Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! -2 Peter 3:18

Saturday, August 31, 2013

TWO!!

Our sweet girl turned 2 today!  I can't believe it!  She just lights up our world, and we can't thank God enough for giving her to us!  
 

Birth Day 2011





 
1 year old.  Remember the candle debacle of 2012? Haha... hoping today's party goes better! 
 


Here is her yearly chair pictures.  2 weeks - 6 months - 1 year - 2 years.  Not my baby anymore!

 




Happy Birthday!  We love you!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Visit to the Fire Station


Some friends from Luke's preschool class set up a visit to one of the fire stations this morning.  We invited Ben along, and they had so much fun!  Audrey was a little scared and pretty much stayed by mommy or Aunt Ali the entire time.  When Luke was 2 he was scared of the fire truck as well, go figure!  The firemen were super nice, and the kids got to sit on the truck.



Then one of the firemen showed the kids all the gear.  Man, it looked hot!


This was Audrey most of the time.... happy to be held, but freaking out a bit, when put down.


The only time she ventured away was to very quickly grab a fire hat from the nice fireman.




The kids had so much fun, and I highly recommend calling your local fire station to set up a visit!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Joys of Potty Training



Audrey is officially potty trained.....well sort of!  I had no expectations at all of potty training her before the baby.  She is not even two yet, and Luke was not potty trained until about 2 years and 9 or 10 months old.  He just wasn't having it.  I never dreamed that I would be able to train a 1 year old, but this girl started showing signs she was ready, and drove me crazy in the process! 
 
A few weeks ago, she started taking all of her clothes off constantly.  She would rip her diaper off as well, and if we were home and I wasn't watching her like a hawk, I would turn around and clothes would be everywhere.  She even tried this at the grocery store, where I am sad to say, we lost a shoe. Very frustrating!  She would also want her diaper off if she even had one small pee in it, which was new for her.  Well, after a few frustrating weeks of this, I decided training her was worth a shot, but had very low expectations.  Here are some pre-potty training pics.
 
At Benjamin's house clothes were coming off as well!  
 

I caught her naked on her hands and knees cleaning up a puddle of pee.  Hey, at least she was trying to clean it up. :)


After many times of telling her to leave her clothes on, I find her again naked, and off to naked time out it is!


Enough was enough, so one morning I woke her up, put on the panties, and gave it a go.  She was so excited, and of course her brother had to be included as well. 


Day 1 was off to a slow start.  After pumping her with juice, she had been up for 3 hours and had still not gone.  No accidents, but nothing successful either.  I was determined to catch that first pee in the potty, so we spent a good part of the morning sitting on the toilet singing songs.  Finally, this girl went pee pee, and we were successful at getting it in the potty!  I was amazed, because honestly that was all it took.  She would pee maybe a few drips in her underwear, realize what was happening, stop herself and come to me, and finish in the potty.  It was amazing, and I take no credit for how easy it was, she just did it.  We stayed home for two days, and she continued with her success.  I went ahead and kept her in a diaper for naps and nighttime, but she was dry during the day. 

Here we are venturing out on day 3.  No accidents at the grocery store either!


I am happy to report that almost two weeks later she has kept it up, and even stayed dry at church.  Here is our little cutie in her new princess undies.


Now with all this success, I thought I was in the clear, but then I realized she is not poo pooing in the potty.  In fact, she is holding it and now cries if she has to poo poo and refuses to do it on the potty.  In fact, we have had several times where she has pooped in her panties, literally seconds after getting off the potty.  I'm a little concerned, as I don't want her holding it in and having constipation issues.  This is totally new territory for me, as Luke did both poo and pee training at one time.  If anyone has any poo poo tricks, please let me know! 

Overall, I am extremely thankful to have her mostly potty trained.  I never in a million years thought I wouldn't have 2 in diapers come September, so that is a huge blessing!  Now if we can just master the poo!

Nothing cuter than a little tushy in some Elmo panties!



Thursday, August 8, 2013

33 Weeks


I am currently 33 weeks pregnant, and can't believe we are getting soooo close!  I also can't believe we still don't know the gender, and the fact that it is getting so close makes it even more exciting!  Brian and I are very happy with our decision to not find out, and we still really think it is a girl.  I am feeling pretty huge at this point, and it seems like there is no way I can get bigger, but I know from past experience, I can.  Rett and Ashley's wedding is less than a month away, and I was able to squeeze into my bridesmaid dress the other day.  Crossing my fingers it will fit at almost 38 weeks pregnant!  Geeze...won't I be such a vision! ;) 

I am feeling ok.  My back has been killing me, and I am so so tired, but I am also so thankful and feel amazingly blessed by this pregnancy.  While I know everything is up to God, the plan for Brian and I is that this is our last child.  I am trying to enjoy these kicks as much as possible, because I know this is probably it for me.

We still have not done a nursery.  Audrey is still in the crib, and I just don't want her out yet, because I know once she is, it will be a battle to teach her to stay in her room, etc.  We are going to hold off a little longer, and maybe tackle this once the baby is sleeping through the night.  We did however, purchase Audrey a new dresser, and already have a bed and nightstand for her, so we were able to move some of the furniture into the nursery, but that is all that we have done!  It is so funny, because I think I had Luke's nursery done at like 25 weeks, and this time around, it really wont be done until after the baby is born. =)

I saw my doctor today, and everything is looking good.  I had a c-sec with Audrey, so I will have one again this time around.  We finally scheduled it, and it will be Monday, September 16th at 9:30am.  While I know I could go into labor sooner, I just don't think I will, so this baby should be here is about five and a half weeks!  Wow!  Not only is that a short time from now, but here is a list of events occurring before the baby gets here:  Rett's bachelor party, Ashley's bachelorette party, Audrey's 2nd Birthday, Audrey and Luke starting school, and the wedding weekend!  It is going to fly by, and we can't wait to meet this little person! 

Thursday, August 1, 2013

More Birthday Fun and a Birthday Date

Here is one last post on our sweet birthday boy!  Chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate the morning of turning 4!
 

He is still a dress-up fan, and received many new costume options from family.  Army guy, knight, superman, the hulk, and spider man were among his new collection. 


 

Audrey cracked us up with this giant superman.  She got in this position all by herself, and was staring into his eyes laughing because he was the same size as her.  They may have practiced some dance moves.



Aunt Tracy was in town as well, and we celebrated her birthday, as well as Uncle Jeff's.  Audrey was a good present helper.


Obsessed with Knights!


 

 
And speaking of this obsession, we decided to take him on a special birthday date with just mom and dad to Medieval Times.  It was a hit to say the least, and we had so much fun just having one on one time with Luke.
 
Meeting the King! 
 

Learning about Falcons.



Luke picked the red knight to cheer for, and he ended up being the tournament champion!  He was soooo excited!


Our seats were right next to the King and Princess thrones.




Our Red Knight.



We had so much fun celebrating this boy!


 
Here is Luke's progression from 1 to 4 in Daddy's old swim team shirt.  He is not a baby anymore!