"Does he have to SAY 'poopy diapers'?"

(If you don't want to read about the bathroom habits of three-year-olds, then skip the first paragraph.)

Jack has been a really tough little guy to potty train. Mainly because he is WAY too busy to use the bathroom. It's kind of funny thinking of him being "too busy" to stop to go to the bathroom. I mean, what if an adult said that. "You know, I really just don't have time to go to the bathroom. I have to just go in my pants and deal with it later." Well, as you all probably know, I am due with baby number three in a couple of weeks. Changing three sets of diapers is not really something I am interested in. Especially with children that are so "regular" as my kids. I often change six poopy diapers in one day. Yeah. So, I was really ready for Jack to be ready. We have been trying on and off for a good while, but I knew he was never ready. Well, a month or so ago, he got to where he would pee in the toilet. He still won't tell us when he needs to go, but if we take him in there, he is very good to do it, and also he goes for long periods of time with a dry diaper. (I'm pausing now and thinking "really, does anyone need or want to hear this?" Surely the answer is "no", but I am so exhausted that I have decided not to care.) OK, so to the point... he was always afraid to poop in the toilet. This is a pretty common thing among toddlers, but it always seemed weird to me. I'd tell him to sit on the toilet and he would immediately get up and run out of the room. Well, a week or so ago he started pooping in the toilet (oh my gosh, am I still talking about poop?) Then after a few days he just stopped doing it. Well, the other day I had an idea. I grabbed his bath frog (a safety device that doesn't fit on our new bathtub, so he just keeps watch on the sidelines):



and started talking to Jack with "Mr. Frog" in a funny voice. I said "hey, Jack! What are you doing?! Are you going to poop?!! Wow! That's amazing!" Jack got really excited and decided he wanted to impress Mr. Frog, so he tried really hard and, sure enough, he did it! He has been pooping for Mr. Frog for a week now. But he mostly only poops if Mr. Frog is encouraging him. He always says "can you do Mr. Frog?" when he sits down to poop.

Well, Evie has a new obsession: toilets. I have really been having a hard time keeping her away from them. There have been several times in the past couple of days where she got into the toilet, even when I thought I had locked the bathroom door. Well, generally she just likes to put things in there. Toys, toilet paper... her hands. Well, yesterday she dunked this little penguin in the toilet.



Fortunately I had my phone with me. I very casually took a picture of her so she wouldn't think that I thought it was funny. Well, this morning I was in the living room with Jack. I hadn't heard from Evie in a while and I hadn't checked on her because I thought I had locked the bathroom door and there is really nothing for her to get into on that side of the house. Well, finally I heard her crying. She didn't sound frantic-- it was more like a "help, please!" cry. Well, I start looking in all the rooms, and I realize that she sounded far away. I go into the bathroom and Evie is sitting IN the toilet. I mean, she has the toilet seat down and she is just stuck in the toilet, only her torso and head sticking out. Oh man, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to run and get my camera, but I knew I needed to get her out and tell her that THAT is something that we just don't do. Well, that really amused me so I thought I would blog about it. That is all.

Cute things Jack has said recently:

"Mommy, I like your forehead."
"Evie, where's my kiss?!"
"Hey, what's the big idea?!"

OK, well I am extremely tired so I'm going to go to bed. You might be glad to know that I have done a lot in getting ready for the baby and what not. I feel much better. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, so I am hoping that I am not further dilated, because that could really mess up our holiday plans. "Go ahead and keep cookin' little fella."

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

When sitting here thinking about what to type, the first thing that comes to mind is "oh my goodness."

I feel overwhelmed when I try to think of all the things that should be included in this blog. But really, I just feel overwhelmed in general. Our life has been a crazy train this past month. We have moved away from Wyoming and are now somewhat settled in our new house in Bossier City, Louisiana. The settling process is quite slow going as I am so busy with Jack and Evie and I am very waddly and tired. Jeremy has also been very busy and tired (not so waddly.) He very often wakes up at 3 or so in the morning to go on jobs and usually gets home around 5:30. This usually means that he and I are very ready to go to bed at 9.

So the baby's due date is January 9th. I feel as though I'm going to just go into labor one day and not know what the heck is going on. I have not done anything in preparation for the baby being here. And I'm not just saying that. I've yet to retrieve his clothes from my sister, so of course I haven't washed them. I don't have his little bassinet set up, I don't have any diapers bought (well, I have PLENTY of diapers, just none of them are his size. At least I pray that he won't be born wearing a size 3.) I went to my doctor's appointment the other day and was alarmed when they told me I was actually dilated a little already. That's not what I was expecting to hear and although I was very happy when they told me, I later realized that that only meant that I was more likely to have him before his due date. Based on my other deliveries, I really was counting on him being late. I guess I should get on the ball. Maybe all the house decorating/organizing and the Christmas present shopping/wrapping will just have to wait this week. Maybe I should focus on the little guy that is presently jolting my stomach around quite violently.

All of this and I feel as though I am only talking about how overwhelmed I am. But really what I have been feeling more than that is overjoyed. We have already had several opportunities to see our family and friends. I have always been blessed with wonderful families, but now I am even more blessed to get to seem them virtually whenever I want. It's so wonderful that I can't express how happy I am, but that's mainly because I can't believe it. After having lived away from home and feeling so lonely on so many occasions, and having the kids being so far away from all of our family....oh. It's just too much to express, so I won't try.

I have many other things to say, but I am uncomfortable and tired and I gotta pee.

Coming to a city near you...

Boy have I needed to blog. If anything I've needed to blog just to get the word "weewee" off the top of this page. I've been meaning to blog for a while now, but it's the usual story. I'm too busy during the day, and too tired at night. No excuses, let's just get to the point.

We're moving! Sadly, some of you do not know this. All of you probably knew that Jeremy put in for a transfer, but a position has opened up for him in Bossier City, Louisiana. I am soooo very excited about the move. It's hard to believe it is actually happening. I have missed everyone in Texas so much, and now I will get to see you all so much more. My kids will be near all their family, which makes me happier than I can say. We will hopefully be moving into a house, which will be a huge change from this little condo. And really, a silly little thing that keeps boiling to the top when I think of what I'm most excited about moving... NO MORE SNOW. I really never thought I would be saying that. I was excited about the snow when we first moved here. It was nice because we didn't really have to worry about shoveling the snow or anything like that. But our garage isn't very close to our door, and the first winter I was pregnant and carrying Jack to the car, and trying not to slip. The next winter I was dealing with a baby and a toddler and the snow and the not-very-close-garage. This winter, I would be dealing with a pre-schooler, a toddler, and a big pregnant belly/tiny baby, the snow and a not-very-close-garage.... well, you get the picture. All this to say that I haven't really enjoyed the snow very much since I've been here, which has been sad. The one time I live near it and all it is is a thorn in my side. So, it sounds crazy, but I'm so glad I won't be dealing with snow this winter.

I'm also glad that this next baby won't be born in Wyoming. Not that there's anything wrong with Evie because she was born here, but I just don't like the state of Wyoming very much. Anyhow, it will be neat having all three kids born in three different states (Jack's the lucky one.)

So, our next step is house hunting! Jeremy and I will be heading to Bossier in just two days to look for a place to live. My mom left this morning to come take care of the kids so that Jeremy and I can go by ourselves. You know, we've flown quite a bit since we've lived here. It's hard to remember what it's like to fly without kids. Well, of course I will have one kid with me, but he doesn't fuss much...

After this trip, it will only be a matter of time before we move! Halliburton is paying for movers to move us (I mean, they will actually be packing up our boxes and moving them for us) and they might even be transporting our car to Bossier for us, so we won't have to make that trip with Jack and Evie in tow. Crazy!


In other news, Jack just turned three! We had a pretty fun little party for him here. His little friends came over and they had such a fun time running around playing. I'll post some pictures of his party now, and also some other ones, and maybe a video or two? Enjoy.

For the sprinkling wee-wee...

I was perusing all of my regular blogs and I was rather surprised to find that I won something! Check it!

I happen to know that "Button" is having a little girl, therefor, I am the grand winner! Most exciting.

No pee in my face THIS time around... no sir!

Here comes the son.

Well, it turns out that 11 of you were right. We are having a little boy! I don't know what it is that can make a mother feel so certain that she's having one gender or the other, but I felt so positive about this baby's boyness, that I would have been shocked if it had been a girl. Anyhow, we are very excited. More than anything, we are excited for Jack to have a little brother. Also, we are glad to help even out the boy/girl ratio on my family's side. This will make grandson #3 out of eight grandchildren. I'm thinking that Andrew and Charlotte will be providing the next boy. I mean, it IS their turn.

The pictures from our sonogram aren't very good. There are some pretty decent shots of feet and hands, but I was very sad when the little fella wouldn't show his face. Maybe he's shy. Anyhow, here are some pictures of our perfectly healthy looking baby (many thanks, God.)

Here's a foot:



Here's a shot of his face straight on. Again, not a very good shot, but you can see (or maybe YOU can't)that he has a chubby little cheek on the left side of his face.




A tiny little fist:



Here's his profile shot. Not very clear, but at the top, you may be able to pick out a little nose, and lips.



And finally, the tie-breaker shot:

Just for kicks...

I put a poll on the left hand side so that you can tell me if you think I'm having a boy or a girl. I feel pretty certain that I know what it is, but I don't want to give away the secret, you know.

Your vote is important!

A little bump, a lot crazy.

I was going to put a fork in the dishwasher just now. When I opened the dishwasher, there was steam coming out and I realized that it wasn't through running it's cycle. I quickly gasped and said "I'm sorry" and closed it very quickly.

Not really sure why I apologized to my dishwasher.

Anyhow, I thought I would take a profile picture for friends and family that live so far away. It's always alarming when you don't see a picture of a loved one until the third trimester. I'm trying to soften the blow. Here's me and Itsy Bit, 18 weeks along.

(Jack is Little Bit, Evie is Itty Bit, so of course this one is Itsy Bit.)

Hello darlin', nice to see ya...

Well, I know it has been a while, but I'm hoping to start up my blogging again with some sort of consistency. I don't think I've officially announced it on my blog, but we are expecting our third child! My due date is January 9th (coincidentally, the kids' aunt Jenna's birthday.) Pregnancy has been the reason for this blog scarceness. Jack and Evie's nap schedules keep me from napping, and by the time they are in bed at night, I usually just want to relax next to Jeremy on the couch... and the go to bed early.

I guess I have also been in a sort of slump for another reason. A month or so ago Jeremy put in for a transfer back to Texas. I think I really checked out of Casper early, thinking it was going to be a pretty sudden thing. Now here we are, still in Casper, no calls or anything like that. We still feel like it will happen, but I had gotten myself too excited into thinking it was happening soon. That combined with the exhaustion of my first trimester, I sort of gave up on Casper. Anyhow, my second trimester is here, I'm not nearly as fatiqued and I have really been trying to make more of our time here, whether short or long-term.

One reason I really need to jump back on the blogging wagon is that I have often used it to refer to Jack's milestones. Here Evie is growing up like crazy and I haven't been posting any of it. Well, I hope to change that.

Jack has been changing a lot. He's becoming more creative and imaginative. Evie has really gotten a lot more expressive and affectionate. She and Jack will run around the house screaming with each other and laughing. It's been pretty fun watching them play with each other. Jack loves on her so much and every once in a while, Evie will come up to Jack and lay her head on his back and kind of pat him. It's very sweet. Anyhow, they are too much sweetness and greatness and it takes a lot to keep from kissing them all the time. I can't imagine having another one as great as they are, but God is always astounding me.

So I guess I'll post some pictures and videos since that is my way.







Here is a video of Evie eating her birthday cake. Way overdue, but I mainly wanted to post it for the grandparents.

Veggietaled OUT.

I know. I haven't blogged in some time. We were in Texas for three weeks and then when we got back Evie got a stomach virus and passed it around to Jeremy and Jack and we've all been sick in some way for the past few days. Jack has been the most sick. A lot of laying around and watching Veggietales. Poor guy, he looks so pathetic. Anyhow, I was hoping that the next time I posted it would be a video and pictures of Evie eating her birthday cake. I made her a cake a few days ago and it's just sitting in the kitchen waiting for us to eat it. Anyhow, maybe tonight's the night. I hope so. One of my favorite all time memories is Jack eating his first birthday cake. Ok, just wanted to fill everyone in on why I've been so lame.

How 'bout some pictures to tide you over?

These winds and tides

I thought it worth mentioning that ten years ago today, Jeremy and I went on our first date. This seems very strange in some ways. But then there is a part of me that can't remember what life is like without him.






Thanks for loving me, Jeremy... and thanks for making it all so easy.

Virtual Planetoids

Evie had her 9 month appointment today... even though she's almost 11 months old (the doctor rescheduled and then we rescheduled.) Every time I bring one of my kids to see the doctor he comments on the hugeness of their heads (Both kids have never been under the 100th percentile-- it's always "off the charts."). When I was pregnant with Evie and we first started seeing this doctor, he showed a great deal of concern for Jack's head size. He kept telling me we needed to keep an eye on his head growth because it's possible that he could have hydrocephalus. I started getting extremely annoyed because I would keep saying "trust me, I have a big head, my husband has a big head-- our families are full of big-headed people" but he is one of those doctors that doesn't really listen to what you're saying. You know...he just sits there with his chart and doesn't really even look up. Every time I would remind him that it's hereditary and every time he would ignore me and say "well, if his head grows very much by his next appointment he'll need to have a cat scan."

Then Evie was born. I bring her into one of her first appointments and he says "oh, I guess large heads just run in the family."

Today doc reads all the measurements the nurse wrote down and he says "well, her head is very large..." I interrupt him in an exasperated tone (but he doesn't notice because he doesn't listen to me) "yes, both my kids heads are large. We ALL have big heads..."

Other than her freakishly large head, Evie is perfectly healthy and normal.


I'll go ahead and make this a full-out rant blog post...

Since we got the Wii in December, I have been gradually making my way through Mario Galaxy-- when the kids were napping, when Jeremy was on a job...

Never in all the time I had been playing Mario Galaxy did I have problems with the disc being scratched.

I finally completed as much as I could without beating Bowser, so I decided to take him on (on Mother's Day). I beat him and and there is a pretty epic cut scene. Before it finishes it starts skipping and I see this message:



Happy Mother's Day to me!

Since it messed up before the cut scene was over, I wasn't able to save my progress. I tried cleaning the disc later but saw that there was a very visible scratch on it.

I beat Bowser again and I got the same error message.

Fortunately Jeremy had already signed up for free 10 day trial on gamefly.com, and has added Mario Galaxy to the top of the list.

Well, that's all the ranting I have for now.

So long.

Too long for Flickr

I am sitting here posting some of my old pictures on Flickr. I started filling out a description for this picture. When I realized it was pretty long, I decided to blog it.

"An amusing story about this visit to the Empire State Building. When I was a junior in high school, and the seniors went on a trip, Andrew, Andrea and Jeremy all talked to me from the top of the Empire State Building. I was filled with jealousy and sadness because I wasn't there with them. My senior year, I forgot to call them when I was on top of the Empire State Building. A few years later, I returned to New York City with my friend Anna. I told her that this time I was determined to call Andrew, Andrea and Jeremy from the top of the Empire State Building. Maybe they could share in some of the jealousy I had once felt on the other side of that phone conversation. We get to the top, look around a bit, and then I busted out my phone card (old school!)

I call Andrew... no answer. I call Andrea... no answer. I call Jeremy's parents house. Jordan answers the phone.

"Hey, Jordan. Is Jeremy there?"

"No."

"Ah man!" (I think "Hmmm, maybe ~but probably not~ Jordan will share in my excitement!)

"Hey, guess where I am!"

"Where?"

"The Empire State Building!"

.....

"Why?"

Ugh.

Still seeking some kind of a response from someone... I call my mom, no answer. I realize that Meemaw is always an enthusiastic listener. I call her up: "Hey, Meemaw! I'm on top of the Empire State Building!"

"Oh, that's nice, dear...

Where's that?"

Nodding and Standing

Just a few things Evie has been up to lately.







(OK, so maybe I was encouraging the head nodding in the first video a little.)

Snowflakes keep falling on my head.

I wake up and there is snow EVERYWHERE! Yesterday it was 73 degrees. Now it's 27.

Gotta go get Jack's snow boots out.

Little bits

A couple of days ago, the weather in Casper finally reached 60 degrees.... for the first time this year. But when I look on the weather for tomorrow it says "Rain/Snow."

I've decided that a baby can't do anything more pathetic than crawling and crying at the same time.

Yesterday Jack experienced his first rejection from a girl. He was happily waving at his friend Mady, who is his age, and said "Hi, Mady!" She looked at him and said "Don't talk to me, Jack."

My heart melted the other day when Jack gave me a big hug, sighed, and said "my friend."

To me, these are the cutest things in the world:

-Jack reading this excerpt from the book Big Red Barn: "...with some little puppy dogs all round and warm."

-Evie waving.*

-Jack singing "Rudolph the Red-nosed-reindeer"-- particular this part: "...had a very shi-NY nose!!!"

-Evie's chubby little legs.

-Jack standing at his gate in the morning greeting me with "Good morning, Mommy!!"

-Evie, while sitting in her high chair, kicking her legs in excitement when you walk into the room.

-Jack making Evie laugh by tackling her with hugs and tickling her.

That is all.




*For those of you who do not have Flickr accounts, or are else not one of my Flickr contacts but would like to be, give me your email address. Most of my pictures are private and you can only see them if you have a Flickr account.

Time to eat cookies!

It's morning.
Cookie Monster: "Good time to eat!"
It's a good time to eat breakfast.

It's playtime.
Cookie Monster: "Good time to eat!"
It's a good time to eat a picnic lunch.

It's afternoon
Cookie Monster: "Good time to eat!"
It's a good time to eat snacks

It's evening.
Cookie Monster: "Good time to eat!"
It's a good time to eat dinner*.

It's nighttime.
Cookie Monster: "Good time to eat... COOKIES!**"



*The book says "dinner", but if you read it that way, Jack will correct you by saying "supper."
**It's important for kids to learn to sneak cookies into their room to eat after their parents are asleep.

Spring ain't sprung

Well, I would be lying if I said that today's snowfall didn't make me a little sad. I have been waiting for the change of seasons, and just when I thought it was here (yesterday it was 50 degrees) it began to snow, and snow, and snow. It snowed all day. But I'm not all disappointment, for I will be in TEXAS in only three days time!!

I found this comparison amusing, and I thought you all might as well.

Outside mine and Jeremy's condo in Casper:



Outside Andrew and Charlotte's house in Tyler:

Eight legs; eleven eyes

At Jack's bidding, I often draw Oswald on the Doodle Pro. Hmmm, could it be that some of you have never heard of Oswald the Octopus? This is Oswald:



He is a friendly Octopus voiced by Fred Savage, but this is not important.

After having seen me draw Oswald (see image)...


...Jack felt he was up for the challenge. Here is a video of Jack drawing Oswald the Octopus (after he attempts tracing his hand).


Note: I have seen him draw Oswald better and I have seen him draw Oswald much much worse.

Hiya, Daddy!

These are just a couple of videos from Easter.

Hippity, hoppity

Yesterday it snowed all morning and all afternoon. The snow didn't stick, but how bizarre it was shopping for Eastery things with snow falling all around. I was out shopping, trying to find a sweater to go with the Easter dress my mom bought for Evie. Everywhere I went I saw short sleeved dresses, but nary a sweater was found. Casper is a very stubborn city. It wants it to be spring and will not accept the fact that winter is still upon us.

Today it was not snowing, but it was about 40 degrees, and pretty windy. Thankfully, the sun was out so we were still able to take Jack out to the little play area for his first egg hunt! Jeremy went out ahead of time to hide the eggs. With the wind blowing so wildly, several of the eggs were tossed to new hiding places. At first Jack just wanted to play with the eggs, but he quickly caught on to the game. He seemed so excited, searching and searching for more eggs to put in his basket.






(Daddy and Evie cheering on the little egg hunter)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:


(Evie is always sticking her tongue out.)







We had a very good Easter. I really look forward to teaching my kids what Easter is really all about, but for now, the dressing up and the egg hunts are pretty fun, but mostly cute.




In Christ Alone
by Stuart Townsend

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

A mop, no more.

Eat it, sucker!

Kudos to Hannah who bought me this book for Christmas. She knew that Jack was a very picky eater and she thought it may help me out. Basically, it is a cookbook with recipes that incorporate different types of purees-- containing all sorts of healthy stuff-- carrots, spinach, blueberries, wheat germ, cauliflower...

At first I just did some pretty simple stuff that seemed to work well enough. A puree of sweet potatoes and carrots added to boxed Macaroni and Cheese. Jack didn't blink at it-- he ate it right up. The other day I made a strawberry smoothie with avocado, which the author calls "Breakfast Ice Cream". Now Jack keeps asking for what he calls "purple ice cream." Now I've been pureeing like crazy! The other day I made double baked potatoes with cauliflower and cucumber and chicken tenders with wheat germ, carrots and sweet potatoes. And I just made the most surprisingly delicious recipe yet. Brownies with wheat germ, spinach and blueberries.

And I can just hear my little mini food processor rejoicing at his new found purpose.

All this to say a very public thank you to Hannah (... and Jordan?) for my newest recipe book. It really appeals to my sneaky nature. I plan on buying the author's other book soon.

If you're lame and don't care about my sneaky cooking, maybe these new pictures of sweet little Evie will appease you:

Toothbrush attacks!

Based on the comments on my last blog, I'm going to assume that's it ok for me to post another video. This is something I've been wanting to post for a while-- mainly for Andrew and Andrea, who are well acquainted (or at least Andrew is) with the song Jack is singing in the video. It's a song we sing to him every night when we brush his teeth, but it's much better when he sings it. I'll post the lyrics at the bottom for those of you who are unfamiliar with it.





"The Toothbrush Tango"
from Blues Clues

The time has come
to make our teeth shine bright
We do it every night
To wash away the apple and the mango
(or whatever else you had to eat)
We do the toothbrush tango

We start with paste,
But just a little
We brush the sides
and then the middles
We clean the backs*
The tops and bottoms
Doin' the toothbrush tango
Brush all around, and round
Don't forget to
RINSE AND SPIT!

(Jeremy has substituted this with "toothbrush attacks" so that's what Jack sings)

God has papers too.

When I was younger my Mom used to sing a song from Music Machine to me and my siblings to help fight impatience (Who am I kidding, she still does.)

Have patience
Have patience
Don't be in such a hurry
When you get impatient
You only start to worry
Remember, remember
that God is patient too
And think of all the times when others
Have to wait on you


Well, I guess it really carried over to my parenting style, but I sing this to Jack anytime he is having a hard time waiting for me to bring him his food, or his milk, or whatever. Well, this morning I was making Jack some special Valentines Day Malt-O-Meal (pink sprinkles on top in the shape of a heart.) He was impatiently whining so I said "hold on, Jack. It's almost done." To my surprise he started singing the song! Normally he won't perform for me when I try filming him, but he agreed to sing the Patience song for the camera. Then as soon as I finished filming him, he wanted to pray for his food, so I hit record again.

Disclaimer: Many of you may find the following videos boring. I am, more than anything, posting them for family members that do not get to witness the everyday goings on of my children.





In case you can't tell, he mumbles thanks for Daddy, Mommy and Evie and then says "Amen" at the end. It's funny b/c with the rush of trying to get food on the table and Jack and Evie in their highchairs, and appeasing Evie while we eat, we often forget to pray for the food-- but Jack always reminds us. He holds out his hands (to be held) and says "pray."

The hard thing about being a mom is trying to decide between what other people may agree is adorable and what others may find completely boring. I think this next video can go either way, but I'm posting it anyway! Evie just starting eating soft little food, like crackers and fruit and veggie puffs. I think it is so cute when babies eat, just awkwardly smacking their gums. So...like it or don't.

The sound of silence.

I know that I haven't blogged in a while, but I do have excuses. Good excuses too, I think. Jeremy has been gone a lot for work and Jack has been having some sleeping problems. So I've basically either been busy taking care of the kids by myself, or else extremely exhausted because of my lack of sleep.

Since we got back from our Texas trip at the beginning of January, Jack has been really struggling with going to bed-- for naps and at night time. He switched to a toddler bed a while back and was doing fine, but when we went to Texas he slept in a room with Jeremy. He also had an ear infection around that time, so when we got home, we kind of assumed his sleeping problems were a result of the pain in his ear.

Well, his ear healed and he was giving us just as much trouble, if not more. He started resisting any form of bedtime, and was waking up crying at all hours of the night. He then started becoming very crafty with his methods of getting us to come back to his room. He would either cry out "pray!", making us think he wanted us to pray for him, but when we went back there, he didn't want that at all, he just wanted us to take him out of his room. Then he would say things like "hug", "water", "itch" (he has very dry skin so I'm often relieving the itch with some Aveeno lotion). Well, he then started with a pretty brilliant strategy: turning his light on. The problem with the light is that we would HAVE to go turn it off, b/c we knew he wouldn't go to sleep with it on. We tried hugging him and praying for him and laying him back down-- we then tried speaking harshly to him "don't turn your light on!" and then disciplining him for turning his light on. Any kind of attention we gave only made him cry for us more. Then he started chucking his blanket, pillow, monkey and sippy cup of water over his gate. We didn't know what to do about this either b/c we didn't think he would go to sleep without all of his stuff. Well, he is crafty, but his father is even craftier. Jeremy came up with the idea of unhooking the light switch in his room. We had already thought of taking his light bulbs out, but he has the great big florescent light bulbs in his room and it would be quite a hassle. Then we thought of just turning off the breaker in his room, but that would mean losing access to all electricity in his room, and we need that for his night light and his cd player. So, last night was our first night with this new approach, and Jack got really angry when he realized he couldn't turn his light on-- he chucked all his stuff out of his room and cried for a long time, but eventually he gave up and went to sleep.

Game, set, match.

I later went in his room and put his stuff back in his bed, and put his blanket back on him-- and I also played a white noise CD on repeat (thought it may help him sleep better). He slept until 5:00-- woke up crying and we let him cry for a while without going to him. He fell back asleep and slept until 7:30! When Evie woke up a little after 7, I went to get her and saw that all of Jack's stuff was outside of his room. So I went and put it all back and put his blanket back on him. He woke up happy and much more rested than he has been for a while. Then the greatest part of all... tonight when Jeremy and I laid him down to sleep for the night, he sat with us, let us read books to him, let us pray with him, and he laid down smiling-- and did not cry once. So I think the whole "jack sleeping issue" has been resolved-- and not a minute too soon. I was getting close to my wit's end. It got so difficult that there were nights when I was so exhausted and frustrated that I would just sit and cry.

Jeremy is my hero.



This lack of blogging means that I haven't posted a video that I have been meaning to post for a while. It's of Evie... growling.



It's dangerous waiting to post videos of kids when they're Evie's age b/c they learn things so quickly-- so she's really not even the same as she was in this video. I think she's even moved past her growling phase.

Also, she now has two teeth-- they are kind of growing in unfortunate places -- well, I mean they are in her mouth (Man, that would be very unfortunate if they were growing somewhere else, like on her shoulder). But she has the front lower right tooth, and she's now getting the front upper right tooth. She's going to look like she got into a bar fight if she doesn't hurry up and get the other ones soon. Jack always grew his teeth very evenly. Always two (or more) at a time. He had as many teeth as Evie has the day he turned 3 months old-- and Evie's 7 1/2 months now.

I guess I can add a few pictures. I took these pictures today. Jack refused to take off his ski cap when he went to nursery this morning (I've had to refer to toboggans as "ski caps" here b/c apparently these crazy people refer to sleds as "toboggans." Crazy, I know!) As you can see, Jack's long hair has started producing some pretty impressive hat head.






Ok, so sorry about all the rambling up there. I'm done now, I swear.

Have a good day.

All you need is vuv.

In my last post, I told you all about Jack's obsession with the book "Goodnight Moon." When talking about his habit of reading through the book I said "it quickly became one of our favorite things he does." Well, now it has gotten to the point where... I wouldn't say I'm annoyed with him for reading the book, but I certainly wouldn't mind throwing it out of a window every once in a while. Jack doesn't understand the meaning of the word "moderation." Really, Jack doesn't understand the meaning of a lot of four syllable words, but especially the word "moderation." He "reads" it over and over again, then wants us to read it. And he certainly doesn't need the book-- he carries "Goodnight Moon" around in his head, reciting it as we walk down the hall, reciting it as I give him a bath, reciting it as we go through the store. Then today I pulled up my blog and he saw the little video window and said "'night mooon... again!" So I played it for him. As soon as it was over... "again!" I played that video for him at least ten times. Sometimes he just sat and watched it smiling. Other times he recited along with it. So, I guess you could say, I'm up to my ears in Goodnight Moon. Someone told me "it's just a phase." I thought "well, of course." Then it made me laugh as I imagined Jack walking around town as a twenty-three year old man, shouting out lines from "Goodnight Moon." Then it made me sad, and a little concerned.

In the midst of his current obsession, he has found time to say other things-- one of which: "I vuv you!" For a while I could get him to repeat after me and say "I"..."LOVE"..."YOU!" But, when he says it now he just rushes and says "I vuv you, Mommy", or "I vuv you, Daddy" or "I vuv you, Evie"... these are usually accompanied by him kissing the receiver's cheek.

Zzzz! It's cold here.

According to weather.com:

9°F
Feels Like
-10°F

Jackamo's latest obsession

You will not find anything Jack is more obsessed with than the book, "Goodnight Moon." Jeremy and I have been reading "Goodnight Moon" to Jack since he was, oh, about this old:



Within the past few weeks, Jack began reciting the whole book. When we realized what he was doing, it quickly became one of our favorite things he does. I really wish we had taped it earlier because now it has become so second nature for him that he rushes through it as fast as he can.

Well, here is the video. Please to be enjoying it.