35 and 16 months

Where has the time gone?!? My little babies turned 35 and 16 months on Sunday and I can hardly believe it. Luke will be 3 next month and he has loved "planning" his party for soooooo long now and everytime it is someone else's birthday he will say "no it is my birthday now." We are letting his hair grow out a little on top and his vocabulary and imagination continue to amaze us daily. Caroline is all over the place all day long now that she is walking/running. She continues to be my little monkey as we find her on top of the kitchen table, the coffee table and really anything that she can climb. She is very loving but if she decides there is something she wants - she wants it yesterday and will let everyone know about it. Although she doesn't say her words everyday she continues to add more words. Right now she can say - mama, dada, apple, all done, robot, shoes, socks, pants, eye, mouth, nose, bye bye, hi, Pop Pop and she will try to repeat most anything.

Both kids LOVE being outside and with the cooler weather we have been going to the parks a lot and playing in the backyard or just riding big wheels (C in the wagon) to get the mail. Luke got to fly his first kite at the park last week and thought it was the best thing!! However, we did not take a camera with us in order to capture the moment.

Luke is really getting into school now, it took him awhile to warm up to his teachers but he loves his new friends and really enjoys bible study on Wednesdays. Caroline however is NOT so fond of being left with anyone other than family and cries a LOT when I leave her but she is getting better each week..... time will tell. It just breaks my heart though when I see her so upset. When I pick her up she hugs me and pats my back like, FINALLY.

I hope you all have a very blessed Tuesday!

Tough evening.......

Our day started off fine, we went to a friends house for a playdate and when I was getting Luke dressed he insisted on wearing his new superman t-shirt (which was one of his prizes for going potty like a big boy) and he insisted on wearing underwear!! Now I'm sure you all are wondering why this was alarming to me, well I have never let him leave the house in underwear - just pullups and although I bring extra everything with us I was nervous. However Luke did awesome all day - no accidents and he went potty actually 3 times at his friends house.

Both kids took about a 3 hour nap and I took about 1.5 hours and it was much needed - I have been feeling extremely drained lately and I'm not sure why (and before anyone asks I am positive that I am not pregnant). I decided to fix a family dinner (Luke usually just eats one of his handful of meals he likes) and that is where it all started to go downhill. I made chicken potpie which Luke used to eat like crazy and he would not even taste it. I told him if he would take just one bite that I would make him something else. Well, I finally got a bite in his mouth when he was crying and told him if he spit it out he was going to time out and no books at bedtime... I am so tired of making dinner and he not wanting to eat it. Well, out came the food and time out here we went... while he was in his chair he cried that he just wanted to go to bed his wish was granted. Now I feel like a terrible mom because this is two nights out of the last 5 that he has gone to bed without really eating... but I am at my wits end and do not know what else to do.

If anyone has any suggestions I would so love to hear them... we have tried it all.

I am so tired after the dinner saga that I am about to head to bed early.

WE HAVE POO POO IN THE POTTY!!!!

Just as I decided to not worry so much about WHEN Luke would finally decide to poop in the potty, today rolls around and while he was eating lunch he said "oh no mom I need to poo poo in my pull up." (which he was already wearing) So I grabbed him and said let's go sit on the potty and you can get your big prize!!!! Well after I sat in there with him, then he asked for daddy to sit in there and read him a book - and let me tell you they were in there awhile!!! James finally said why don't I give you some privacy so you can concentrate on going potty. Not 3 minutes after he was alone he was so excited yelling for us to come and there and look at what he had done!!!! Now I realize it might not happen again for awhile but I will take it - baby steps I tell ya.

Now the prize he got was a kids horseshoe game for outside which he didn't seem all that excited about until he realized that he could "pretend" the stakes are drumsticks and he found something to drum on and then kept saying "mommy you want to watch my rock-it band?" Where does he come up with this stuff? He danced and sang and put on a show and got a popsicle as a second prize which seemed to be the best idea to him!!!

Potty training update - day 5

So, although this has been the DREADED week it has gone by pretty fast (even though cabin fever is setting in). Overall Luke has done better than expected - he goes "tt" in the potty just about everytime we take him but still is not at all interested in going poop in the potty - this is the main area that needs some major work but we have tried every "trick and bribe" that we can think of. He has had 3 accidents in his underwear so today I made him go to time out and told him we would continue to do that with each poop accident.

Although I am a bit discouraged he has come a long way and he wants to wear his underwear and is slowly starting to tell us when he needs to go.... so we will forge on and hope we get there all the way before preschool starts at the end of August.

1 year stats - Caroline

We finally had Caroline's 1 year well check appointment and the doctor is very pleased with her. My little peanut is growing up and we can no longer call her that!!!

She weighed 24.4 lbs which is 90%
She is 31.5 inches long which is 97% - would you have guessed anything different in our family??
Her head is 18 1/4" which is 75%

She had to endure 3 shots and got her blood drawn from her arm - and although she cried as expected she recovered really fast - especially since we let her keep a tongue depresser in her mouth the whole time - she loves to "hold" things in her mouth (we threw it out on the way out of the office).

We don't have to go back until the end of September - thank goodness!!

Pics from C's actual birthday

I realized when I was looking at pictures today that I did not post any from June 25th which is Caroline's actual birthday. That day we let her open her presents from us at home and then we went to Memorial City Mall to let the kids play at the Castle and ride the Carrousel and that night she got to dig in and eat a cupcake.

Day 2 of week long potty training

Luke had another fabulous day - basically the same as yesterday, but today he was much more proud of himself and talked about his underwear a lot. He only had a minor slip up but it wasn't his fault - my dad watched the kids for a couple of hours while we slipped away to a movie and I told my dad to keep him in a pull up while we were gone and not to "ask" Luke if he needed to go potty but instead "take" him to the potty. Well, that is not what happened and Luke was apparently really upset when he peed in his underwear. The other "misunderstanding" from my dad is that when we got home Luke asked if he could have a rainbow popcicle and I said I bet you already had one while we were gone - and my dad said that yes he did, in fact he had 3 of them as well as a pudding - WHAT!?! I said why in the world would you give him so many popcicles and pudding and he said well you did say he could have whatever snack he wanted.....!!! I meant Luke could pick out whichever ONE snack he wanted. Oh well, I guess I am going to just have to start leaving notes again even if people tease me about them. However, both kids had a GREAT time with their Pop Pop and was so happy he was here with them.

Day 1 "official" potty training

I thought I would spare Luke the later embarassment of posting pictures of him on the potty, but I have to say I am a pretty proud mama for the first day ofpotty training. Luke got 10 stickers on his potty chart for going pee in the potty - he only had 1 accident which I totally expected - he pooped in his underwear and I could hear him tell his daddy "daddy I went poo poo in my underwear and I need new underwear right now!" Too funny!!!

I went and bought some inexpensive "prizes" for him for when he gets x amount of stickers and then I bought better prizes for when he starts really getting it.

Yeah Luke!!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you, even though you resisted a bit you did it!!! You are growing up so fast in front of my eyes and I love you so very much!

Well it's been awhile....

I have so much to blog about I don't really know where to begin so this will be a bit of a random post.

The kids have been doing really great, Luke finished up his first year at Mother's Day out in May and he really misses his friends from "school" but has been having a blast with his other friends this summer. He loves playing in any pool he can and is really starting to enjoy Caroline so much more now that she can somewhat play with him. Luke has grown taller and slimmed out alot but is still my super picky eater - oh well what comes around goes around I was the pickiest kid in the world!!! We are going to start full on potty training tomorrow but I am going into it knowing we will have to really work at it because he has regressed and tells me that he is supposed to poo poo in his diaper NOT the potty - GREAT!! So I will keep you updated on that one. Also, Luke is still weighing in about 34 lbs, I don't have his height but he is tall.

Since my last post Ms. Priss (Caroline) has turned the big 1 year old and has come so far. She had a great party with friends and family and is eating everything she can and is so close to walking but not quit there yet, but she crawls so fast so I'm sure she feels there is no need to walk. Caroline also loves to splash in the water and for the most part still thinks her brother is great except when he is taking her toys away from her - he better watch out when she can walk because she will be after him. She still has 8 teeth but I can feel where 2 more are about to break through anytime now. We go for her well check on Thursday so I will have more stats to post then but I believe she still is weighing in around 23-24 lbs. Her favorite new thing to do is give kisses, it is so sweet but it especially melts her daddy's heart.

James is still at home with us and is enjoying getting to be with the kids everyday and seeing what they are up to.... but I pray he starts looking for a job soon so when the school year gets here we can all get on a better schedule.

I am now a student for on online college called Allied Medical College and will start classes next week to be certified as a medical biller and then will take a class on coding so hopefully I can start in that industry about the time Luke is in full time preschool. I am very excited about this new chapter in my life.

We had a great July 4th, we had a birthday party we went to and a bbq in the evening and the kids loved every minute of it!!! I will have to post pics of this later.

Kids exploring....

Well, as I type this post as I'm sure you can tell I am new to posting pics on here and I ended up posting them from newest to oldest in regards to how our week went.... oh well, I am too tired to fix it tonight.

The kids had a great week last week - Luke enjoyed being back at school with his friends and got to go on a few playdates. Caroline is getting more and more mobile she still inch worm crawls but she is FAST, she does get on all fours to sit up and to pull up on things to a standing position. She walks some now behind a walker and when we hold her hands but she isn't yet standing unassisted but will be any time now. Luke has done LOTS of projects/crafts this week but I didn't think to take any pictures - he played playdough, painted, built with moonsand, sprayed ants with his "water gums" (water guns), played games with his daddy etc... in the meantime Caroline has been getting better with her sippy cup (she likes the bigger ones), working on crawling through the tunnel and walking with the walker (again I didn't get a pic of that).


This is Luke trying to "play" with Caroline in the tunnel - ie, he wants to show that he can do it
just as well as she can!!


Caroline being so proud of herself making it through the tunnel.



Her big girl sippy cup AND one of the few pink things that she owns!! HA, and I had to sneak that in the house - I was getting their cups mixed up and when they were both sick I wanted no sharing of sippy cups!!


Luke enjoying the rain over the weekend - why I didn't think to put his rain coat on as well who knows but he had a blast puddle jumping in front of our house.

One of the few times we let him play in the street!

Caroline holding Bessie Mae's bottle (she is the 3 week old calf that James' parents are bottle feeding). Sometimes at night I wish we could feed Caroline a bottle this big to make sure she sleeps all night!!

Luke thought this was the coolest thing ever to feed the calf - he got to do it 3 times before we went home. The calf is really sweet and he got to pet her as well.

The kids love to go to the farm but they always love getting back home as well... like I said we have been busy busy with crafts and projects - Luke amazes me how good he is with his crafts and he focuses on what he is doing and is pretty neat with it and lets me know when he is finished - the only difference is now we have to put him at the kitchen table instead of the kids table in the playroom since Caroline wants to be up in his business now!! He better watch out she is on her way to take over his world!!! HA!!

AND the big highlight of today which I so should have taken a picture of but didn't really believe it would happen..... Luke at not one but TWO HOTDOGS for lunch (not with a bun)!! Why are you wondering is this so great - the child does not try new things and today he was all for it!! I've never been so excited for him to eat kid food as I was today! I had already cooked chicken nuggets and tator tots so James got to eat those for lunch.

I'm always open for good breakfast/lunch ideas from those of you with little ones .....

What is your kids favorite food??

Easter

Happy Belated Easter Everyone!!!! We had a wonderful Easter weekend at the farm and spent some really quality time with the kids and James family.

We left on Saturday morning trying to give Caroline another day to heal from her illness (herpangina - or sores in the back of the throat and top of the mouth). The kids did great in the car although I am so ready for Caroline to be in her big girl car seat so that she has more room. It should be here tomorrow so I am so excited to see that UPS truck show up at my house. The Easter bunny did visit the kids at the farm however we had to emphasize to Luke that he came and left presents and hid the eggs but was long gone and we would not see him - if you remember from the older post he is terrified to see the E. bunny but is obsessed with looking at him in pictures!!! The kids as usual got way too much but they loved every minute of it and they got some much needed spring/summer clothes from their aunts/uncles.

Luke loves his family so much he played so hard and neither one of the kids took a nap Easter Sunday. Caroline also did not sleep either night so I took the liberty of taking a nap in their place and let them have fun with the family. Thankfully however she has been sleeping since we got back home and back in her own bed.... don't you just love to get back in your own shower and bed after an extended trip?!?


This is Luke and his cousin Sydney they are checking out some of the goodies inside the eggs.



Caroline enjoying her plastic egg and watching the others run around.



Luke and Sydney taking a rest in the hammock - Luke thought this was so cool!
He now wants one in his yard and poor thing we have no trees in our yard (Ike took care
of the one big one we had).




Luke, Caroline and Sydney on their wagon ride.



Luke and Sydney after church at the egg hunt.




Sydney was trying to show him the ropes!!!

Luke was coming to show me what all he had found.

Luke is still singing Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.....

Easter party

On Saturday I took the kids to an Easter party/egg hunt at their friends Awbrey and Claire's house and it was fantastic!!! Our friends live out in Hockley and live on a couple of acres so there was plenty of space for a huge egg hunt. Before the party got in full swing the easter bunny arrived and Luke was TERRIFIED to say the least and Caroline just stared at him. It took about 30+ minutes of hard crying for Luke to calm down and start enjoying the hunt - and although he was crying he really picked up the most eggs - go figure!!! He loved seeing all of his friends that we haven't seen in awhile and got to burn a lot of energy which is always good. Caroline is still under the weather but she tolerated the party well and did great when I decided to take some bluebonnet pics when we left the party on our way to the doctor. Both kids will hopefully get in to see their regular pedi on Monday to see if Luke has or had what Caroline has -- not fun.

9 month update and sick kiddos

Caroline had her 9 month well check yesterday - she turned 9 months on the 25th of March - and she weighed 21 lbs 10 oz (90%), is 29" long (95%), and her head measured 17 3/4" (75%). What can I say we have tall healthy babies!!!! She did extremely well at the doctor, never cried once and mostly laughed and "talked" to the nurse and doctor. Both Caroline and Luke have had colds and today I think they were competing to see who could have more dirty diapers!!! I think I changed 8 total dirty diapers (and a few others just wet), poor Luke has the runs - not fun for anyone but mostly him since it has left him with a terrible diaper rash and I am praying that Caroline is not getting the same thing since she went potty so much today as this is very unusual for her....

I am praying for a speedy recovery for Luke's tummy so that he doesn't have to miss any school - he loves his friends at school and his teachers.

My favorite picture....

This is about a month or so old but I had to share because it is a favorite of mine of my silly monkeys... hence my new layout!!!! This is still when Luke would ask to "hold Caroline" and now he just loves to be right up in her face.... oh happy days! :)

Time flies.....

Here are some recent pics over the past week and today on their "month day!" Enjoy...


Caroline is so wanting that soccer ball....



She is giddy with delight - she had just drank her first yogurt drink and was in heaven!!! Happy 9 months baby girl!!!



This is at Zube park after we rode the trains, she had to stay in her stroller since she has her mama's fair skin - but she still had fun and loved riding the train!


Just kickin' back enjoying the day....

I was trying to let Caroline be part of the "farming" experience while Luke was gardening with his cousins - he was having a blast.

Caroline was showing off her clapping skills at granny and popo's

This is Luke's first ride on the big tractor and HE LOVED IT!!!

Me and my friend Melissa in Austin right before we were headed out, we had a great time and are already planning for the next trip.

Melissa and Zachary after there craft - the place we went is so cool and has free crafts every Saturday - like 5 different kinds - I wish I could find something like that in Houston.

This is Luke being silly in Zachary's funny glasses.

Enjoying one of the beautiful days in Houston recently.

Well I can't believe it but Ms. Caroline is 9 months old today and Mr. Luke is 28 months old. It seems so surreal to me that my kids are getting so big so fast - especially Caroline, the second time around is truly a whirlwind. I don't have her "official" stats yet we go to the doctor next Tuesday but we weighed her and she is about 21 lbs, she has 8 teeth is very long and babbles like crazy - dada, gaga and to my delight her newest is mama!!! Caroline had a lot of first's over spring break - she started inchworm crawling (and she is getting really fast), pulls up to her knees and once has pulled herself to standing.... so I have a feeling this next month we are in for a fully mobile baby - and much to Luke's dismay she loves to crawl into his room and pull all the books off the shelf and play with his cars! Too funny, he so does not get how his life is about to change!! However he loves his "sweet caroline." Luke has been busy as well and seems to be getting taller. He had a fabulous spring break - we started off in Austin with some friends and he got to play with a lot of cool toys, make fun crafts and go on an adventure in the woods - THEN off to granny and popo's farm where he got to work in the garden, ride a BIG tractor and help move wood around and play with his cousins - he could not have been happier.

Since being home we are getting back into a routine and Luke was excited to get back to school yesterday and James and I are working on projects around the house with high hopes to actually get them completed before he starts working again - which will help our stress level a lot!!! I should mention that these "projects" have been on our list of things to do for over a year so now we have run out of excuses and need to get things organized.

Eating and our kids are still a challenge in our household... we are trying to get Luke to try new things daily and it seems like our friends can get him to try so much more and you know who you all are!!! He has done better in some areas and even ate some of the dinner I made for the family tonight (baked chicken with rice and gravy) and we put this same dinner in a grinder for Caroline and she gobbled it up as well as had some homemade fruit puree that I made for her. Yesterday she ate refried beans, rice and a small taste of taco meat and loved it... now baby food we have to almost make her eat it so I think she is read to make a almost full transition to regular food. She also now loves Luke's yogurt drinks. I am trying hard to not have a second picky eater.

We have had well kids for awhile now which has been a blessing but tonight Luke went to bed with a slight runny nose and I am hopeing it was due to his crying from being overtired (he wouldn't take a nap today) and not him getting sick.

There are lots of babies out there in nicu's around the US that I have been praying for so I ask all of you to please include all babies in the nicu's for peace and recovery - especially Jonah (who has a very rare skin disorder and has blisters all over his body), Stellan (who is 4 months old and who is in very serious condition with his heart in svt and has a severly high heart rate - in the 200's). And I've said it in the past but give your kids an extra hug and kiss and be blessed that your kids are home to annoy you when they are acting up because we are blessed!!

Life

Since my mom passed away (2 yrs this coming April) I miss her so much and not a day goes by that I don't think about her or wish that she were still here to witness me being a mother to my children and for her to love and play with them. I am always talking to the kids about her but James and I truly believe that she is their guardian angel - especially Luke - she adored him and he was only 5 months old when she passed away and up until the very end she would ask about him and want to see him and touch his face. During the next months after she was gone to heaven we would hear Luke call out "Mimi" over the monitor, which is what the grandkids called her and a couple of times James felt like he caught a glimpse of a figure sitting in the glidder in his room but it was gone fast and he would just dismiss it. Also, different family members have since told me how happy my mom was that I had a son and that she hoped we would hurry and get pregnant again and have the daughter I have always wanted and then came Caroline!!

So after talking to a dear friend yesterday she brought up my mom and the strength that I have had since my mom is gone and it has really made me think about angels amoung us.... ironically enough this morning when I went to get my watch out to put on I came across this saying in my drawer and wanted to share it:

----Angels----
I Believe in Angels
That they're Always
Hovering Near,
Whispering Encouragement
Whenever Clouds Appear,
Protecting us from Danger
and Showing us the Way,
Performing little Miracles
Within our Lives each Day.

I also found this one which I just really love as well....

---The Train
Our Faith is like a Train
That travels on a Heavenly track
And when you get on board
You never will look back.

Rest in the Holy Spirit,
There's nothing you should fear
For God's the Staion Master
And Christ the Engineer.
Cheryl White

Two steps forward and TEN steps back

Okay so I pray for every child out there that they NEVER get any form of rotavirus!!! Caroline is through the rough part (and the doc said she had a mild case since she was vaccinated for it) however her diapers are still major YUCK and she doesn't care for the soy formula we have to have her on for about a week. Along with this she is no longer interested in ANY veggies/fruits but instead only wants her cereal and/or rice snacks. Luckily during the day she is still in a good mood but when the lights go out at night I don't know where my sweet angel has gone. We went from finally sleeping through the night (for about 1.5 weeks) to now waking up a lot at night to be comforted.

And on top of this Luke has decided that it is in his best interest to wake up at around 1:30 every night (or morning depending on how you look at it) and come to our room get on the bed and he tells me "mom here I am" or "I'm here" and he hugs us and snuggles down for the rest of the night. I always said I would NEVER allow my children to sleep with us and for the most part we have stuck to this motto HOWEVER when you are as sleep deprived as we are you tend to roll over and go with the flow.... we are now working on him staying in his room all night and hopefully we will be back to normal within the week.

I pray that Caroline has a full recovery soon and that we can all get a goods night rest. I hate to see my baby not feel well and especially when there is really nothing that can be done for her except to love on her and comfort her.

And I have to say that I do love to snuggle with Luke and when he wakes up he typically tells me "good morning mom, happy birthday" or "I want to watch cartoons and drink my milk." He is so full words these days and uses full sentences most of the time. It is so amazing to me to see his brain/memory working and how much he loves to learn - he loves when we play school at home to work on things.

Children are such a blessing!

Our Heavenly Father

I am obessed with reading blogs and keeping up with my friends and even people I will never meet especially when their blogs deal with their children. I have been praying more than I ever have in my life for children and families going through so much and some have happy endings and some end in tradgedy. I read just today about a 10 month old precious baby girl named Cora that was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with cancer and she passed away today and is now living with Jesus and all her angels.

It really has me thinking that life really is so precious and short and that we never know when our time will be up or that of our loved ones. So I am really trying to calm down and not sweat the small stuff that I do on a regular basis and I want to start living knowing that I am protected by HIM and that I don't have control over everything in my life. I love my kids and family so much and love making memories with them daily. We laugh so much and love so much and I pray that we will always be close.

So my message tonight is to hug those around you and tell your loved ones that you love them and don't hold grudges life is too short and just be happy. If something is not going in the direction you like in your life change it and do something you love!!!

I am so excited about joining a new bible study in the fall with a new dear friend of mine and I hope to meet many other moms going in the same path I am and that our children can grow together.

Tonight please pray for the Mcclenahan's as they mourn the loss of their baby Cora Paige. Also pray for Harper Stamps who is almost 4 weeks old and is now doing well after being told that she might not make it through her first night in this world... for more on her story and for a very inspirational blog please read her mom Kelly's blog at: http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Have a blessed evening!

Domestic Bliss?!?

This is a mini me picture of James and Luke


Although Luke new it was his daddy's birthday he kept saying it was his birthday and then in the middle of the night when he woke up he asked James "where's your birthday cake?" Guess we know what he was dreaming about.




Luke learned to eat his first fun dip candy (much to his daddy's dismay, but he loved it) with his cousin Audrey who he ADORES, he thinks she hung the moon!


Mommy and her princess!!! I'm taking advantage of dressing her the way I want right now before she can tell me otherwise - my luck she will never want to wear dresses and that is exactly what I did to my mom! Ha!

Yesterday was James' birthday and since we have been nit picking each other since we are now together 24/7 I decided to invite some family over and cook him a requested meal. He chose beef enchiladas and tres leche cake (I also made pinto beans and mexican rice). If I say so myself the meal came out wonderful and there were hardly any leftovers (darn!). All of a sudden I have been feeling very domesticated and feel like making homade dinners and doing stuff with the house that I don't normally do - very Leave it to Beaverish - however the feeling doesn't always lastlast too long!

Caroline looks like such a big girl sitting on Luke's car (she can't ride it yet, we just sat her on it and she LOVED it).

We had a great day with everyone that was here and fell very blessed that my cousin Heath came home safe from Iraq where he has been for about the last 15 months. Luke also loves him and asks for him often he calls him "Heaf."

Happy Birthday James we love you and really do like having you with us each day and sharing in all the memories we make each and everyday!

I love you!