WAY plan to leave my house on black friday. Its too crazy, especially with all the Albany crazy people! I plan to do my shopping from the comfort of my kitchen table and chair, along with my trusty laptop! :) Online shopping was one of the BEST ideas EVER!

Veteran's day parade

I took the kids to the Veterans day parade today. After living in this area all my life, I dont recall ever having been to this particular parade... supposedly the biggest one west of the Mississippi. I'm sure i'm wrong.... i'm sure my mom took us at some point, but I just dont remember ever going. Seems like its always pouring down rain as well.

Anyways, I loaded up the kids, we parked a ways out, walked to the parade and the kids lasted for about an hour or so, then Avery started getting tired and hungry (it was lunchtime afterall... the girl is on a strict schedule... shame on me for straying from her much needed schedule!) So, I let her walk up and down the sidewalk, and that kept her occupied for a few minutes... that is, until she did a face plant into the sidewalk. It went downhill from there. By 12:30, Jadon decided he'd had enough and was ready to go. I imagine his blood sugar level was also low... as mine was getting low as well.

The nice thing is that Derek got to walk down from work and watch a bit of it with us... or, at least the important part (the fighter plane flying over.... sorry, i dont know what it was.... F15?? After 11 years with Derek and I still dont know one fighter jet from another.... again, shame on me!)
Jadon said his favorite part was the very beginning, when about 500 motorcycles drove through.... and I do mean there was a TON of them! Probably at least 10 minutes worth??
It was fun to see his excitment with it all though... several marching bands went through, and he loves marching bands too. I imagine he'll be in a marching band some day.

The weather was cold and breezy, but not raining! We were ice cubes by the time we were done, my feet are still trying to defrost, but it was a fun time! Definitely something i'll consider doing every year, not only for the kids enjoyment, but also to show support for the men and women who serve/have served our country. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts!

Whew

To say i've been overwhelmed is a slight understatement! I knew that once Fall came, life was going to really pick up its pace, but I had no idea just how much that would be!
I dont know what overcame me... starting up two businesses simultaneously... I've constantly got things to do with one or the other, i'm constantly starting new projects, and I constantly have projects only half done! This is quite an adjustment for me... the list maker, who likes to start something and finish it right away, and who gets great enjoyment out of being organized and seeing a list of things checked off one by one until its all done. Yes, this will be an adjustment.
I was actually relieved that it was pouring down rain all day today, it was an excuse to stay in and attempt to get some things done while Avery napped and Jadon was at preschool. Of course, nothing much of anything got done... usually how it goes. And the reason for this is that I decided to start up a website for the tutus. I think (I hope) this will make that aspect of life a little more organized!
Anyways, here's the site: Lovely Little Tutu's I spent all of my spare time working on it today, its still not done, and its not exactly how I would have liked it to be, but hey, its free! I decided that Etsy was not the place for me, since there are about 500 million billion other people selling tutu's on there. Feel free to share the site with others. Unfortunately it only allows me to show 5 tutu's at a time on the site (unless I want to upgrade the site, but then id have to pay a monthly fee, and right now i'm too cheap to do that), so i'll be switching up the pictures frequently. I also need to get a manequin or something to take pictures of the tutu's on.... it appears that taking professional pictures of the tutu's is what people do when they sell them online!

Even though i'm feeling overwhelmed a bit, things have been going good with both businesses. Unfortunately I havent had a chance to put much effort into FHTM, but now hopefully with getting this tutu stuff organized, i'll have more opportunities! Thank goodness that I dont have any dumb quotas to meet with FHTM! I hope you are all using the Rewards Mall for your online shopping needs! :) And remember, whether you're looking to upgrade your cell phone, switch to DISH, need a home security system, need dsl internet or an internet card, want vitamins, shampoo your hair, give treats to your animals, shop at Home Depot, Target, drink coffee from Starbucks, shop at Sears....whatever it is, you can get it thru me! (my friend is so good) ;)

Life

Well, of the last 5 nights, Jadon managed to stay dry for 3 of them! We had not planned on night time potty training him until he was a bit older, as he sleeps really deeply and pees constantly.
However, one night I forgot to put him in a diaper, and he didnt notice either. The next morning we discovered that I forgot to put him in a diaper, and he didnt wet! We thought it was a fluke, but tried going without a diaper the next night as well, and he managed to stay dry again! So, I dont know if we're going to start going without a diaper every night or not... might as well! He's done so well so far! I'm proud of my little man, he's come a long way this year!

Avery loves to draw. Well, Jadon has a cheapy, travel DoodlePro thing (i think when we were kids they were called MagnaDoodle) that she just loves to draw with (he never uses the thing, and has hardly ever played with it), so for Christmas this year, we are going to get her a nicer DoodlePro.

In other news, i'm working on 4 more tutu's... one of them is done, and i'm very pleased with how it turned out. I actually made it a couple weeks ago, but was not happy at all with how it looked... not sure what exactly it was that i didnt like about it. Anyways, i took it apart, changed some things up, and now its one of my favorites! Thats the only one that is complete of the 4 that i'm working on.... the others are still a work in progress. I snapped some pix this morning of them.

This one is still very much a work in progress. Its supposed to be like sunflowery, but the yellow is not the right color (its a very light yellow), so i'll probably be redoing this one too. Thats brown tulle behind it, not black.

Here's one I made from less "girly" colors last night. I personally like the blues, but most little girls prefer pinks and purples. You can slightly see it shimmering a bit, i sprayed glitter spray on it... much cheaper than buying glittery tulle! And lastly, this is the one that i really like. I mixed the colors up, and sprayed some glitter spray on it, added the cute little flowers, and it looks really good! Much better looking in person, i'd have to say!

Trick or Treat

We did our trick or treating this morning in downtown Albany. This was the first time Jadon had gone trick or treating, and, well Avery's first time too! It was quite packed despite the gloomy Oregon rain and cold 50 degrees. Us Oregonians know that if you dont go to something because of the rain, then really you'll be sitting inside for 9 months straight. Cant let the rain ruin everything!
Anyways, kids everywhere, many of whom had no manners (and neither did their parents.) Jadon was a little overwhelmed I think.... cant blame him, it was overwhelming for his parents too. Anyways, we were only out for around an hour. The funnest part was seeing the kids dressed in their little outfits, and having other kids say "Hi Buzz Lightyear" to Jadon. :)

Got home just in time to eat some lunch and watch the Beavers! The rest of the day has been nice and quiet.... a much welcomed change from the busy week we've had this week! Here's a few pictures from this morning. By the way, Avery was a ladybug, and Jadon was Buzz LIghtyear as I already mentioned.

Just for the record, I made and painted his wings! (attached them with velcro) Because I didnt have enough on my plate this week, wednesday I decided to make him wings as well! Turned out better than I expected!

Also, dropped my tutu's off at my friends store yesterday, and she texted me early this afternoon to let me know she'd already sold one! Yay!!!

Harvest Party at the preschool

Derek and I had the privilege of helping out at Jadon's preschool's harvest party today! We had a great time, it was so much fun! I can see why his teachers love their job so much because kids that age are so cute and funny, but at the same time, I don't think you could pay me enough money to do that 5 days a week!
It was also nice to get to see how Jadon is at school. We have been wishing since the day he started that we could be fly's on the wall so we could watch him inconspicuously! Jadon seems to be a pretty quiet boy, and definitely a follower. Although most of the kids were pretty quiet. Derek and I were shocked that we were the only parents to sign up to volunteer though. Its important to us that we stay involved in our children's lives.

We played games and watched the kids go crazy in the gym! We also got to sit with the kids and have snack with them. I love the values that the teachers are trying to instill in the kids. And I love the fact that just because we were there, Jadon did not get special treatment. At snack time, the teacher was going around asking the kids if they wanted more juice. One little boy said he wanted more, but he had not tried his apple slices yet, so the teacher said he had to try his apples before he could have more apple juice. All the kids are expected to at least try everything they are given for snack. I also love that even though the snacks are provided by the parents each day, the teachers request that it be healthy snacks, and junk foods like capri suns and cookies will be sent back to the parents uneaten if that is what is provided. They always make exceptions however, for birthdays they allow treats, and today for the party treats were also allowed.
Also when the teacher was going around asking if anyone wanted more juice, when she asked Jadon, he said "no", and she instructed him to say "no, thank you." So, manners are important, i love that also. Timeouts are also given if necessary, although most of the kids did really well the whole day.
We ended up staying for almost the whole morning, but then with about 45 minutes left, Avery started getting really sleepy, so we reluctantly called it a day and headed home. We let Jadon stay though (he got to play bingo after we left) and Derek went and picked him up at the usual time.

It was quite an honor for us to get to help out, and I don't know about Derek, but I'm looking forward to the next event to help at... I imagine its something for Thanksgiving..??? It was also nice getting to see Jadon in a setting that we never get to see him in. I am SO thankful we decided to put him in that preschool, and its SO worth the money each month! Gives me more motivation to work harder at my new endeavors as well!

Avery at 1 year

Avery had her 1 year appt. on monday. She weighs only 19lbs 7oz (at her 9 month she was at 17lbs. 14oz, so in almost 3 and a half months she only gained about a pound a half) and thats in the 25th percentile, her height was 30 inches, and thats in the 75th percentile I believe. So, big surprise, but she's tall and skinny! I dont know if you remember or not, but at her 9 month appt, the checked her iron levels, and hers were low, so we had to put her on iron drops... they tested her again and it was fine this time, so thats good.

She is one bright little girl too! She can repeat the syllables and similar sounds of many things we say, she understands commands, for example "Avery, bring me your cup," or "Avery, lets go upstairs." She immitates alot of our movements, for example, tonight after dinner, Jadon and Derek were playing "soccer practice", and they were doing stretches and warming up like Jadon does in soccer, and one thing they do is twist back and forth with outstretched arms, and Avery stood up and started doing it. She can also do summersaults, something that Jadon still struggles with. Tonight she learned how to draw on Jadon's little magna-doodle thingy, so tomorrow i'm going to get out the crayons and paper and see if she can draw. Earlier today I got out the finger paints for Jadon, and let Avery try it also, but she just kept sticking it in her mouth, so she's not quite ready for finger paints.
She loves the song "if you're happy and you know it".... and she claps her hands, stomps her feet, and recently started saying "horray!" also. Very cute!!!
She constantly amazes us with her smarts!

Unfortunately, she has turned into a picky eater. Not sure why, this began happening around 10 months, she decided she no longer wanted to eat her baby oatmeal or rice cereal. Even when I mixed fruit in it. Its just been downhill since then. Now I cant get her to drink milk, eat sandwiches (she used to love jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches), veggies (except she loves corn), pretty much everything. She also will LOVE something one day, then hate it the next. Things she does like are: FRUIT... any and all fruit (except cherries that have been frozen). Cheerios, graham crackers, ritz crackers, chicken nuggets, cereal bars, cheese, cinnamon raisin toast, spaghetti (but not always)..... and she LOVES water too. I always give her everything we eat for dinner, whether she likes it or not. I've read that it takes like 10 times of trying something before a baby will finally like it, or something to that affect. So, she gets everything we eat regardless of if she likes it or not. But, usually if she doesnt like it, she immediately drops it on the floor.
She does like the Gerber Graduates meals, but those are almost $3 for one meal!!!! So, i try not to buy many of those, or use them too often.
The doctor wants me to give her a multivitamin drops everyday, but i'm not sure how i'm going to do that, theres no way i can get the drops in her mouth without her spitting them out. And they arent flavored good at all, they smell horrible.

She has recently started walking all over the place, and now she walks probably 75% of the time, and crawls only about 25% of the time. She comes bolting to the dishwasher whenever i'm trying to load or unload it, and trys to climb into it. She loves getting into everything she's not supposed to get into. She screams SO loud, I know i've mentioned it tons of times already, but i cant get over it. Its horrible! The other day I was at the craft store, and she got ahold of something I was getting, and ripped a hole in the bag and the contents spilled out. So I tried to take it from her and she let out a horrific scream like I was beating her. It was horrible, i'm sure the people in the store were thinking something bad about the parents of that child. She's got such a temper.... has to be the red hair. She will be a handful when she's 2!

She is very independent, but is very much a mommy's girl right now. I'm just soaking it up since I know she wont be mommy's girl forever.... and probably for not much longer. :(

Hmm....

I'm really enjoying making tutu's for my friends store! I've got 4 that are almost finished, I just want to add some embellishments to them.
So i've been toying with an idea for a week or so of making a shop on Etsy.com to try to sell more tutu's.... Of course, there are already a bunch of people who make and sell the same tutu's on Etsy, so i'd have to have competitive pricing. Also, today I found out some irritating news (that i'm not going to disclose on here) and my little tutu-shop-thought-bubble was quickly and annoyingly popped. So now I dont know if its still ethically acceptable for me to pursue this venture, or if it would be best for me to just let it be.

I'm just annoyed that I finally found a craft that you I dont have to have much talent for, that I enjoy doing, and that I could possibly make a few bucks from, and then BAM that dream is dashed. Seems to be how my week has gone... nothing has really gone the way I wanted. I struggled all week with keeping these annoyances out of my head and from getting to me, but today was just icing on the cake, and satan took advantage of it, got ahold of my thoughts and made me feel doubt- doubt about everything in my life. I hate when that happens. I've been so good lately at not letting him get to me when i'm struggling with something, so today I feel a little defeated since he won this time.

Anyways, I dont know if i'll pursue this tutu thing or not.... even if I did, I dont know what i'd call my shop... i'm horribly uncreative with trying to name things. If anyone has any suggestions, id love to hear them, and maybe it would inspire me.

Oh, I have a friend who sells baby carrier covers on Etsy... they are really cute, so if you know of anyone who has a newborn, is pregnant, or if you're going to a baby shower, consider one of her carrier covers as a great gift! Her site is:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/homemade4you
and I know she takes custom orders, so if you have a certain fabric or pattern in mind, then I know she would totally make it for you.

Birthday Highlights

Avery's party went very well! We had alot of people crammed into our tiny house... all family, but still alot of people for a small area! It was a nice time!
She didnt eat much of her cupcake, probably too sweet for her. Plus she was getting sleepy because it was getting close to naptime.
These pictures arent in any order, but its all pertaining to her birthday.

Eating her cake

On friday (her actual birthday)

Big brother did pretty good with all the attention that Avery was getting, and all the gifts that were for her.

Playing on her new bouncy toy

Opening gifts from mommy, daddy and big brother

Eating breakfast on her birthday morning
This was done about a week prior to her birthday, but thats what she wore for her party.

Now that the party is done, its time to shift my focus to other things. The holidays are rapidly approaching! We get to go to the pumpkin patch in a couple weeks with Jadon's preschool, looking forward to that! Avery's got her 1 year appt coming up. And Halloween is coming up, and I decided to dress the kids and trick or treat this year. I'm not a fan of Halloween, but I know its fun for kids to get dressed up in costumes and prance around asking for candy. I always had fun as a kid doing it, so I know they will too. I'd love to make their costumes, but i dont have a sewing machine, so I bought them their costumes. Avery is going to be a ladybug, and Jadon picked Buzz Lightyear.

I'm also going to focus on the new business and get cracking on it! Please contact me if youre interested! Even out of state people can do it, you dont have to be local, so please let me know if you're interested in hearing more!

Also, my friend owns a childrens clothing boutique in downtown, and saw the tutu I made for Avery, and she wants me to make them so she can sell them at her store! I'm thinking about doing that... I had so much fun making Avery's, and its very easy and not time consuming, and its a pretty brainless craft-- meaning, it doesnt take much brainpower to make one! I really wanted to make more, but i didnt have a reason to make more and i'm not going to waste the money on making more for no reason, so this gives me a perfect opportunity to make more and experiment with different things without it being a waste of money!

Lets see, what else? I joined the mom group! I havent been to any thing yet, i'm still waiting to hear from one of the coordinators about what playgroups I might be interested in.

So I think thats about it for this month's activities.... my main focus now needs to be getting the business up and running!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little girl!

The day started with me waking up at 4:22am. I looked at the clock, then thought to myself, "last year at this time, my water had just broke and we were on our way to the hospital about to have Avery."
I then woke up again at 5:28am, when my alarm clock went off. I had set it the night before so then i'd know exactly that moment 1 year ago when she was born.

Avery and I then got up, and the boys slept in for a bit. Then Jadon got up, and I couldnt take it much longer, I went and told Derek to get up so that we could have Avery open her gifts. I'm pretty sure i'm more excited for the kids to open their gifts than even they are!

This afternoon, we went and got Avery's 1st birthday pictures taken. She wasnt the ham that she is at home... she was very unsure, so we didnt get any huge grins out of her.. but she's still cute. We also got some taken of Jadon, Jadon and Avery together and one of us as a family.

We then got food in town and brought it home to eat. I've been trying to figure out how to decorate Avery's cake... still not sure what i'm going to do, but as soon as the kids are both in bed and asleep, i've got to get to work on it.

After eating dinner, we spent some time outside with the kids, then after the sun set and it got too cold to be out, we came in and played some more one-on-one with the kids....Derek played army guys with Jadon, and I played with Avery. We played lots of things because her attention span is still pretty short. It was really nice to have that time with her that I get very seldom.

Tomorrow is her party, and it should be interesting trying to cram a bunch of people in the house again. We moved furniture around a couple of days ago to make more room.

Last day

This is the last day that my baby will be a baby. :(
Last year at this time, I woke up with pressure cramping... didn't think it was contractions though. However, I timed them anyways. They were very irratic ranging from just a few minutes apart to 18 minutes apart. They stopped in the afternoon for awhile, then started again in the evening a little more intense. They continued throughout the night, after we had all gone to bed, and I woke up about twice an hour or so with another one. At about 4am, I woke up with one that was particularly painful, and it was then that my water broke. I woke up Derek, told him my water broke, and he proceeded to get up and get ready to go and get Jadon ready. I told him I didnt think we needed to go quite yet because, up until that point, the contractions had still been quite far apart. Luckily he didnt listen to me. Instantly they became regularly 5 minutes apart, and getting much more painful.
We got to the hospital around 430 or so. When I got to the labor room, the nurse checked me and I was dilated to 5cm and requested an epidural. She said that it would be a little while before the anesthesiologist would be able to get there to administer the epidural... I was wondering how in the heck I would survive much longer with this INTENSE pain! Just 5-10 minutes later I felt an incredible and uncontrolable urge to push. The nurse checked me again, and what do you know, fully dilated! The called the on-call OB doctor to come in, and then the midwife came in until the OB got there. They didnt want me to have Avery until the OB got there, so they made me breath through the contractions. HOLY HECK, that aint easy! Neither Derek nor I had prepared for a medication-free delivery, so luckily one of the nurses stepped in and helped me focus on breathing. Let me tell you, it takes every ounce of concentration to not push through those things! Whew!!!
Once the OB got there, neither Avery nor I wasted anymore time, and out she came at 5:28am, October 8th, 2009! All 7lbs 9oz, 19.25 inches of her! First thing I noticed was her fat little thighs, and that felt good to know that her time spent in me baking was worth it. She was perfect!

Today, she is full of personality, adorable, demanding, yet she's got me wrapped around her finger, and I know its only a matter of time before she's got her daddy wrapped around her finger as well! ;)

Here is the slideshow I made of Avery's first year of life. I hope you enjoy....to the grammas, you might want to have some kleenex with you when you watch it! ;)

Birthday Cake

I still havent decided what to do for Avery's birthday cake, and her party is less than a week away now! The whole party planning has kindof gone down the toilet. I spent weeks trying to make her invites, except I dont have the right program to do a good one, so then I spent several more weeks trying to find something on the internet. The theme I was going for was Dragonflies, but most of what I could find was for butterflies. I found a website and ordered some little handmade dragonflies for her cake, but when I got them in the mail, they ended up looking more like butterflies. The invite I ended up with was some simple flowers with A dragonfly on it. So, then I thought that maybe i'd do flowers, dragonflies and maybe butterflies.

Last week I went to the store to find some napkins, plates, etc. The selection they had was horrible. So I thought that maybe i'd just go with like pink and purple plates/napkins, etc. However, they didnt have those colors. All they had were primary colors. Well, I wasnt going to tote around the kids to another store, especially since Avery doesnt last long on any outtings, so I settled once again on something that was not what I was hoping for.

For the cake, as you already know, I enjoy making the kids' birthday cakes, even though I stink at it. I feel like its more special when I pour my heart into making their cakes, luckily they wont remember or care what they look like at their ages! So, in my mind I have an extravagant cake planned for Avery's birthday. However, I went to Michaels a month or so ago to get the supplies I would need, and the price tag was adding up FA$T... between needing fondant or gumpaste, plus all the little tools to make flowers and everything else. I decided that I would skip fondant/gumpaste, and just stick to frosting. I'm sure I spent about a fourth of what I would have spent had I stuck with my original plan. But, now I have to figure out a new plan of action for what I want it to look like.

I dont have any decorations yet, and I dont know if i'll even do any. Really, the first birthday party is more for the parents than the child. We'll see if I get inspired between now and saturday though.

On top of all that has not gone the way I was hoping, the memory card in our camera broke on friday! We were able to get the pictures that had been on it off, but it doesnt work anymore. Derek ordered a new one, and it might not even be here in time for the party. Of course! Why not? At Jadon's first birthday party, my camera batteries died before I could get any pictures.... why should Avery's party be any different than her big brothers?

The only thing that has gone right so far, is the outfit for her party. I bought a "birthday girl" shirt to wear, I made her an adorable tutu (that I improved upon since having posted the picture on here), and bought her some adorable, sparkly pink shoes and a headband to match the outfit, at my friends store.

Now i'm just waiting to see what kind of disaster happens at her party. The day starts off with Jadon having soccer until noon... also, its game day, although I haven't heard yet from Derek what time the game is at. And, I havent heard back from at least half of the invited guests yet. But I sincerely appreciate everyone that has let me know! Thank you!

This week is looking to be quite busy with party preparations, preschool, and many other little things. The planner in me has got a written list going of what needs to be accomplished so that I dont waste a single minute this week.

Unfortunately even with all that is going on, I cant avoid the fact that my baby is turning 1 in just a few short days. Cant I just turn back the clock a few months? I'm not ready for her (or Jadon for that matter) to grow up so fast. :(