Bon Voyage!

It's offical, we booked our cruise today!!! Robin and I will be going on a 4 night cruise of the Bahamas leaving from Miami in the end of January. Since we never had a real honeymoon or vacation by ourselves this is long over due. We are so excited and a special thanks to Grandma Carol who will be flying out to stay with our kids while we are away!

I can finally post it!!

We had a picture taken of all the Great-Grandkids for my Grandma. I was able to get one of just my kids too. I had to wait until we gave her the big picture to post this one. It is a bit grainy since it is a scan. I love it!!

Merry Christmas!

I just up loaded all the pictures from Christmas onto flickr, so check them out. It was the best Christmas yet. Stephen was totally into it. All he wanted to do was rip open every single present he saw. Aria had a great time too, riping some paper then eating it. Lyhna was super excited about her new art easel. Stephen loves his new nerf gun with laser pointer. I spent all morning playing with every new toy with Stephen. It has been great.

First Giggles

I heard Aria's first giggle this afternoon. I was so cute! I have been doing every silly thing I can think of to hear it again. So far the only thing that works is "eating" her belly. I love it! She is also getting her first tooth. I can see a tiny white spot on her bottom gum. That sucker is going to bust through any day.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

He climbed onto the top bunk (without a ladder), opened her computer, and turned it on all by himself. Maybe a future computer programmer??

I Jinxed Myself

I am not going to talk about Aria's sleeping habits at night anymore. She got up 4 Times last night, 2 of which I just gave her nookie. Just when I get excited and think she id going to sleep at night, she gets up every 2 hours!! No more talking about it.

8 Days to go...

... Actually 7 for us. Santa always comes the night of the 23rd around here, because Lyhna is so special that Santa makes 2 trips for her. I think I am about 85% done with Christmas shopping. I could get the rest done in an hour or 2, without children or spouse. It takes twice as long if I don't go myself. I am really looking forward to Christmas morning around here. Stephen can't wait to tear open the presents under the tree. He points to every present under there and says "Open that one Mommy?" He already got into Wes's when I was in the bathroom, he is so quick. And little Aria is crazy about paper, so that should be fun too.

We are slowly getting closer to sleeping through the night on a regular basis. Aria still throws me for a loop every now and then. It is pretty typical for her to get up around 11:30 and 5 these days. I can totally handle that. It the nights when she gets up and 12, 2, 3:30, 5 that kill me. She is nothing like Stephen at this age that's for sure.

Well, it is nap time now and I am going to take advantage. I will finally eat something today, and wrap some more presents, maybe make a batch of cookies too. That depends on how long the munchkins sleep of course.

Projectile at Perkins

I thought it would be fun to take the kids to Perkins all by myself. Special Mommy kids time, as if I don't get enough of that anyways. Well, it started out great. Stephen was actually sitting in his booster nicely, Lyhna was entertaining Aria, all was well. Then right as our food got there, Aria burped. Stephen said "nice burpy baby", then he burped. No big deal right? Wrong!!! The next thing I know, there is lovely fountain of apple juice shooting out of Stephen's mouth right onto his pancakes and all over his lap. Where the heck did this come from? I don't think I ever have packed up 3 kids, put 2 meals in boxes, and paid a bill so quickly. Of course now that we are home, he is fine. I don't get it!

Where did my little boy go?

Last night when it was bed time, Stephen totally threw me for a loop. Normally, we brush teeth, read a book, huggies for Daddy, then running jump to Mommy for hugs, then Mommy carries Stephen to bed, some more kisses, "Nite Nite, see you in the morning," close the door. Well, last night it was teeth, book, huggies for Daddy, then... "See you later Mommy," goes in his room and shuts the door. WTF? I was completely cut out of the equation, and honestly kinda wanted to cry. Then about an hour ago... I hear: "Mommy I go potty", and see him run to the bathroom. That was great, but I went to check on him only for him to say, "Go way Mommy, I poopin.'" My little boy doesn't need me any more. He is only 2 and a half and is pushing me away... I can't wait until he is a teenager.

Living with a Nudist

Stephen has turned into a nudist. Ever since he figured out how to take his clothes off he won't leave them on. At least he will leave on his undies so we don't have to see his wienie all day. It really is a battle to go anywhere these days. I try giving him choices of what to wear. I have even tried to let him pick out whatever he wants, not matter how ridiculous he will look. He just wants to be naked.

Snowed In

Holy crap! When the weather man said a minimum of 6-12 inches of snow over night, he wasn't joking. There is easily a foot of snow and it is still coming down, possibly another 6 inches today! Of course Lyhna has a snow day.

I posted some new pictures today too (St. Nick and first foods). Lyhna got pizza playdoh, glitter lava, a Tinkerbell book, and lip gloss. Stephen also got playdoh, his own keys, and undies. Finally, Aria got bibs and food. Both of which she was very excited about.

Happy shoveling everyone!

6 Month Check Up

Aria will be 6 months tomorrow, where did the time go? She has started solid foods, although she will only eat it if I am the one feeding her. Weird! She can also sit by herself for a few minutes at a time now. When she gets really excited she flops over though. She still doesn't roll over often, she has done it but not consistently. The doctor doesn't seem concerned by that though, or the fact that she isn't sleeping through the night. The 6 month point is when teething and a huge growth spurt start, so she wasn't surprised that Aria isn't sleeping more than 4 hours at a time. Her new stats are:
Weight: 16 pounds, 10 ounces (66th percentile)
Height: 25 inches (25th percentile)

She got 3 shots, and the flu shot. She was a real trooper. She took the first one without a whimper, then the 2nd came and she got real pissed, then it was game over. But as soon as I picked her up she was done crying and passed out in the car seat. We went to Olive Garden for lunch and she slept the entire time.

Ta Da...

I think next year it won't be as big. It was a lot of work, and took lots of patience but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I told Stephen that it is Santa's house, so he better be good cuz he can look out the window and check on him. Now when he walks past it, "Mommy, Santa's house!"

Peas, Squash, Sweet Potatoes...

So far Aria loves peas. I think she would have gobbled down the whole container of them if I would have let her. I ended up giving her half with some cereal, but she definitely wanted more. I am just afraid she will barf it all up if give her anymore. So we will giving her the peas for a couple more days to make sure she is not allergic, then we will move on to something else for 3 more days, then go to fruits. I can't believe she is in the highchair eating solids already. She loves being in the highchair. Now I can just push her around the kitchen with me when I am cooking and she won't be left out. She likes being able to see what is going on and bang her toys on the tray.

Where did the last 6 months go. I feel like it was last week I was pushing her out, and now I have this little person with her own personality, attitude, likes and dislikes, oh and did I mention ATTITUDE!! She doesn't hold bad when you tick her off (who could she have gotten that trait from?)

The gingerbread house is slowly coming along. I have some half way point pics to post a little later. I will be one happy chicka when this thing is done!

Piggies!!

I am loving having a little girl!!

The Holidays are here...

My Wine Man

(I love it!!)

Thanksgiving was great up at the cabin. It gave great insight of what is to come for Christmas. Only half of all the grandkids/great-grandkids were there and it was chaos, but in a good way. Dinner was great of course. Unfortunately deer hunting didn't go as well. I guess the men didn't see much, other than a baby that was injured already. Robin put it out of its misery. We did craft hour with the kids. Of course Stephen wanted no part of it, but the girls loved it. There was lots of reminding to share, but no time-outs!

I put up the tree today and some of the other decorations that I have. Stephen was a great helper with the tree. We are still working on not touching the ornaments now that they are up. I need to get a good picture of all the kids for a Christmas card. I am really slacking this year. I meant to get a picture up north over Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen. So the wheels are turning my brain to come up with something creative for the picture this year.

I am planning on making a gingerbread house from scratch this year. Maybe this week sometime. Robin even expressed some interest in doing it too. He will be the architect and I will be the decorator. I am sure there will be some interesting pictures of that to come.

Over-Protective?

I started babysitting again last week for the little boy that I was awhile ago. It will only be Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the past 2 weeks it has only been on Tuesdays because I already had stuff going on. Anyways, last week (the first time I watched him the dad came to pick him up and said he got laidoff and didn't know when he would be going back. So last night I still hadn't heard anything about him coming over today. So I call, no answer. Then I text this morning and yes his is coming. The dad drops him off, "By the way, he is coughing and has a runny nose so there is some medicine in his bag." No big deal, kids always get colds. Well this kid is coughing so much he is choking, and the runny nose is constant green slime running down his face. I don't think I would care so much, but this kid is obsessed with Aria. He wants to kiss and touch her none stop. No thank you!! Why did I say yes to this again?

We've Got a Jumper!

Snowman!!!

Stephen calls snow "SNOWMAN." So we were outside playing with the snowman. I had to bribe him with fruit snacks to come in because his little hands were freezing but he wanted to stay outside and play.

I survived...

...My first weekend of hunting by myself with 3 kids. Daddy came home deerless, but that is perfectly okay with me. I spent "widows weekend" with my family in Milwaukee. I got the super family discount at Kohl's thanks to Gramma Popcorns lifetime discount. So now I am completely done with Aria ( I could have gotten her nothing and she wouldn't care), Lyhna is almost done (just need a couple toys), and I would like to get Stephen some little plastic dinosaurs then he will be done, Robin is done, Wes is done. All that is left is grandma and papa, my niece, and our exchange gifts for my family. Not a bad start before Thanksgiving.

It seems that we are getting farther and farther away from sleeping through the night. Maybe Aria is going through a growth spurt, or getting some teeth soon. She is back to getting up 2 time a night now, at midnight and 4am for a bottle. At midnight I just gave her the nookie a couple times but she definately wanted a bottle. I was really annoyed by this last night. I thought she did this Saturday night was because we weren't at home and she was in the carseat. I hope this doesn't keep up.

I just realized last night that my little Stephen isn't so little anymore. When I told him to go potty, he did without a fight. When he was all done he came running out saying "Mommy, I pooped!" Sure enough there was a big stinky turd in the potty. Normally I have to watch for the poop signals then tell him to go, not this time. Then, when it was time to get his jammies on he said "No Mommy, I do it." Wouldn't you know he got his pants on all by himself, and the top with very minimal assistance. When did all this start happening? I feel like I will blink my eyes and he will be moving out. Thank goodness he will still be my little buddy for a few more years.

Fancy Shmancy

I finally found Lyhna & Stephen's Christmas outfits. I was very disappointed with Targets selection for both boys and girls holiday stuff. Thank goodness for shopko. They will be super cute and all three will coordinate. I've had Aria's since before she was even born. Got to love The Children's Place outlet clearance sales. I got 2 different outfits for $1 each. I can't wait to see them all dressed up. Christmas will be very interesting this year. Three babies 6 months and under, 3 toddlers all 3 and under, and 5 big kids.... C-R-A-Z-Y!!

Not Ready..

...For Snow YET!!!

Videos

The first one is Aria playing with a really crinkly bag, really bad parenting. But she loves anything that makes that sound, so what the heck. Then the second is Stephen and Trevor having a dance party on Saturday. Those two have quite the moves.

Weekend Round Up

We had a pretty busy weekend here. Friday I spent at work, then we started out Christmas Shopping for the kids (See previous post). Saturday was spent in the kitchen. We made 2 home made pizzas to take with us to a birthday party that night. Robin also requested more white chocolate chip-chocolate cookies, and then I made baked rigatoni for an early dinner. When we finally made it to the party, we had a blast. Robin and all the other guys were in the basement playing poker, while all the wives and kids were upstairs. Stephen and Trevor (Stephen is about 2 months older) were instantly best buds. They ran around and jumped off the ottoman onto the ground so much they both were covered in sweat. Then there was Aria and Trevor (Trevor is about 2 1/2 weeks older), they sat and smiled at each other and did their little baby talk. It was really cute. Stephen stayed up the entire time, I thought for sure I would be able to get him to crash on the bed with his jammies and blankies, no way. He was happy and running around the entire time.

Aria has really found her voice the past couple of days. It started in church yesterday. Every time there was music or singing, she got really loud and squeaky, as if she were singing too. She was quite the chatter box the whole time. I think I was laughing silently through the whole service. Last night she didn't want to go to bed either, she just wanted to stay up and talk to us. But after such a long night on Saturday, both kids went to bed around 8:30 and they cried together. I am such a mean Mommy!

I posted a couple of pics on Flickr and I am working on 2 new videos, so check back in the next few hours!

A Good Start

***Updated Below***

Yesterday we hit the doorbusters sale at Toys r Us and did really well. I think we got a pretty good start on our Christmas shopping for the kids. We ended up mostly getting Stephen stuff, so he is probably half done. My nephew is almost done too. So I feel really good about that.

Stephen is in a funk today. I couldn't get him to eat lunch, and now he is totally fighting his nap. He has been crying for about 15 minutes. I will not go in there and let him out. We are going to a friends birthday party tonight, so he definately needs to take a nap.

***45 minutes and one poopy diaper later he is still crying, not sleeping!!***

Not much going on...

I haven't posted in awhile, really because nothing is new. Aria stopped sleeping through the night, of course. I had a feeling she was just playing me. Stephen is still getting in trouble all the time, but his vocabulary is improving everyday. He actually talks on the phone every now and then to grandmas and daddy. Lyhna got her first report card of the year and is doing wonderfully. Conferences were this week but someone, who shall remain nameless, misplaced our sign up sheet for one. So there were no open spots for us, but apparently she is doing very well and is not letting her social life interfere with her ability to stay on task. That is great to hear after the last two years of comments from her teachers about her being very preoccupied and distracted.

I am hoping to start some Christmas shopping this weekend, since we do not have Lyhna. Kohls is having one of their huge sales today and tomorrow, so I hope to check that out. I really am at a loss what to get the kids this year. Aria is at the age were all she needs is clothes because she is growing like a weed on steroids. Stephen on the other hand doesn't really need any clothes because his Auntie Nay Nay sends tons of hand me downs from cousin Wyatt (thank you btw!!) He has bins and bind of toys already, half of which he doesn't even play with. I suppose that means I need to sort through everything and get rid of some stuff. And then there is Lyhna. She doesn't really play with toys anymore. She is into more crafty and scientific type things. But then again I think she would be perfectly happy with a stack of notebooks and pens, she never leaves home with out those. But she DOES need clothes, because she too is growing super fast. So maybe I will get the clothes shopping out of the way this weekend.

We have our meeting with the pastor tomorrow morning, so hopefully we will figure out when we will be doing the baptisms then. He is quite the talker, so I hope this doesn't drag out forever. Maybe the kids will be horrible and he will speed things along. Is that bad of me to think that?

Hmmm, I think that about sums up our week. Oh, any suggestions on what to wear for our first ever family portrait. I don't really want to do a Christmas theme, although that seems to make the most sense. So that leave coordinating color scheme, but what color is the problem. I think Robin is the pickiest one of all of us so that poses some issues. I will probably go with jeans and white/cream tops. How boring!!!

For nothing going on, this ended up being a really long post. Can you tell I am bored at work?

FINALLY!!!

After a few months of not trying really hard to sell the Escape, it is finally G-O-N-E!! This kind of weird chick with 3 kids from 3 different dads (why she felt the need to tell us that is beyond me) finally came and bought it today. She has been calling and emailing for a couple weeks. Words can not express how happy I am to no longer have a car payment on a vehicle we very rarely use!! Adios Escape, I will not miss you!

No Way!

Last night, after almost 4 years of marriage, my darling husband just informed me that I snore and always have. WHAT!! I do NOT snore. I haven't snored since the 2nd grade when I got my adnoids removed. Apparently it is getting worse and is keeping him awake. He said the other night he pinched my nose shut for a couple minutes to make me stop. I had no idea. I can only justify it by saying I am so tired from chasing a 2 year old and almost 5 month old all day, and only getting broken sleep for 4 months. I truely did not believe him at all. There is no way I have snored this entire time. But he swears he remembers the first night we spent together I snored then too. I guess I need to get some breathe right nose strips. Those are really hot, I am sure I won't be able to keep his hands off me with those on.

Fall Fun

Well Rested...

My princess has finally decided to sleep through the night. We figured out a schedule that really works, for now anyways. She gets really cranky between 6-6:30pm and I can tell she is tired. But I never wanted to put her down that early because that meant she would be up an extra time in the middle of the night. Well, I gave in the last two nights and put her to bed early. She woke up around 9-9:30pm for a bottle and a few smiles, then back to sleep for the rest of the night. I am not sure what time she got up yesterday since I was at work, but today she slept until 6:30am. It is amazing how much more rested I feel when I sleep straight through, that broken sleep stuff is crap!! I really hope she keeps this up.

Thank You Aria!!!!

Sick of it!!

I am so glad today is the election. I got my mail and there was 6 different political fliers in it. The commercials are rediculous too. I know this is a HUGE election, but I am sick of it!!

Baby news:

• Aria is consitpated! I was told to give her 1 oz of prune juice in between regular bottles and take her temp rectally to stimulate things. Fun stuff.
• She is sitting up a lot better these days. She still loses her balance and flings herself backwards and tips over sideways, but is definately getting stronger.
• She is rolling over more frequently.
• During her bath last night, I swear she was trying to swim.

Untitled

We have been going to church for quite awhile now. The kids do really well considering that our church does not have a day care, only a crying room (which has been utilized more than once). Each kid has their own bag of activities and snacks to keep them occupied. Anyways, it is now in the works that Stephen, Aria, and myself will be getting baptized. We don't know the official date or anything yet, but I do know that it will be a Saturday. I will not get up in front of the whole congregation and do it. We are meeting with the Pastor in the next couple weeks to make a plan. I will keep you posted as far as a date goes for those that wish to come support us.

Day Light Savings can kiss my a$$!!

Why does the whole world have to get all messed up so the farmers can have more daylight in the spring (or whatever the whole purpose of this crap is)? I can deal with it, but my kids are totally effed up on their schedules now. I am not a morning person, never have been. Well, how nice was it that both my children are wide awake and ready to play at 6am. Before Aria came along my little buddy would sleep until at least 8:30am. Now I am lucky if he stays in bed until 7, whether or not Aria is up. I admit I was totally off last night. Aria is teething and very cranky, so I gave her some baby motrin and put her to bed. Opps! I didn't realize it was only 6:30, I thought it was 7:30 ( 1 hour earlier than normal, not 2). So now that everyone is up so early, nap time is going to be screwed up to. I am debating to whether or not to go to storytime at the library because that will be about the time that the sleepy devil will emerge.

Okay, that was my rant about the time change! All done. Have a great Monday!!

I did it!

I voted today!! Robin was home, so I went and voted early at the clerks office. It's done, I didn't have to bring kids with me. I feel good about it. Enough about that,

Now What do I do??

Now that we are done with Halloween, and the Spongebob making extravaganza is over, I am bored. I swear "projects" have become a minor addiction for me. I am working on an afghan that Robin requested, but that doesn't require any thought or planning. I just sit there at work and crochet. It doesn't get my crafty juices flowing. I find myself laying in bed conjuring up new ideas and projects. I have come up with a couple and may need to take a trip to good old Jo-Anne Fabrics in the next couple days. I won't say what my new projects will be, since they may be a Christmas present or two!!

All done...

Halloween is over for me. We did Trick-or-Treating at my sister's yesterday. It was soooo COLD. Well, the wind is what made it really cold. Poor Stephen had a hard time walking when it was so windy. We got plenty of candy along with playdoh, dolls, and slinkies. It was really great to finally meet my new nephew too. He is still sooo tiny, he made Aria look like a moose. We were able to get a really good group picture will all the kids. I think they would have stayed there another 5 minutes saying, "CHEESE, CHEESE!" It was a long day with no nap for Stephen, so he passed out within 5 minutes of being on the road to go home. We weren't even on the freeway yet!!

Check out lots of new pictures of pumkin carving, playing in leaves at Gramma and Paps's new house, and trick-or-treating!!

High Demand for Spongebob!!

I initially listed the costume I made for Stephen on Ebay starting at $10.00. Well as of right now it is up to $43.50, with 7 hours to go. So yesterday I went and got everything to make 2 more. I listed those at $10 or "buy it now" for $45. Wouldn't you know one of those already sold!!! I can't believe people will spend $45 on a grocery bag wrapped in felt to look like Spongebob. I may need to make some in advance for next year to sell again. CRAZY!!!

Gotta Love Hand-me-Downs

Baby #1

Baby #2

LeAnne- If you want this I will bring it on Suday. It is pretty snug on Aria now.

Potty Update

It's been awhile since I mentioned potty training. It is still going well, as long as I tell Stephen to go potty. He still will not tell us when he has to go. And pooping is still an issue. About once a week I can get him to go poop on the potty. I was really good at timing it out for awhile, but he suddenly changed his pooping schedule. So now when I get him in the morning the first thing he says to me is "Mommy I stinky." We are going out more and more without diapers. I will not leave without those rubber undie covers though. They are a godsend, only one time did his pants get wet when he had an accident.

Worth big $$$

Updated Below------

I was just looking on Ebay at Spongebob and Patrick costumes. Would you believe that there is one Spongebob going for $102.00!!!! And a Patrick for $54.00!!! The are not home-made, but I think mine are way cuter. Maybe I am biased, but I am seriously thinking of putting them up for auction on Sunday to see what happens. I don't think we will be doing Trick-or-Treat here on Halloween, since we will be going to my sisters. We won't need anymore candy than that. So my $20 investment, could turn out to make big money!!

I put both on Ebay, and there are already bids on Spongebob!!

Why isn't it working!?

I have been working out really hard for about a month now. And really watching what I am eating. So I don't understand why I am not losing any weight, or even just toning up. I really don't care about losing any weight as much as I would just like to tone up. I don't care about the number the scale says or the size on the tag of my jeans, I just want my regular clothes to fit better. I tried on my prom dress before I tore it apart for Lyhna's costume, and it did fit. So I shouldn't be so upset about this. It is really hard to put in so much effort, but not see any results.

Ready for Halloween!!

I am officially done with all 3 costumes. I tried again to go buy a yellow shirt and pants for Stephen, but refuse to spend $30 on something he will wear one time. So I bought a $3 white turtleneck, and some $2 yellow dye and made a yellow turtleneck. Then I used the leftover yellow from the actual costume to make some pants. They will be really itchy, so he can just wear some sweats underneath. I also couldn't find those nerdy athletic socks with the red and blue stripes on them, so I used an old pair of white ones and drew the stripes with marker. Some would say I am cheap, but I prefer to say crafty and frugal!!! I also had to make some minor adjustments to Lyhna's after her costume contest, so hers is done, AGAIN. I am really excited to take Stephen Trick-or-Treating this year. He had fun last year, but I am sure it will be 10 times better this time around. I have been working on getting him to say "trick-or-treat" but I he will say is treat. I am sure he will go to every house and just yell CANDY!! I feel very proud that I am able to make the costumes for my kids. My mom always made ours, I think it is really special to be able to do the same for mine.

While I was out and about today I picked up a few Halloween treats for my favorite niece. I think Stephen is jealous, but he has something very similar. See you guys soon!!

Weekend Round-up

This past weekend we (Robin and I) went to a wedding in Green Lake. It was a really nice, small wedding. The food was ok, but the band!! Have you ever been to a wedding with a live POLKA BAND??! I now can say that I have. For being a polka band it wasn't so bad, they did play a few current songs with a polka-twist to them. Needless to say, not much dancing on my part. Grandma Bee came to stay with the kids overnight. I can not thank her enough. It was soooo nice to get away for one night and not worry about the kids at all. All though I did snatch a friends baby (he is 2 weeks older than Aria) for about 15 minutes to get my fix. All in all it was a great night.

I was really busy this past week working on Lyhna's Halloween costume. Her mom called me on Wednesday to ask me to make her a snow queen costume, oh by the way can you have it done by 8:30am Saturday!! Well I made it happen. It is the best damn snow queen costume you will ever see. She went to BOOFest here in Neenah on Saturday morning and entered in the costume contest. She took 3rd out of 30+ kids. So I guess that means I did a pretty good job!!

What else.... Oh I just got back from the doctor and I have Laryngitis (sp?). Isn't that fun. I felt like I was getting a cold all last week, and during the reception I completely lost my voice. I haven't been able to find it yet! It is really hard to yell at Stephen when I need to, or do baby talk with Aria. If you could hear me it is really quite ridiculous!

Lots of new pictures up on Flickr!!

My babies...

You are never to big to become a baby burrito. I truely think that Stephen will be 10 and still have his blankie. (I wonder where he might have gotten that trait from). I tried to put him down for a nap while his blankies were in the dryer the other day, it was a 20-40 minutes that he screamed in his room. I gave him his blankies fresh from the dryer and he was asleep within 5 minutes!!

There is another "bunny baby" in the family now. She has the death grip on that thing!!

Video

Check out my video bar------> Stephen is singing and dancing!

I have FEET!

Aria discovered her feet. All day long she is grabbing at them now. Whether she is laying down or sitting in your lap, all she wants are her feet. I am sure they will be in her mouth before long. In other Aria news, she rolled over the other day. She went from her tummy to her back twice in 2 minutes. Of course she hasn't done it since. I also started to give her some cereal at night. Some days she loves it, others she wants nothing to do with it. Some nights she sleeps straight through the night, others she doesn't. I can't seem to figure this kid out. Right when I think I have predictable routine, she switches it up on me. She is quite the diva and runs this house!!

Yucky

I am starting to get sick. You know that sore throat, upset tummy, heavy head, and hot mouth feeling? Yep that's me. I am really bummed because we have a wedding on Saturday. Grandma Bee is coming to stay the night with the kids, so Robin and I were really looking forward to the night away. I hope I feel better by then, maybe it is just a little bug that will pass really quickly. I am drinking tea and hope to sleep when the kids are napping, so maybe I will feel better. It could be from the lack of sleep lately too.YUCK!

Mystery poop

I didn't get to bed until almost 2am, then Aria had a really rough time from 4 until 6:30am. I think she is starting to teeth. Nothing I did calmed her down. I felt sooooo bad, and then Stephen woke up from all the commotion too. So... they both had really poopy diapers at 5am. Which one is the culprit for the poop stain on my shirt??? Fun stuff let me tell you!!

Where is the yellow????

Seriously, I can't find yellow sweats ANYWHERE!!!! I have looked at Target, Walmart, Kohls, Shopko, online at hanes, champion, fruit of the loom, amazon... EVERYWHERE!! I really think they don't exist. I need them for Stephen's halloween costume. I think I may have to get white and then dye it yellow. I am very frustrated with the shortage of yellow in the world!!!

Sneaking in the crib...

Last week I decided that enough was enough. No more baby sleeping 2 feet away from me. So I put the crib up again in the kids room. For those of you counting, that is 3 kids in one bedroom. Well, 2 during the week and 3 on the weekends. So far, Lyhna is excited about it. She even said that if I have a bottle warmed up, she would get up to feed her in the middle of the night. I am glad to see those motherly instincts in her, but she has yet to wake up when Aria does at 3am. The only problem we are having is that, Stephen like to climb into the crib at night. 3 times I poked my head in the bedroom last night and every time he was in there, turning on her nature soother. I woke up in a panic when Robin was getting ready for work this morning because Aria didn't get up to eat last night. My first thought was, OMG Stephen climbed in the crib again, used her as a pillow, and suffocated her and now she is dead. Obviously, that didn't happen, she just slept through the night. YIPPIE!! Naps haven't been an issue so far, in fact I think it is making Stephen sleep deeper. Right now I just put Aria down while Stephen is asleep. He didn't even flinch. It used to be that every time I would open the door to check on him, he would instantly wake up. So far, so good.

Aria had her 4 month check up today. 4 months already, I can't believe it!!! She is 14 pounds, 6 ounces, 23 inches long. She is "perfect" according to the doctor, just a little "petite." What a nice way of saying that she is a midget (only in the 16th percentile for her height). I did bring up my concerns with her snorting. She constantly sounds like she is congested, but there is nothing there to suck out. The doctor looked up her nose, and she does have swollen turbinates (circular bones in the bridge of your nose). I blame dear old Daddy for that one. He got shots in his turbinates to shrink them down during is deviated septum surgery. There is nothing we can do now, she is still to little. If if continues to be a problem as she gets older we will address it then. She also got 4 shots, man I hate that. The only good part about that was that she was really hungry by then, so I just gave her a bottle and she stopped crying, then slept the whole way home. Stephen also got the flu nasal mist while we were there. When given the option between a shot and the mist, who in their right mind would give their kid a shot when it isn't needed. I did not want to deal with 2 screaming kids.

Halloween costumes are almost done, laundry is never ending, and we have been hitting the gym really hard lately. Other than that not much else to update!

Happy Birthday Robin!!

UPDATED BELOW

Today is my darling husbands birthday. I am going to make it as special as possible for him. I already had a little home-made gift waiting for him when he got up at 5:30 for work this morning. (That only happened because Aria gets me up in the middle of the night!!) I plan on making a cookie cake and decorating it, getting balloons and streamers, and a few small presents. I hope to be able to get Lyhna before he gets home from work today too. So when he gets home we will have a mini surprise party for him, with just us. I hope everything works out!!

------------------

Robin ruined my surprise for him. As I was coming home from getting all my decorations, I saw him going home too (at 11am!!!) He took a half day and didn't tell me. So I sent him to the gym, then did all the decorations. It still was nice, but not what I had envisioned for the surprise.

A Bit Confused...

She wastn't sure which team to cheer for. I guess it didn't matter, they both lost.

New Picture

Doesn't it look like Wesley is smiling?!

New activities...

I have been on the look out for fun (cheap) activities to do with the kids. Especially now that winter is creeping in, I don't want to be stuck at home all day everyday. So far we have started going to storytime at the libraries in Neenah and Menasha, and of course there is swimming every Thursday night. I also plan on getting Stephen in another play/toddler class at the YMCA during the 2nd fall session. I came across this store downtown and was very curious. I looked it up online and am really excited to go. It is called Mom and Pop Place. It is a regular children's/Mommy store, but with a cafe, playgroups, story time, and informative discussion groups for parents. I can't wait to go!!!

Congratulations!!!

We are happy to welcome Mr Wesley David to the world! I have not talked to my sister yet, but I did get several texts throughout the night. I guess she went into labor and was dialating, so they did the c-section. He is 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 19 inches!!!! Congratulations LeAnne, John, and big sister Madisen!!! I can't wait to meet the little guy.


update: Mom and baby are doing well, no pictures yet. But she will have her laptop to send/post pictures when they get some time.

Biggest F*** Up Ever!

I made the HUGEST mistake at work this morning. I have never ever had a med error, until now I guess. Not just a simple, opps I missed this one. I gave the entirely wrong meds to one guy. They have the same initials so in my way overtired stupor, I got the guys totally confused and gave the wrong meds. I felt horrible when they called me to clarify why I said one guy got his meds, but the other guys were the ones punched out. I had a really hard time trying to sleep today because I was so worried about the guy, and about what would happen to me. So far all is well, everyone makes mistakes; but boy oh boy this was a biggie.

Random side note: You know you are a mom and have no life when you go to Walmart on a Saturday night @ 8:30 to get Swiffer wet jet refills.

16 Days...

....Until a wedding in Green Lake.

I know everyone has seen those commercials for the Special K challenge, the one where you can lose a jean size in 2 weeks. Well I decided to give it a try. I want to lose about 5 more pounds so I don't have that disgusting muffin top when I where my jeans. I have been working out pretty religiously, but the diet is what gets me. I get really crabby when I restrict what I want/can eat. But I am trying it out anyway.

So here is the plan: I start out with a serving of any flavor of Special K cereal with 2/3cup of skim milk for breakfast. Then I get a snack between breakfast and lunch. Lunch consists of another bowl of cereal or a protein meal bar. Then another snack between lunch and dinner. Dinner is a regular healthy meal. And one more snack in the evening. Snacks are the protein bars, flavored protein water, flavor bites, or fruit. You should also eat a serving of fruit with every meal. I will say that all this protein stuff really does make you feel full. I started today and didn't even have the urge to snack on anything else (even the peanut M&Ms Robin was eating in front of me!) One day down, 13 to go. I am going to stick this out, especially since I invested quite a bit of money on all this Special K stuff.

I am going to be smokin' hot at this wedding!!

Great Weekend!

We took the family down to Cedarburg on Saturday for their annual Wine and Harvest Festival. I had a great time. Who wouldn't when you can buy a bottle of wine and walk around the streets drinking it all day. There were tons of little shops to go in, and the usual craft/food stands all along the street. It was around 80 degrees, so we all got a bit sweaty (Again I was glad to have my wine with me!) Lyhna had a blast because there were a couple spots to "mine" for gems along the way. She has quite the collection now. Stephen did really well too despite the heat and being strapped in the stroller most of the time. There were just to many people to let him walk with us, he definitely would have gotten trampled.

After the festival we spent the night at gramma and papa's house.(Probably for the last time, they sold the house) My sister, bro-in-law and niece came over for dinner and nice quality family time. Stephen had a blast running around and jumping with Madisen. There were minimal altercations from Stephen (he is quite the bully these days.) It was great to see everyone, it has been awhile since we all got together. My sister is ready to pop any day. I was secretly wishing she would go into labor that night, since we were already there it would have been mighty convenient. Little Wesley had his own plans though.

Sunday we stopped by my friend Ruchell's for a quick visit. She hasn't met Aria yet, so of course we went over there. It was great to see her too. We definitely don't get to see each other often enough! After Ruchell's we stopped at gramma and papa's "new house." That is were the real excitement took place. After we got the tour of the construction zone, we ended up in the garage. We were just chit-chatting when all of a sudden Robin yells "Stephen watch out!!" I turned to look and in slow motion the old kitchen cabinet came crashing down on him. Robin tried to catch it, but it still crashed down. Luckily the doors opened up and would have missed him completely but I think when Robin tried to catch it one of the doors smacked him. Still, he escaped with out a bruise or scratch on him. I think it scared him more than anything. And with that, we decided it was time to head home where everything is locked up and child-proofed.

It was a great weekend, now I am back to work since Robin is off this week. I am putting in almost 40 hours!! It has been a long time since that happened.

Happy Feet!

I added some new pictures to flickr today. Oh...BTW- Aria is in th 97% for her weight!!! What a porker!

Friendly Neighbor??

So when I opened my shades this morning, I saw my car door open. I thought "did I leave it open all night??" Then just as I was putting down Aria to go out and close it, some old ladies head pops up in my car. I was like WHAT THE "F" IS GOING ON!!!! I watched her for a minute to see what she was doing. I realized she was digging through my car for garbage. WTF?? Who does that? I was about to go out and give her a piece of my mind when I figured out it was the neighbors mom, who has been staying with them and cleaning (I assume to get ready for the new baby). So I just left her to her garbage picking. Super wierd right???

I can see!

So I realized I am horrible at taking my own picture. I think I took about 15 before I settled with this one. Don't mind the frizzy hair and the fact that it looks like I have a cataract because of the flash. So here are the new glasses. I was told when I got my eyes checked, that if they were the slightest bit worse than they are I would be required to have glasses to get my driver's lisence. OMG- I knew they were getting bad, but I had no idea they were THAT bad! Anyways, I love them. Robin hasn't seen them yet, I am sure he won't like them. Oh well!

Hmmmm...What do you think?

Aria 3 months

Stephen 4 months

Happy Monday

It was a pretty low key weekend for us. The weather was crappy, so the motivation wasn't there. I did try to find a dress for a wedding we are going to next month, boy was that a mistake. I didn't realize that every single teeny-bopper in the fox valley was out shopping for Homecoming dresses on Saturday. I only tried on one dress and gave up. At one store the line for the fitting room was at least 20 people long. I will have to try to go during the week sometime, when there is much less people.

Stephen started his swimming lessons on Thursday. It went really well. I was surprised that he actually did the skills that he was being taught. The only thing he didn't cooperate with was the jumping in part. That shocked me because the last few times we were able to go to the pools this summer all he did was jump in by himself. I think it had to do with the fact that the water was over his head (Even though Robin was in the water to catch him). 1 week down, 6 more to go.

We spent Saturday in the kitchen. We (mostly Robin) get these crazy ideas to make things from scratch. He has been perfecting his cheese making skills for a few weeks now. Then I started to make ice cream from scratch too. Our latest culinary adventure was making pizzas. I made the dough for the crust, Robin made the sauce, and of course there was the home-made mozzarella cheese. I may be biased, but the first pizza we made was the best pizza I had in a looooong time. I think we made a total of 5 pizzas with one extra crust in the freezer. I am so sick of pizza right now. We didn't eat all 5 by ourselves though. Lyhna had a friend over for dinner, so they got a special made pizza for them. Some friends stopped by on Saturday, so there went another pizza and a half. Robin took one to work today too, so that leaves 2 that we ate by ourselves. They were delicious!

Sunday we went to a friends house for the Packer game. I always get a little stressed out when we go to some one's house that doesn't have kids. I feel like all I do is chase Stephen around saying "no, no don't touch that." And now that we are potty training, that has a whole other set of challenges. I have a mini portable potty, that Stephen did really well with. But he feel asleep on the couch, and I didn't think to wake him up to put on a diaper. I was just to happy that he was quite and staying in one spot. Well, that was a huge mistake. I went to pick him up when we were leaving, and there was a huge puddle on the couch. I guess those rubber undies don't do much when he is sleeping. There are many days when he wakes up from naps dry, so I thought I was in the clear. Again, they don't have any kids, so I felt really bad. They acted like they didn't care, and it was funny, but I still felt awful. I cleaned it up as best I could, but I am sure it soaked in the cushion pretty good.

How was everyone else's weekend?

He Did It!!

Stephen pooped on the potty!!!! I was sooo excited, I took a picture with my phone and sent it to Robin at work. He was so cute when we put it in the toilet to flush. He said, "Bye-bye poopy!" I hope that he continues to do it. I just have to keep an eye out for his poopy face.

Karaoke Machine!

Here is a picture of me singing karaoke last Friday! I put a couple other ones on FLICKR.

Bye Bye Toys

Well, I am following in my sisters footsteps. Today I took all of Stephen's toys out of his room. The breaking point was when I took him out of his car seat, then went to get Aria out. In a matter of 5 seconds when I took her in the house he was gone. I found him in the back of our building running up and down the hill. Maybe I should have just taken his bike away, but this has been a long time coming. For the last couple weeks nap and bedtime have been horrible. The kicking and screaming, the banging on the wall, the turning on the light and playing, the list goes on. So all of his toys are in our closet, and I just need to get a special bi-fold door lock for his closet to keep him out of Lyhna's stuff. I really wish there was a child-proof light switch. I have searched everywhere and can't find one. If anyone knows of any tricks, please let me know. I am out of ideas. Tape doesn't work, the only thing I haven't done is take out the light bulbs. He has also started to bite and hit everyone (except Aria, thank god). Basically he is totally defiant in every way.

We started to take the kids with us to the YMCA again, instead of Robin and I taking turns. Aria, the one I was concerned about, slept the entire time. Stephen on the other hand, cried the whole time. He was really excited when we first got there. The whole walk from the car to the day care he kept saying "Mommy, I play!" And he took off the second we opened the door. But once he realized we left is when the meltdown started. I kept peeking in the window (they are those mirrors that the kids can't see out, but I can see in) to check on them and every time he was screaming by the door. We are going to try again today, I hope it just takes some time for him to get used to it again.

Also, Stephen is starting his swim lessons this week. They are every Thursday night for 7 weeks. I am sad that summer is over and all the pools are closed. Stephen was really getting the hang of jumping in the pool by himself and even going under water while holding his breath. So I hope he really likes this. I wish I could get him in some form of karate or martial arts to burn off all his energy, but you have to be 4 for those. And unfortunately all the pre-k/toddler classes are at different YMCAs. Maybe more will be offered during the second section of the fall classes.

A sad yet happy transition

Initially my goal was to breastfeed Aria for 6 months, but with me going back to work the weaning has started. Actually, she is doing the weaning not me. I am no longer able to pump enough to sustain her while I am gone at work all day. So she has been getting formula when I am not home. She is so used to drinking from a bottle that she is getting to impatient to nurse long enough to fill her up. I am still nursing when she gets up during the night and first thing in the morning, but that is pretty much it. She will be 3 months tomorrow, and that is pretty darn good in my book.
In other news, I am very excited to get going on the kids halloween costumes this year. Of course Stephen is going to be Spongebob Squarepants. And I am thinking that Aria will be Patrick Star, Spongebob's BFF. I think it will be really easy to make Aria's: Make a giant star of pink fleece or felt, make a hole for her face, stuff the top part so it sticks up, and put in a zipper-Piece of cake. Plus she should be nice and cozy in it. But I am still undecided on how to do Stephen's. There is the obvious cardboard box idea, but will that be to uncomfortable for him? Then I found a picture of one made out of a brown paper grocery bag with the felt over it to make it look like spongebob. The bag was stiff enough to hold the shape (plus I think with the glue and felt it would get a bit stiffer). Here is the link to the paper bag idea. I think It looks good enough for a 2 year old that will probably only wear it for a half hour:
http://www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com/spongebob-costume.html#c11

Running on pure adrenaline (or fumes)

It has been a really long time since I went out with friends...no kids or husband. So Friday night I thought I definitely deserved a night out. I had such a good time, and it really helps when you know the bartender at the restaurant. I didn't spend a penny!! And I did something that I swore I would never do, SANG KARAOKE! I obviously had quite a bit of liquid courage. From what my sober friend said, I sounded pretty good too. Needless to say I was in no condition to drive anywhere, so we left my car there and I crashed at my friends house. It was definitely a good night.

Saturday night I had to work a 12 hour night shift. Man was that rough. I got done at 9am Sunday morning, went to church at 10:30, then we had a cookout during the football games. So I did not get any sleep at all. I finally went to bed around 10:30 last night after being up for 37 hours straight. Of course Aria knew I wanted/needed a good nights sleep, so she thought it would be fun to stay up from 2:30am-4am. I can not wait until afternoon naps today.

Great news----Stephen stayed dry all through church!!

Time Flies

Where do I start? Aria is almost 3 months old already! Lyhna starts the 4th grade today! And Stephen is almost completely out of diapers!

Last night I realized that it is already time to change out some of Aria's clothes. All the premie and newborn clothes that seemed so big on her when we first brought her home look tiny now. So it is time to get out the bins of clothes from everyone and put back the small stuff and get out a new batch of bigger stuff. She is smiling and cooing more and more everyday. And the best part of all is that she has been sleeping through the night more and more.

I really can't believe that Lyhna is in the 4th grade already. The last 2 years have been kind of rough for her in school. She (like I was) is one of the younges in her class, so her teachers think that she is behind emotionally. I tend to agree sometimes, but sometimes she acts like a teenager. I had a talk with her over the weekend about trying her hardest to have a good school year. No forging signatures in her assignment notebook, no "forgeting" her homework at school most days of the week, basically to take resposibility for her actions and stay focused. I have high hopes for her, she is soooo smart when she wants to be. I think this year will be a challenge to keep her focused since her classroom isn't even a room. It is a section of the library blocked off by bookcases. Only time will tell how things will go.

Now for Stephen. We aren't having as many meltdowns anymore. I think a big part of it was that he couldn't express what he wanted. Now that he is talking so much better, he is able to tell us what he wants or what is wrong. Potty training is going great. We still have some accidents, but he realizes when he starts to go and can stop himself then finish in the potty. We still haven't gotten any poop in the toilet though, but we are getting closer. Over the weekend he was in the bathroom and shut the door so I knew something was going on in there. I left him alone for a couple minutes and when I opened the door guess what I saw. A giant log on the floor! I was very tempted to take a picture, but then I had visions of Jon and Kate Plus 8 so I decided against it. We have started venturing out for little trips in his big boy pants too. He has stayed dry every time so far. So now it is just diapers for naps and bed time. My little boy is growing up!!

We conquered Mt Olympus

We are back from the Dells and I just got done uploading a bunch of new pictures and videos from yesterday and today. I think Stephen is still a little to young for the big waterparks. He had a lot of fun in the indoor kiddie area, but everything outside was way to big. There were even a couple slides that I got a little nervous on. But it was great. I felt like a little kid again. I had to talk Lyhna into going down slides with me. This was the first real vacation that we have taken Stephen on, and of course Aria too. They had never been in a hotel before. I think we will be going every year from now on.

First Day Back At Work

Hmmmm, first of all let me say this sucks. My scheduler lied to me. She said there would me another person with me at this house, she doesn't get here until 1 (I got here at 8am). Although I am already bored so it would be much worse with another person here. I would much rather be home with my babies. I miss them already.

It will be interesting to see how Robin handled things at home without me.

Back to work

I am officially working again. I am working both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, then again on Wednesday. It should be interesting with Robin home with all 3 kids all weekend. I bet this will put a big dent in his plans to go swimming all weekend again. HA HA!!

Stupid Cashier

Last night we did our grocery shopping (I refuse to go by myself with 2 kids if I need to get more than a few things, there just isn't room in the cart). So I was already annoyed because we didn't even leave to go until 7:45pm, I don't like to leave after 7 with both kids. It throws my night-time routine all out of whack. Anyways, so we finally get done shopping everything is bagged and in the cart. Robin wanted to pay half cash and half on the debit card. No big deal right? WRONG!!! The dumb bitch screwed it up to the point where we had to unbag EVERYTHING and re-check out. You would think she would see a 2 year old and an infant, both of which are getting very cranky, and pick up the pace a bit or maybe even apologize. I was so pissed I nearly walked out with nothing. Eventually we made it home, but because of all that crap I didn't get Stephen to bed until 10, he usually is asleep by 9:15pm. What a frickin nightmare!!

Question

How do I get Stephen to poop in the potty chair???? I know when he is going, and when I try to get him to go in the bathroom he runs away and screams at me. So what do I do about the doodoo?

Updates from the potty

So far things are going pretty well. I would say that Stephen is definately getting the hang of this whole pee-pee in the potty thing. He does still have accidents, it seems like my timing is off by 5 minutes sometimes. He will sit on the potty for awhile, get up, then a few minutes later I hear "Mommy, potty." But by then its to late. He definately knows when he has to go, I just think that sometimes he just doesn't care if he is wet or not. He no longer fights me when I say its potty time. Yesterday he even woke up from his nap dry and went potty right away for me. That to me is a huge success. Still no poops though. And I still haven't ventured out of the house without a diaper on him. I think I will give it another week, but most times when we get home he is still dry then goes to the bathroom. Overall, I think this is going much better than I expected.

My 2 Babies

Stephen and Aria hanging out in their diapers together. Don't forget the blankies. I just made that blankie for Aria. I think she loves it. She snuggles right up to it when she is tired.

Enough already

I am soooooo over this "terrible two's" crap. All that comes out of Stephen's mouth is "NO! Don't! and Stop it!" It doesn't matter what I say, the response is always NO. Yesterday to test him I said, "Stephen do you want some candy?" Sure enough he said No No. I know it is just a phase, but holy crap this sucks big time. You better watch out if you dare to say no when he wants his Dora yogurt for every meal. That is when the kicking and screaming really starts. The whining is also driving me crazy. It usually only happens when he is tired. I have read to completely ignore your child when the whine. If you respond to it, it sends the message that it is okay to vocalize wants and needs that way. I am doing my best, but this kid is really testing me lately. Than god Aria is not being so fussy anymore, and is content sitting by herself for a bit longer. Or else I just might blow out my brains.

What the hell what I thinking having a baby when I had a 2 year old???

Chuncky Monkey

Aria had her 2 month check up today. She is doing great and the only concern that I had was her cradle cap that isn't going away. I have to get a dandruff shampoo for her, hopefully that will help clear it up. She now weighs 11 pounds 15 ounces (76%), and is 22 inches long (32%). I guess all that nursing every 2 hours is doing something. She has also started sleeping through the night. I guess I can deal with the frequent feedings during the day as long as she continues to sleep all night long. The worst part about the appointment was of course her shots. The bastards gave her 5!!! She was such a trooper though, by the time I got her dressed and in the car seat to go home she was already passed out. She has been pretty sleepy since.

Stephen did soooo good with the potty training yesterday. He went pee on the potty 8 times, one of which he actually told me he had to go. And we only had 2 accidents. Today is a different story though. Robin isn't being as helpful and consistent as I would like. He took a half day to help me out since Aria and I both had doctor appointments today. So I was gone from about 9:45am to 12:30 pm. Daddy wasn't able to get him on the potty at all while I was gone. So it looks like I will be starting from scratch tomorrow.

Success!

After being away all weekend, the potty training was put on hold. Now that we are home and getting back into our routine, potty training is in full force. So far today, we have had no accidents and he peed 3 times in the potty. Eventually I will have to move the potty back into the bathroom. Right now it is in the living room with a towel underneath it. Sometimes he gets very excited to go on the potty, but other times he goes straight to tantrum mode. I have a feeling this will be a long process, but at least we have a pretty good start going.

We spent the weekend in Oak Creek. Friday Robin and I had a little date night. It was really nice to get out again, we didn't even talk about the kids. It was sooo wierd, but very enjoyable. We stopped at Applebee's for an appitizer and drink, then off to the movies. Step Brother was pretty funny. I think Robin enjoyed it more than me, but we had fun. Then Saturday was birthday party day for Madisen. We were able to float in the pool for an hour or two before the party while Stephen napped. Man, I really miss floating in the pool whenever I want. We had a great time at the party. The bouncy house was a big hit with Stephen. Even some of the adults got in it. Aria was pretty cranky for awhile, but we still had fun.

Tomorrow Aria has her 2 month appointment. So I will be sure to update everyone with her new stats.

Potty Update

We got all of our potty training supplies yesterday, including little toddler boxer-briefs. He is sooo cute in them. We watched the Elmo potty movie and read a couple books. Then I got out his potty chair and he was sooo excited. All he wanted to do was sit on it the rest of the night. So since he was so excited about everything I decided to try setting the timer for every 20 min, then when it goes off, "It's potty time!!!" He would run to the bathroom and sit on the potty. He actually went in the potty twice and on the floor once in the few hours before bed last night. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was just luck, we will see how today goes. I can't believe this might actually happen. I am just as excited about it as Stephen.

It Is Finally Time

Time to start potty training. I have been doing lots of research this week and read the book that my sister gave me on potty training. A lot of what I read says that waiting to potty train after the age of 2 will make it more difficult. Boys tend to be more challenging, but what the heck. I am a stay at home mom and can make it my mission to do this for the next how ever long it takes. So here is my plan:

1. Go get potty training books and a video for Stephen. I think we will go to the library when he wakes up today, so he can start with those ahead of time.
2. Take a special shopping trip with just me and Stephen to pick out big boy undies and rewards, and a timer. Maybe even a sticker chart too.
3. Have a potty party where we get rid off all his diapers and bring out the potty chair. (Obviously I will have a secret stash of diapers for nap and night time).
4.Then next Monday will be the official start of potty training. We will be gone this weekend again so that would be a bad time to start. There is nothing going on next week so we can focus 100%.

I still need to get Robin on board with this too. I am sure he is just as ready to get rid of the diapers as I am. I just need to make sure he understands all "rules" so we are both consistant with Stephen so not to confuse him.

Wish us luck!

Spongebob Scooter

Happy Birthday Weekend

My baby boy is officially 2 now. Yesterday was his second birthday although we did most of the celebrating over the weekend up at the cabin. It was great to get away for a few days with no tv or cell phones. My sister, bro-in-law, and niece were there too so there was another kid to play with. We did the typical presents, singing and cake on Saturday evening for Stephen. He was so much fun this year. He couldn't wait to open his presents with very little help from me. Anything that was spongebob related was the greatest thing ever to him. I did post lots of new pictures from the weekend to flickr. Now I spend the rest of this weekend trying to get everyone back into their routines only to throw it all out the window this weekend when we head down to Milwaukee for Madisen's party.

Cheese!

Here is one of the first good smile pictures I have been able to get. There are a few more pictures on flickr (click the link to the right).

Just a Thought

Boy diapers are much easier to change than girl diapers. Baby girls have so many creases and folds. Boys... well everything just hangs out there, so you just wipe it off. Sure there is always the chance of getting a shower with a boy, but I would much rather change a boys diaper than a girls. I'm just saying.

Somewhat Productive Day

Even though it is now 3:00 and I was finally able to get Aria to sleep I got a lot done today. My major accomplishment was cleaning out the pantry/storage closet in the dining room. It seems to be the place where everything ends up. I think I will sleep better tonight knowing that it is organized once again. I also got a crap load of laundry done. Since we weren't home all weekend again, my chores were ignored. And I actually was able to do a few pages of Aria's scrapbook.

We spent Saturday in Berlin at the annual Bugle Mouth Bass fishing tournament. We didn't fish, but the $1 beer wristbands for all the beer you can drink was worth the trip. Stephen ran around and played the whole time, while Aria slept. The most exciting part of the day was when Lyhna won a raffle for a $200 gift certificate for Mount Olympus in Wisconsin Dells. I can't believe she actually won. So now we have to plan a trip to the dells before the summer is over.

Sunday was spent at the Oshkosh water park all day. For only $4/adult there is 2 water slides, a lazy river, pretty big pool with a play area for toddlers, a sand/water play area, and a separate water jungle-gym area. I took a picture, but it really doesn't do it justice. There are also a couple pictures of Aria hanging out in her stroller while everyone else is playing in the water.

Aria's nap is apparently over and she is starving... Later Gators!

For your viewing pleasure...

Must Read... It made me tear up

From PerezHilton.com:

This Might Make You CryFiled under: Sad Sad
This is so sad, yet touching.
Reece Fleming was diagnosed with leukaemia back in 2004 when he was just 4 years old.
He battled the disease for years until this May, when doctors gave the 8 year old boy only a few weeks to live.
The family decided to try and help him achieve most of his goals before he would pass. And one of those was to marry his school sweetheart, Elleanor Purgslove.
Reece's mother said "When we found out that we only had a few weeks with him we tried to do absolutely everything with him that we could. Him and Ellie had been 'special friends' for a couple of years but then they broke up. We said we'd have a pirate party, and Ellie came. She went to visit Reece a few times in hospital as well."
Then during a recent laser tag party, Reece "proposed" to his little friend.
After she accepted, their parents arranged a pretend wedding at Reece's home (not the kids pictured above).
The families went out to dinner in the mayor's limousine and organized the wedding with rings and even a fictional certificate.
The kids got married on July 4th. And Reece told his mom, "I can go now," after his wedding wish had been fulfilled.
His mom added, "He was so proud of her, and we were proud of them both."
The following day after the wedding, Reece died at home with his family.
Soooooo sad!
During the funeral, the mourners followed a horse-draw hearse on foot.
His mom added, "Even on the Saturday that he died, he got out of bed and walked to the sofa. He always tried walking, right to the end, so we thought if he walked for us then we would walk for him."
What an amazing little boy.

How did I get so lucky?

I thought the chances of getting both Stephen and Aria on the same nap schedule would be nearly impossible. Actually, I was looking forward to them sleeping at opposite times so I would be able to give each one some one on one attention while the other is sleeping. Now that they are taking their long afternoon naps at the same time, I think I was crazy for wanting them to sleep opposite each other. Stephen has always slept from about 1pm-4:15pm everyday. And now, without any coercing from me, Aria is sleeping from about 12pm-3ish every day. It is the greatest thing in the world. I am able to get the laundry done, clean, get dinner ready most nights, everything except vacuum. Don't get me wrong, some days I do take naps, and my house is far from spotless. But I do love my alone time!

Today I practiced my cake decoration for Stephen's upcoming birthday. I can't believe he will be 2 in less than 2 weeks. I am very excited to do his cake, well actually it will be a cupcake cake. I bought real decorators tips and frosting bags. I will not tell you what it will end up being, you will have to wait for the picture when it is finished. I think we will be spending his birthday up at "gamma and papa's" cabin. I am not sure we will stay the whole weekend, but I think we will try 1 night away from home. It should be interesting. I think my sister, bro-in-law and niece will also be going, so that makes 4 grandkids plus one on the way. I hope they can handle it.

Getting my butt back in gear

I have officially started to workout again this week. I forgot how hard it is at first. It's not like when you just slack off for no reason. After you have a baby, muscles are stretched out beyond recognition, some just disappear all together, and forget about cardio endurance. After working out for 2 days, I am so tired I feel like I could sleep for a week. Thanks Trisha for the cardio interval workout, it kicked my ass. The strange part about this, is that I actually like going to the gym this time. I lost track of time, I really liked the fact that I was sweating for a reason. I have always hated working out until now. I can come up with 2 reasons why I am enjoying it:

1. It is my ONLY time I get away from the kids and husband. I'm not "mommy" for an hour a day.
2. I know I'm not having any more kids, so it's not like I am working out for no reason.

Whatever the reasons, I am enjoying it and can't wait to get rid off the jiggles!

Going INSANE Today!

Have you ever had one of those days where any and everything that could go wrong will go wrong, or you can't find anything, and your child is tap dancing on your last nerve? I am sooo having one of those days.

• Stephen figured out how to take the door knob child lock thing off the inside of his bedroom door, then lost half of it.
• Stephen lost my car key. I took the escape key off the key chain since we barely drive it anymore and left it my purse. Well, that is now MIA. It is probably in the same spot as the missing Blockbuster movie and baby bottle. Seriously, where does he put this crap, I can't find it anywhere.
• The garbage bag leaked all over the floor.
• Our bathroom light switch is possessed. It will be flipped all the way on, but turns itself on and off. I am sure it will blow up one of these days.
• Aria had a major blow out all over my arm.

I think that is all for now, but it is only 12:00 so I am sure there will be plenty more to come. I finally can go back to work as of today, I need to get the heck outta here. So hopefully I will get some hours soon!