Somewhere in the middle

I think today it is really sinking in about what this move involves..... I feel so in the middle. Disconnected from our friends in IL, but not yet close to being settled in MI. I don't think it will change until the house is officially sold and I really can focus on finding a new house. Speaking of houses.... ours is being shown tomorrow so I'm praying!! It's so weird how some people totally disconnect from you when they find you are moving away and others seem to still be interested in being friends through the distance. Thank you for those that are still there for me, even though I'm not physically there ~ I truly appreciate it. I never thought this would be a hard move, after all we are going "home" for Mark and I, but it is hard for me. I will definitely miss the community where I had both of my children and the group of friends that taught me about parenting and life and for the people that taught me about God and that church is not necesarily a bad thing. I'm excited about meeting new people and re-connecting with old friends and thank you to all of you that gave me the ideas on how to find like-minded people in my new area!

snow and buddies

We went to a friend's to play while carpet was being installed.... the boys ate cookies, because of course everyone needs more cookies!! They are such great friends and will be missed more than I can say.

Aidan loves the snow.... although he thinks the grass turns to snow and then turns back to grass. Anyways he loves to "find" snowballs and I do realize my child was outside without mittens or a scarf....

Free Ride

Finally AJ convinced someone to give him a ride in the "lawnmower".... can you tell we are trying to move!

Last Game

Mark has loved coaching since we have been here... Monday was his last game with the girls so the kids and I went to the game. AJ loved it ~ he cheered for everyone that made a shot. Here's a pic of TK ~ in a skirt!! I think this is the first time since she started crawling that she has not had pants or shorts on.... finally that girl is walking (:

The waterpark

Here's a couple pics from last weekend at the waterpark with Mark's family. It was a blast and AJ definitely liked it better than a couple years ago, when he screamed everytime we took him in the water area!! This year he actually liked it ~ although he said he liked the arcade better since it was quieter.... I understand those indoor waterparks are loud. The kids loved the horses in the lobby.

Here are some shots from the trip home.... we got a bit of snow and apparently there was an accident, so we sat in rest area for about 2 hours with a few hundred other people (: AJ thought playing in the trunk was great though!!

Little Update

So it's been a couple of weeks and more has happened then I can probably remember at this hour. Shortly after my last post my former boss offered me my old, old job back and I was very excited to accept. I have been very ready for a change and back to work sounded perfect. The kids and I went and looked at a couple of day care options and settled on the YWCA. The one in town here has great accreditation's and wonderful programs so I was excited about that choice. Mark was going to finish his master's and we were starting to think about building a new house in the spring and were really settling into staying in town for awhile, but then..... This last Sunday Mark got offered a job back in MI. We have wanted to move back so this sounded perfect, albeit we didn't really think we would move back to that specific location we were thinking more up north, but still we are VERY excited about moving back and being by family. Maybe this next summer when I go to the playground I won't have to talk to AJ about running up to random elderly men and saying, "hey grandpa look at me!", since hopefully it will be more concrete in his mind who exactly his grandparents are.

Anyways yesterday Mark told his boss and today I my former and soon-to-be boss that I wouldn't be able to start in January, so now we are telling everyone. Now that I had the Christmas decorations, they are all coming down since we are painting and getting carpet, etc. and hopefully listing the house next week. Granted maybe not the best time of year to sell, but we are praying it sells quick! Anybody know someone who would like to buy our place?

Also, Mark got my Christmas present early... a new digital camera so here's a couple of shots of my mom visiting last weekend to make cookies with AJ and then some of the kids dancing around today:

Chinese Cookies

So we have been going to a new church lately, which is small so the ages 2 through 4 are combined. Sometimes they do activities geared more to the older kids, but I figure oh well, maybe AJ will catch on to something. Well for the past 12 weeks they have been learning a verse and I have never heard AJ say it, which I just figured well he's 2 so he probably doesn't get it. Well I asked him what he wanted for dinner tonight and he said Chinese, which has been a favorite lately (I think because of the cookies!), so after we ate dinner we were opening the cookies and I asked him what his said. He said "do not fear, God is with you". I was so amazed that just out of the blue and said it.

Another quick story that I'm sure Mark's aunt will love:
Some friends of ours have a little girl named Chloe, whose birthday is coming up. So I've mentioned to AJ that we need to get her a gift. AJ is always excited about getting gifts for kids, but everytime I mention Chloe, he is not excited. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then he started saying, "Well when is it Sam's birthday and what does Sam get?" At first I didn't put it together, but then I realized he was thinking about his Aunt Kathy's dogs: Sam and Chloe. He couldn't figure out why we would get something for one and not the other. I keep trying to explain we are getting something for baby Chloe, not the puppy. Oh well maybe he'll put it together once he gives her the present!!

TK has officially watched enough Diego that she "roars" when the dinos come on!!

Comments

AJ's memory is amazing to me! Well not just his memory, but the way he thinks and comes up with stuff. Here are a couple of things he has said lately that I found amusing:

He is at the stage of using the restroom completely on his own, but given my instincts I want to continually check (for good reason ~ recently I didn't know that he had peed on the shower curtain instead of toilet, after cleaning the bathroom 5 times I finally figured it out!).... so anyways ~ I opened the door to check and he was watching the toilet flush, which is always a good time for him and he looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm a big boy now so close the door and I'll be out and (then he put on his serious face) Don't be so curious!) Curious George is a well liked figure around here, either tv or books, doesn't matter, so I'm assuming that is where that statement came from.

Normally once AJ is in bed he stays there until morning. Well tonight he got out and I was taking him back to bed and he said, "Sorry mom, but this is just so much fun." I had no idea how to respond to that.

Now that colder weather is here, I'm having a little bit harder time coming up with activities and I don't really like being outside as much since I worry TK will get cold and Lucy is often here and I don't want her cold either. So AJ has been asking to watch tv or play computer games (PBS games) alot. He know that I'm going to try and divert his attempts and come up with something else. So lately when he is tired of my attempts to amuse him, he will say, "Bad news mom, I'm going to have to watch tv." I have no idea where the Bad News came from, but it's funny to hear.

TK doesn't really talk or do that much of anything right now, but she has started consistently saying certain syllables. When we come home the dogs are always barking... you would think by now they would catch on to who it is, but nope! Both the kids now know that we come home and first is to tell the dogs to hush. For AJ he normally says "hush down dogs" (this is not something either Mark or I have ever said, but it works for him) and TK makes this sound that closely resembles stop barking or no barking, which is what Mark and I normally say. I have heard her say it when AJ is bothering her also.... which is why I think I find it so funny.

Oh well enough about the kids... for now

Polka Dots

AJ has recently informed us that he would like a different bed. He tends to be rather outspoken with all his opinions. At 15 months he decided he would no longer sleep in our bed and only in his toddler bed and now I guess he is done with that. So we decide to just give him the full size bed out the guest room since it was only used for jumping anyways. Let me tell you that bed looks HUGE in the kids room. Anyways I asked him what kind of sheets he wanted and he wanted spiders. I thought well it shortly after halloween, maybe I could find some in some store or for sure on line. Well I couldn't find spider sheets anywhere! So his next selection was polka dots and I thought that's easy... no problem. A week later I was still looking for sheets that didn't cost $90. (I'm not spending money on something that is just going to be peed on a couple of times a week ~ although it is getting better.) Well I looked on line and if you want girly bedding that is a ton of polka dots, but AJ likes brown and that wasn't in the girly colors. So finally I found some at Target.... I LOVE TARGET! So Aidan is peacefully sleeping on his new polka dot sheets that have lots of brown polka dots in his huge bed.

Bear Feet

Just a short story today: I told AJ the other day he couldn't come in the garage with me because he had bare feet and I thought it was dangerous. I turned around to make sure he was listening and waiting in the house. Well, he was looking at me very strangely and then looking at his feet. So I said again, "You need to wait inside so you don't step on anything and hurt your feet." He looked at me and said, "Mom I don't have bear feet." Well I thought he was just arguing so I kind off ignorned it since he was sitting on the step waiting for me and still staring at his feet. Well once I found what I was looking for and headed back in and he said once again that he didn't have bear feet it finally dawned on me that he probably didn't know or understand the word bare.... the only bare he knew was bear. So I explained to him what bare meant and I think he got it, but he was still kind of giving me that look like I'm not a bear mom! I makes me laugh everytime I think about it.

3 chickens

Here's a couple more Halloween pics from a birthday party:

Halloween Pics and Activities

Nothing really new going on at our house, just the kids finding more things to do! The neighbors got the kids a slide, so that has been a blast, especially when I had the great idea to bring it inside so we wouldn't have to be out in the cold.... I think it took AJ about 2 seconds to gather everything in the house and send it down the slide.

He goes through phases were he loves to watch certain movies.... lately it is Monsters, Inc. He decided this morning he need a door like Boo's so he got some chalk (thankfully chalk!) and drew all over his door. I told him we didn't do that and he needed to put the chalk back in the garage. He then proceeded to take the chalk to the garage, but drawing on the walls as he went. Why did I think it was a good idea to tell him to put the chalk away??? Anyways if you ever want to know, chalk cleans up quite nicely off the walls.

TK actually used the toilet the other day.... complete coincidence. (Lest you think I'm potty training my 13 month old.... I have friends that EC, but it's not for me!) She is infatuated with the little toilet, so I've been letting her set on it before her bath, while I'm getting stuff ready. Well to my surprise she actually went! And for my other child ~ AJ has been wearing underroos to bed for about 3 or 4 weeks now I think and last night was the first night we had to get up in the middle of the night and change the sheets and him. That was fun! He didn't want to take his wet clothes off, poor kid just wanted to get back in bed. Mark was trying to explain why we don't sleep in the potty clothes. But it is useless to argue with AJ.... he has this thinking that if he says something then that's the way it is. So if he says, no my clothes are dry. Then in his mind they don't have potty on them and you have lost your argument. So that's always fun at 4 in the morning!!

Here are some pics from our busy Halloween. Lucy spent the day with us and we all went to a playdate in the morning and then a birthday party in the afternoon. The kids had a blast and we were well occupied!

Here we are trying to get out the door.....

Here is a shot of the playdate.... as you can see no one was really interested in having their pic taken!

The two boys in their dragon suits ~ they spent a lot of time "flying" on the swings.

TK loves swinging!

I might put some other pics up in a couple of days when I get them from some other girls.... I'm hoping to get a cute one of 3 chickens at the birthday party.

Pachelbel Bedtime

I saw this on my friend's blog a while back, so I stole it from her, but this video is awesome and so true. Definitely a good laugh!

Some pics of TK's party

The party was at a local park

The playground was very entertaining!

We painted pumpkins.

there go "my plans"

I am by nature an obsessive compulsive person; before I had kids more than once I have been accused of being a perfectionist. That being said I like to have plans and goals and always know the direction that I am headed ~ leave nothing to the imagination! But I have kids AND I don't work. So God has taught me much this past year... for instance leave everything to Him and pretty much plan nothing. Everytime I think I have a great plan that will be just perfect for us, I'm brought to the realization life is no longer about ME. So currently I'm setting in a house that desperately needs the toys picked up, the floors cleaned and the dishes done, but TK and I have been so sick for the past week so nothing is done! Right before she got sick we had actually gone 2 days with no breastfeeding and I was so excited. (I have lots of friends who breastfeed well beyond the first year, but for me that's all I can handle.) But TK is not a fan of milk (she'll tolerate it with chocolate), she'll drink juice if it's a 1/2 ounce in about 5 ounces of water and she hates the pedilyte so I was afraid she would get dehydrated and we started breastfeeding AGAIN! I'm thankful it had only been two days of not doing it and I think she will be ok ~ we might see the dr tomorrow, since tomorrow will be day 4 of this for her! On the funny side, one of the first times that she had one of these diapers she was sitting by AJ, he looked at me and said, "eeww, mom it stinks in this house, would you please clean this house." I just started laughing and explained we could just open the windows and it was because TK was sick. So today when she was sitting by him again and it happened he immediately jumped up and said, "We gotta to get get this stinky air out" and then went to open the playroom window and the patio door out in the living room.

AJ has decided that he will no longer wear diapers at anytime- that includes night time. I was soooo close to being able to sleep through the night. TK normally just wakes up twice and a couple of times only once, so I was getting close. But I have to say AJ knows what he is talking about. Out of the last 3 nights that he has does this he only had 1 accident and that was at 6:30 in the morning, so I think that is awesome. I totally wasn't ready for him to do that... I thought it was more around 4 or so that kids potty trained all night, but I got him out of the tub the other night and he informed me that those were TK's diapers not his and he was wearing underroos. I tried to argue with him, but he got upset and I figured it wasn't worth it ~ thinking 1/2 hour later he would have an accident, but he proved me wrong (: (smart little booger!) So now we keep a plethora of sheets and blankets and pjs, etc. out in the hall to replace the wet ones if need be. I can't believe this kid is just over 2 1/2 and potty trained ~ I just figured it would be more likely I would potty train the kids together rather than him so early. I have a feeling though TK might make up for it though (:

It seems to me that whenever AJ goes through a process in his life he stutters. So for example right now switching from diapers to underroos at night, or back a few months ago when he did it in the day, or sometimes if it a big event we are getting excited for. Lately when he talk to me he will start off with, honey mommy ~ which comes out hun hun hun honey mom mom mom mommy, so by time he actually gets to what he is saying I'm just laughing inside because he is so serious about it and i don't think he really realizes exactly what he is doing. He wasn't really stuttering last weekend when we had TK's party, but he was saying honey to everybody. We really need to get it on video and put it on here ~ hilarious!

Catch Up! and Happy Birthday to my Baby Girl

It seems like forever since I've written anything.... I'm not even sure what the last thing I wrote was (guess I could have looked). Anyways here's a little update on everyone~ AJ is totally potty trained, as far as I'm concerned. Not at night, we'll work on that in a few months, or in a year, just not now! We checked out a book from the library called Zoo Poo and he loved it. After reading it for a week he wanted to be like the rhino and doo doo while charging on by. (You would have to see the picture to fully understand.) Well it worked, even last night while I put TK to bed he went and took his diaper off and #2 in the toliet. I was so proud of him, because normally he'll wait until after bath and the diaper is on and then he'll go take care of business. So we have definitely come a long ways! AJ is also doing this new thing ~ not sure where he learned it from ~ but when he wants something he'll fold his hands and say "PLEASE, it is my best!" For instance if he wants candy ~ Please candy is my best. And his face gets all scrunched up and he gets really intense. It just totally catches me of guard.

TK has not been eating during the night for the past week!!! YEAH!!! You can tell how excited I am about this since I mention this before I even mention her birthday! Yes my baby girl is one today, I can't believe it just went so fast, somehow even faster than AJ's first year. Maybe because I know it is my last and my kids will never be that little again.... makes me a little sad, but then I just think surely soon, maybe this year I will get to sleep for at least 4 or even 6 hours in a row ~ oh the luxury!!

We did 2 activities this last Saturday ~ quit a feat for me! I just haven't been doing hardly anything for fear of the "accident". Now that I feel we are all a little more comfortable with the situation I think we are ready for more. First we went to the Farmer's market, this used to be a regular event for me, but I'm not sure I had been since TK was born. We found an excellent deal on pumpkins for TK's party, which was great, except I drove to a friend's house and then we walked there. Let me tell you pushing 20 pumpkins in a stroll with 2 kids that weigh about 60lbs together is not a good idea!! And my friend had almost have the pumpkins! I seriously thought some hamstrings or something were going to start exploding! But they are great pumpkins and AJ thought the market was great so it was well worth it! Our second activity was a trip to the local cheese farm. We hadn't previously been there so I wasn't sure what to tell AJ to get him ready. Well once he got over the flies he thought it was the best!! I put some pics on with him feeding the cows. He gave ALL the cows some corn ~ this farm is not big at all, but we spent probably over 2 hours there. We even went for a ride on the hay trailer behind the tractor. Now AJ will tell you he loved it, but don't be fooled, there was MUCH protest and even crying before he got on. His new thing is to say, "NO I don't have to, it's my choice." ~ That's a whole different story, so here's the pics:

the sleepover

We are having our first sleepover, well as much as it counts at this age. Needless to say AJ thought it was the best thing in the world. My friend's little girl that I watch sometime, needed to stay the night, since her mom had an emergency case late night and had to work again early in the morning. So we moved the pack-n-play and AJ was throwing everything into.... "here Lucy can have my pillow and my blanket, and my zebra and my sheep." I had to secretly sneak everything back out of there so there was actually room for her! AJ may be a little temperamental at times and persnickety about how things are done, but I love the way he always wants to do stuff for people.

I think he is pretty much potty trained, in fact there have been several days where I rarely tell him it's time to go... so I think we are getting there. Now we just have to work on the poop training.... no one ever told me this was 2 separate events!! We have been telling him how proud we are that he is going in the potty and he should be proud of himself for being such a big boy. Well tonight when TK & AJ were getting ready for bed, he said TK I'm going to give you a hug and then he told her he loved her so much and looked at her and patted her back and said I'm so proud of you! It made me laugh and made me want to cry at the same time. (Don't worry he's not perfect all the time... just wait until she pulls up on his chair or something that is doesn't want to share, he'll knock her down fast.) But now he is learning is going to get in trouble for that so he'll push her and then walk to the other side of the room and look at her like I have no idea what just happened. Kid is smart!

This paragraph is about my faith: Lately I have been so stressed!!! and then the fridge broke, obviously doesn't help at all, so I was upset and trying to figure out what in the world God was trying to teach me through these trials lately. Well today we get a check that the electric company overcharged us or something... didn't really read why, just went and cashed that sucker! Anyways is should cover the cost of fixing the fridge (again... 3rd time to fix this thing and it is less than 6 years old!) so amazing ~ once again you just never know how God is going to work things out!

our neighbors

We have the best neighbors in the world!! Seriously I think I am going to list that as the best feature of our house whenever we get around to selling it. I don't think I can even possibly start to remember all the things they have done for us ~ they are so generous. For instance last night she stopped by to ask if we wanted to have some dinner because they had made to much ~ it was delicious, plus you know I was just going to make a frozen pizza or something else on my level. AJ thinks they are they best people probably because they keep popsicles in their freezer for him and have turtles in their backyard. Since TK was born they would come get AJ and take him for walks, ice cream or just over to their place to play. It has been so nice just to have a few minutes to do the dishes or sweep the floors or something. Also a couple of weeks ago they gave us a gift certificate to one of my favorite resturants and the watched the kids for us ~ this was the first time we had been since May '06. One more quick neighbor story last night I decided to take the kids and the dogs on a walk when we walked out the door, the other neighbor's pshyco dog came run at the dogs and bit louie!! Both Ellie and Louie were their leashes so everything was all tangled up and I was worried about the dog going after AJ who was standing next to me or TK who was strapped in the stroller. Well the nice neighbors came running yelling at the dog and lady ~ saying things I wanted to, but don't have the guts to say. Louie is fine and the lady said she would keep her dog on a leash... I was thinking... mmm, isn't that the same thing I asked to do last week when I went over and talked to you about psycho. I was just so glad the nice neighbors were out to hold Ellie and get AJ settled down while I checked out Louie. Well I need to go write them a thank you note and get TK sleeping ~ that little boogger doesn't want to take a nap today (-:

the kids

Well for those of you know AJ, you know how particular he can be. So Mark put him to bed tonight and everything seemed fine and quiet and then we hear him talking... so Mark goes to see what is wrong and he says he needs mom. Well he has a teddy bear that we put on outfit on a few days ago and he keeps in his bed, he was holding the bear saying get it off and I happen to catch out of the corner of my eye that the light is on in his room.... not the night light but the 4 bulb big overhead light. This probably won't be such a big deal BUT he shares a room with TK. So I hit the light and look at her... just sprawled out in the crib and could care less. Now seriously how does this happen that she can sleep through that light being turned on, but can't possible start to sleep through the night!!! Anyways I go back to AJ who is saying mom just get the yucky stuff off. I'm guessing he must have wiped his nose on the bear, 'cause something crusty and gross was on the bear's outfit. Well thankfully we got it all off and taken care of and everyone is sleeping. This was so surprising to me because whenever he has need to check something out before he always goes in our room and looks at it there using our light (I leave our reading lamp on until we go to bed), so I surprised to see this bright light on.

On a different note , fall kinda of surprised me this year and I am totally unprepared. Meaning I didn't have any clothes for the kids for this cooler weather. I think they each had a sweatshirt and that was about it. So we have been doing some shopping these last couple of days. I think AJ is going to be like his dad and love shopping!! The only probably is he has no concept at 2 1/2 that we don't just pick up whatever we want, we actually have to pay for it... he thinks we should just always take one of each. One of the purchases we made was his halloween costume ~ a dragon (he's been asking to either be that or a dinosaur). Well he loves that costume, of course he wouldn't try it on until we brought it home and cut out the tags. It was the first thing he put on this morning and he took his nap in it this afternoon. The only problem with the costume is it has wings which means mom or dad gets to fly him all over!!! We should have great looking arms by time halloween gets here (-:

That smell

The past couple of days every time I walked into the kitchen I could smell something a little peculiar. So I thought I should figure it out. I thought maybe one of the kids left a snack in the Tupperware cupboard were they play sometimes, but nothing. Next I moved on to the other cupboards, still I couldn't find anything. I thought maybe I should scrub the counter again for like the 50th time. Well this morning Tallula opened a cupboard that I keep the ice cream and ice tea maker and the smell was horrendous. I look down and there was a bag of potatoes that was completely rotten!!! It was so rotten they were actually molding ~ it was so disgusting. Anyways I'm just glad I found it before I had to clean the oven or something drastic like that.

Labor Day

Well ~ first an update on Mark. He is fine.... he apparently had a virus that the doctors didn't really identify. So they let him leave Thursday afternoon and he came home and slept the rest of the day. He thinks he shouldn't have been in the hospital at all, but I say better safe than sorry. I'm just glad he is feeling better and can move around again!

So we left for Missouri to visit Mark's aunts. It was so nice to get away and just relax for a couple of days. We stayed with his Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ralph (or uncle grrralph as AJ says) ~ they have a pool so Mark and AJ spent a lot of time in there. It was so fun to see AJ get more and more confident in the water... in the beginning he didn't want to even go in he just wanted to spray Mark with the hose! AJ is at such a fun age ~ it is so neat to see him do new things. We also had a bond fire and made s'mores; it was a blast! Then we went to visit Aunt Joyce and Uncle Lynn so AJ got to play with Ozzy and see the horses. All in all it was a totally blast and we all loved getting away! On the way home AJ asked where the ticket was ~ I told him we were trying not to get any tickets on this trip. I realized after we got home that the last couple of trips we took resulted in a ticket ~ one for me and one for Mark. Anyways it is nice to see we have broken that streak!

Well I thank everyone that prayed for Mark and sent such thoughtful notes ~ I really appreciate it more than I could say!

Mark

So I normally write stories about the kids, since they tend to be the most entertaining these days, but Mark caused enough drama today to get his own post so here the story:

Mark hasn't been to the doctor in years, so I mention it occasionally. Well Sunday he started feeling horrible and Monday wasn't any better. By Tuesday he couldn't hardly pick up either of the kids or tie his shoes, so I said you are going to the doctor. So he went in today ~ I don't think either of us really expected anything serious, maybe he would just get some meds and that would be good. Well he called me after the appt., cause he was going to run some errands for me and he said he had bad news. The doc wanted him to go straight to the hospital and stay the night. Apparently the doc thought he might have tetanus since about 10 days again he stepped on a nail, but decided he didn't need a shot since it pretty much just went through his shoes and barely touched his foot. Hopefully everything will be fine, he does feel better than he did yesterday, but still they wanted him there for observation. AJ doesn't really understand and on the way home from the hospital he asked if dad was almost feeling better. Kids always seem to ask the questions that require the greatest thought in how to answer. We are praying that in the morning he will be released.... he is supposed to be getting an IV through the night and a shot I believe. He also had to see a neurologist. I asked him why and Mark said it was to check his brain to see why he didn't go get that shot! Seriously though to anyone that reads these if you think you need that tetanus shot GET IT!! If he isn't making a lot of progress by morning then the neurologist may decide to give him a shot that would help him get better but could cause renal (kidney) failure. Obviously I was trying to fight off a panic attack so my mind was drawing a blank as to what renal was. On the way home from the hospital I was talking to a friend that works in the medical field and she asked if I knew what renal was... I told her I couldn't remember but I whatever it was I was sure I didn't want it failing! Anyways I guess it isn't a significant chance that that would happen, but in this family those little chance seem to be attracted to us! Speaking off I'm hoping to start a new blog or website or something that would spread that word about Essure Procedure and the issues I have been through with that, since no where is it mentioned that what happened to me is a possibility! (If you read this and don't know what I am referring to feel free to email and I'll explain.)

So sorry for this lengthy non-laugh story, but please pray for Mark tonight and that we will have some good news in the morning!!

What a day!

For those of you that know me, you know that one activity a day is about max for us. Today we did two big activities so hopefully the kids will sleep well (-: First we went to the zoo with some friends so AJ had a blast. I didn't know if TK would be interested in the animals or not, but she loved it ~ she was pointing and babbling! It was so cute. AJ and his little friend were running all over the place looking for new animals. She almost convinced him to ride the carousel, but as soon as he was about sit down he changed his mind. Oh well one day he'll ride I'm sure!

This afternoon we went to some other friends new house that they recently purchased for renovation. It was so much fun! They bought 5 acres with a pond and woods in the middle of a bunch of cornfields. AJ heard so many bugs it was funny to watch him stop and ask what he was hearing. Plus they played in a huge dirt pile and moved rocks... such a boy. He kept asking when we went to the pond if we were going to see frogs, snakes and lizzards. (He has this bag he carries around with frogs, snakes and lizzards in it.) It will be so fun to go visit them as those boys find more things to do. AJ's friend tried to get him to ride on the tire swing or in the trailer on the back of the tractor. Apparently AJ is not interested in riding on things that you don't have to be buckled in to. I wish I had a digital camera to post some pics of the boys out there... maybe soon! Well hopefully everyone sleeps well from all the fresh air!!!

The Break

Well I hope I am not a horrible parent for saying this, but I am so relieved that AJ wants to take a break!! This morning I asked him if he was ready to get dressed and he said, "Mom I just want to wear diapers." My first thought was Hooray!!, but then I thought oh no what if he never learns that potty ~ obviously that was silly, because he will in hiw own time. So after 3 weeks of nothing but wearing underroos he is back in a diaper. I am a little sad he doesn't want to try anymore, but I am so glad I don't have to watch the clock and figure out ways to get him to use the toliet. Plus maybe he'll stay in diapers for a few weeks, which would be convient for me since we are going out of town next weekend. Well I am going to enjoy the break and hope next time it will be a little smoother and hopefully permanent.

I am writing this at the end of the day.... the diapers lasted until about noon. So it was a nice little break, but he decided the diapers really were for babies and he wasn't a baby. But I do have to say he didn't have any accidents the rest of the day (-:

The end of summer

It seems weird to me that it is mid-August and I write something titled the end of summer. But living in a college town, I think, has made me ever aware of when summer is over. All the signs welcoming the students back, suddenly exceptionally long check out lines that normally you zip through, campus areas now lined with "those young whipper snappers". And the pool is now closed that pretty much does it too! It seems like we have had a busy summer, but I'm not sure how much we really did... I'm just glad that we have made it through each day, since that is my current goal, to make it through the day. Some days we just have to focus on making it through the hour~ but thankfully those days are few and far between. And I'm proud to say that I'm not medicated and still making it... not that there is anything wrong with med and I know I sure enjoyed my medicated time (-: but I'm just glad to be learning to get through things on my own and trusting in God this time.

I can't believe how much has happened in just this summer... AJ is riding is two-wheeler, TK cut teeth (almost 6 of them now), AJ might be almost potty trained, both kids have learned to LOVE Popsicles, TK learned to crawl and pull her self up... I'm sure there are a million more things, but at this hour my mind is blank. But speaking of potty training, AJ decided he was big enough to wear his under-roos to bed tonight, after much prompting to put on a diaper, I put him to bed in his under-roos. Five minutes later he was standing in his door soaked. Still he didn't want to put the diaper on. Finally after Mark and I explained that most 2 year-olds don't wear under-roos to bed he decided maybe the diaper would be ok. I'm sure this argument will be appearing soon again. He does wake up dry a lot of mornings, but I just see this as the little sliver of hope of sleep I did have going right down the drain. (I haven't slept at night since before AJ was born and he will be 2-1/2 on Wednesday.) Oh well one day.

Mark and I had a parenting argument on the way to church this morning.... always a lovely time for an argument. When it come to parenting I tend to have more of a "who cares" attitude than Mark. So I wasn't comfortable in my shirt this morning so I went to change... AJ noticed I changed and decided he needed to change his shoes and get more "dressed up". So he went in to my room and got my sparkly turquoise shoes and put them on and said he was ready to go and didn't want to change his shoes when I asked him. I said ok and put his sandals in his bag and buckled the kiddos in. Well Mark was slightly appalled that I thought it was fine he wore those shoes. AJ tends to get obsessed with something, but as soon as something new comes along he dumps the old for the new. Mark stated he was not going into church wearing those shoes, I said who cares let him. Well thankfully when we got there the shoes had fallen off and he didn't care that I put sandals on him ~ he was just concerned if he was going to get to play with Halle!

Well this was a lengthy one so I'm off to bed.... 6:30am tomorrow Lucy will be here (-:

oh my

Well AJ has decided to show his stubborn streak. Today I think we had approximately a million accidents! Of course they were everywhere except the bathroom... my rug, some books, bath towel, the deck and who knows! Meanwhile TK is dealing with cutting her top four teeth, so we are having some fun times here! The kids think it is a blast to play out in the tent... I set it up again after my attempt the other day when I didn't stake it down and the wind blow it over our fence and onto the neighbor's porch! I don't know why I never thought to put it up before. Well they are filthy when they get done playing, but at least they are happy!

Our air conditioner is fixed!! Yeah!! I told AJ that we had to pray so we would be able to get it fixed and it wouldn't cost very much, but after some of his questions, I think he thinks God is the guy who came and fixed it! Well hopefully we'll get that worked out (-;

Hot Days!

Well before I begin this I just want to say this is the second time I am typing this, since I just accidently erased everything I just typed.... so here we go again! Well Sunday night (it is now Monday night), I realized the air vents in the house weren't as cool as they normally are and after some more checking we knew the AC wasn't working. Not a lot you can do about that at 8:30 at night, so we just prayed it would be working in the morning. Well it wasn't but thankfully the weather had cooled off and we could open the house and cool it a bit. Needless to say that "cooling" was gone this afternoon when the temp inside almost reached 90 degrees! So we are hoping tomorrow they will give us some good information on the replacement parts or at least a good payment plan if we have to replace this thing! One thing I know for sure is we are going to be eating a lot of ice cream here until it is fixed!!

A little update on the potty training ~ I think we are almost there.... we are doing great going out in public and have conquered the automatic flush. I also convinced him today that superman absolutely doesn't like to be pooped on and he should at least let me put a diaper. We'll just keeping working on that. Well I'm off to move some fans around and try to get some sleep!

The poop

This post is pretty much about excrement so read as you wish:

Well the potty training is going well... it's just the poop that is a bit of an issue. AJ hadn't gone since we started so I know I was in for it. He is just so distracted by everything that he doesn't want to take the time to sit for awhile. He's got cars to play with!! Anyways I was giving TK a bath and Mark came down to say that AJ wanted a diaper (he hasn't asked for one since we started), well it was to late the spiderman underroos when already done in. So that was interesting to clean up. But he did say that tomorrow he would try to do it again on the big toliet. So hopefully I won't have to deal with that too many more times. THANK goodness Mark talked me out of using cloth diapers ~ I think that would have been a big waste of money.

Potty Time

Well we are in day 2 of potty training... going pretty well all things considered. So far this morning we have only had 2 accidents and they were both in front of the toliet in the bathroom. Some friends invited us to go to the museum last night so Mark stayed with TK while I took AJ to play. I didn't want him to think that we put diapers on when we left the house so I just kept him in his "under-roos" as he calls them. Well the museum has automatic flush toliets, which scared AJ. He jumped off that toliet and there was no going back. I tried to get him to go on a different floor ~ he took one look at the toliet and said "no, you do it." So needless to say we changed his clothes on all 3 floors of that museum! (Then it was time to go home, since I only had 3 changes and I didn't want the car seat to get wet.) So this morning I had to go take care of some insurance since we are switching carriers, so after sitting in the office for awhile I asked him if he needed to go. He looked at me and then looked at the lady and said,"Do these toliets have handles." Once we confirmed they were the "ok" kinda of toliets he decided he could go. Thankfully we got out of there and back home with no accidents!!

Tonight we went to Fun Run (only one more night to go!!) and no accidents there, even used the toliet there after much discussion that the toliet would not automatically flush and the nice lady in the stall next to us giving us a warning that she was about to flush. I'm optomistic that this will stick with him and hopefully in a week or so we will be well on our way to diaper free days... not sure what to do about naps and bed time yet.... maybe next year???

TK top teeth finally came in and she is quite proud of herself for learning to "grind" her teeth. I remember AJ doing this and hopefully it won't last that long, that noise drives me crazy!!! She was 10 months old yesterday... I can't believe how fast everything is going.

Update - pretty much about Ellie

This is just a quick note for everyone so far from us. Things are going well ~ Mark loves his new job. He is actually flying to Wisconsin for a quick day trip tomorrow, so he is getting to do lots of interesting things.



The fish are doing well... but Ellie discovered that we now have fish. Even though we showed them to her when we brought them home. She is insane!!! She barks at them and tries to jump up on the dresser and get them and if you pick her up she will shove her nose and mouth into the small opening to try and catch them... the glass is full of smudges from her trying to bite them. She used to sleep all day and now she just sits and whines and begs for you to pick her up so she can see them closer. I've considered putting her back on her anti-anxiety medicine!



Well not a lot going on these days... it is so hot!!

The shoes, the fish and the car

Well we have had a couple of interesting days here. I ran to the store late the other night, (keep in mind that generally my brain shuts down about 9:00 pm and does not boot up until 10 the next morning). Anyways I grabbed my purse and shoes and ran out the door, (since sometimes TK wakes up at 9:30 I was trying to get back asap), moved the work truck, got into my car and drove to the store. On the way into the store I realized that my shoes felt kinda different so I looked down and sure enough I had on one of my brown sandals and one of Mark's black sandals. Bad enough they didn't even match, but they weren't even both mine!!

Mark called me yesterday and asked me what I thought about getting some fish... his work buddy is moving away and wanted to get rid of his, rather than move them. Well finally I said ok we could try it. So later that evening we went over to his house to pick up these fish ~ which came with more fish stuff than you can imagine! Well we got everything out there and then Mark and his buddy decided to move the tank (they had taken a couple of gallons out already... thankfully!!) Oh, and this is only a 10 gallon tank. So they get it up the stairs and out the door and set it in the back of our NEW car to scoot it into the trunk and suddenly the waterfall starts!! Next thing you know there are fish just flopping on the driveway... which freaked AJ out and just kept saying, "put it back together... put the fish back in their house." So there was fishy tank water all over the car not to mention glass... no one is quite sure what happened, even though everyone was watching. I told Mark, "Well this is why we don't own our cars we just lease them." Hopefully the rain will stop soon so I can get out there and try to get rid of some of that fish smell!! Well this guy's house was totally packed up, by movers, so he couldn't get to anything. He did have a broom in the garage we used to sweep up the stones and glass. So he got the gallons of water they had taken out earier and one of the fish fit in no problem, well the other big fish wasn't such a good fit! After finding some sort of cutting device and cutting the bottle opening he finally fit in. (He is currently missing a few scales on his back!!) Thankfully our neighbors had a tank that they weren't using that we got to put them in and I'm proud to say they are doing quite well I believe!

We asked AJ what he wanted to call them last night... I wasn't sure what kind of answer to except. He said, "Well that one is kind of funny and that one is kind of sticky." Mark asked him later on and he changed which one was Funny and which one was Sticky, but the names were the same. Well we thought by morning it would change, but he still calls them Funny and Sticky. I have no idea where these names came from.

PS ~ As an update on the imaginary friends, Bob has not reappeared, but the Baby Alien still shows up and the last three days "MMMM" has been around. MMMM actually just ate lunch and read books with us before nap time.

couple more stories

I realize most of my stories tend to be about AJ, but right now he is the one with the crazy imagination and talking. So I'm sure once TK gets there I'll have just as many about her. Here are a couple I forgot to put in the blog last night (too tired I guess). A good friend of mine stopped be a few days ago and mentioned to AJ that a new baby eagle would be coming to the zoo in town. Well the rest of the night he was asking when we were going to see it and if he could play with it. When was it going to be here and why did it have to hatch? The night she stopped by was Friday, which is the night he goes to Fun Run, needless to say he wasn't very impressed with Fun Run that night. I think he thought we were taking him to see the baby eagle and instead he got to run around the track (actually I carried him because we were so late and he didn't want to walk.) I think the ice cream afterwards though at least made it a little worth while! That was Friday today is Tuesday and still I have already been asked twice today if the baby eagle is here and can he take the bunny to see the baby eagle.

My other story was a couple of days ago I was putting some stuff away in the kids' closet, which is where I store things that they outgrow. Well AJ found a pair of Scooby Doo slippers in there and thought they were the greatest. Mind you he had no interest in wearing them this last winter when they fit him. Anyways he wore them all day and then wanted to wear them to bed, so I thought sure, his feet will eventually start baking and then he'll take them off. Well 4:00AM I hear, "MOM... I need a vitamin." I thought I was dreaming. Well I heard it a couple more times and I go to see what AJ is yelling about and realize he isn't in his room, but coming back from the kitchen. So there he is standing there asking for a vitamin with these huge Scooby slippers on... I just thought it looked so funny. So I got him a vitamin and we went back to bed!!

The only note I have about TK is we lovingly refer to her as Gene Simmons these days, because she constantly sticks her tongue out and it just about reaches her chin!!!

Make room

Well I guess we will be having many "guests" in the house as AJ creates more friends. Today "bob" wasn't around, but at breakfast he asked me if I would like to say good morning to the "baby alien". (My kid really isn't posessed, he recently watched Chicken Little, so that's where the baby alien came from ~ I assume.) Then he told me he had to let baby alien in the window and he shared his breakfast and then they went to play. Baby alien actually made several appearances today so my guess he must be more fun to be around than bob. AJ has also decided TK's stuffed rabbit is his. It is currently in bed with him, after we all read stories that the rabbit wanted to read. I think this is all clearly a sign that I need to go back to work and get that kid back in daycare so he can have some real friends. Actually I just really want to go back to work, not full time but part time would be divine. So we will see...... well I'm off to see if I can get at least a couple of hours of sleep before TK wakes up ~ she has been crying for about 3 days now (normally she never ever cries) so that would be great if that would end now(-:

The new addition

Well today AJ told me he had a friend named "Bob". Mark thought he had said something about him the other day, but we weren't sure since we had never heard of him before. I had not previously done any research on imaginary friends so I immeditely looked it up on line and seems like its ok and rather normal. Well apparently he likes this new idea, because as we were running errands he asked if Boots the Monkey (this character is from Dora) could ride with us. So we'll see how long this lasts! On a different note... my cooking skills are still needing help (alot of help!) I messed up box brownies tonight! After I got done making them up and I was cleaning up I found the chocolate sauce pack that I was supposed to mix in. Oh well I don't think that will stop us from eating them.

the kids

Here's a story I forgot about yesterday. My mil gave me a set of pjs for christmas, that included one of those things you put over your eyes to give you peaceful sleep. Needless to say I don't get to use it much, but AJ thinks it's great. He normally puts it on his eyes and says, "I'm going to sleep now." Well yesterday he pulled it over his head down by his shoulders and said, "Look mom, I got my boobs on." I thought that's nice, real nice.

On a different note, TK slept all night in her crib... this is the first time in her life this has happened so quite a milestone as far as I'm concerned. Plus she only woke up 2 times. Normally she is somewhere under 4 times.... I realize she will be 10 months soon, but this is what she does. Long ago I decided I must be a bad parent when it comes to sleep because AJ didn't sleep through the night until he was 18 months old and he didn't sleep in his own bed until he was 14 months old and even then he didn't stay there all night. Oh well soon enough I should be able to sleep again... and I suspect a completely different person will emerge once I can do that!!

Time to make milkshakes and then I'm outta here for mno!!!

The quiet moments

For now all 3 kids are sleeping. (Lucy is here today.) Normally I'm sleeping during this time, but since I went to bed at 8:30 last night and TK only got up 3 times I'm not that tired right now and there no sense in cleaning since in about 30 or so minutes at least one of these kids will be up again dumping all the toys out. So I thought perfect time to update everything (and report our missing blockbuster movie.) I love this time of day when the house is so quiet and peacefully... I'm just praying the dryer doesn't go off and prematurely end nap time... I don't know why I turn that thing on before they lay down. JM officially starts his new position today! Well naptime just ended, so will this post before I get "help" typing it!

make-up artist

So AJ is doing a wonderful job listening lately (I say this sarcastically), I understand this is just a developmental phase, so I'm trying to take it all in stride. So as I was getting out of the shower this morning I see AJ disappear around the door with my makeup bag and of course he had no intention of bringing it back. So I go as fast as I can out the door to catch him, but he is fast! By time I got to him both he and TK had big black smudges on their eyes and TK had a huge gob of foundation on her face. Lovely!! So after I repirmanded him he looked at me and said, "mom, you be happy." I guess it's his way of saying lighten up lady! Looking back on the situation I should have taken some pics before I cleaned them up. Oh well, I have a feeling it will happen again.

oh my ~ July 11, 2007

This is my first blog.... I know a little behind the times, but eventually I get it (right?!?!). Today was a Lucy day so we just hung around the house and tried not to crazy!! It's fun though to watch all the kids playing together... I say that like 3 is a lot of kids, but to me sometimes it is! Well this is short one for the first one, but I hope to do this on a regular basis.