Words

May 31, 2016

Blue Eyes

A couple weeks ago Hubby & I took a short trip to visit his sister and see her husband graduate with an advanced degree. With left the kids at home with my sisters. On the way up I commented that Blue Eyes hadn’t really said any words yet since his first birthday is coming up. The other two were saying Dada, Mama, and a few other things by now. Sometimes when Blue Eyes is really upset it sounds like he is saying Mama but maybe I’m imagining it. It used to seem like he was saying HI but I hadn’t heard that for quite a while. Anyway, he put his aunt through the ringer at bedtime but eventually went to sleep. The next morning she sent me a text saying that he slept all night and had said four words in less than five minutes that morning. I was like, WHAT??? I replied asking what they were. She said, “thank you” and “all done”. Later that night when we got home she told us that he drank his bottle and then acted like he wanted more so she made him some and as she gave it to him he said “thank you” then when he finished it he said “all done”. A few minutes later we heard him say “done!” He did variations of this for the next couple days. Two days later, he started saying DADADADA!!! After a bit I asked him to say MAMA, he just grinned at me and replied DADA!!!!!

Buddy

Around this same time Buddy started covering his eyes saying “My Hide. My Hiding.” He now does this almost every day at some point. Of course his favorite word is still “why” but he has been slowly adding words. I know there were a couple more but I can’t think of them now. Oh well. He has really been trying to tell us about his day or things that happen.

Sometimes we can understand or figure out what he’s saying but sometimes we can’t. It’s quite different from the way Princess was at this age. I don’t usually compare them but sometimes the contrast just hits and startles me. We have a memo that Hubby recorded of Princess at almost exactly Buddy’s age, it somehow got added as a song on my iPod and added to a playlist we often listen to. Her voice and words are so clear as she tells us about the things that God created and interacts with us. Soon I hope we are able to record Buddy in that same way.

One night last week Hubby was helping Princess get her room cleaned and organized. Buddy was with them. At one point Buddy came down and was babbling, as he gestured to the basement door. I asked him if he wanted to go down there and he said yes so I opened the door. A few minutes later he went upstairs with something in his hand. A minute later Hubby calls down to me and asks if Buddy asked me for a trash bag. I replied no and then asked him why he sent a child that can’t talk well to ask for something. He said he realized that as soon as Buddy headed down but thought he’d wait to see what happened. Buddy had went to the basement and pulled the base of an electric kettle out of the trash to take to Daddy. We aren’t sure why he got that but he did. He was happy to return it to the basement and help Mommy bring Daddy a bag.

After lunch today, Hubby gave him some Dots candy. Princess asked if she could have some; Buddy emphatically said “no, my can’y MINE.” She asked again, he said no. Then Hubby reminded her that the Dots were Buddy’s so she can’t have them she can have some of her own. He usually gets his point across using words and actions, today it was just words. J

Princess

The other day we were in the van returning home from somewhere, when Blue Eyes had had enough. He started crying and screaming. Princess was attempting to calm him by talking and singing to him. It usually works and he loves to hear her make up silly songs for him, but that night he wouldn’t be calmed. Princess calls up to us, “Parents, my brother Blue Eyes is apparently tired and screaming. I can’t get him calmed down as he apparently wants to go to bed.” We looked at each other and marveled at her use of the word apparently. We asked her about it and she told us that apparently was absolutely the right word to use. I hope she continues to love words and books. J  

Cabin fever and Mother's Day

May 15, 2016

Well, It’s been a little over a week since I posted, guess I didn’t make my goal. Oh, well, if at first you don’t succeed try, try again! Right?

Anyway, it’s been a long, eventful month. Today I got to go to Church after missing the last 3 Sundays due to various kids’ illnesses. It looks like we are all finally well, I hope it stays that way!

A week and a half ago, we were all feeling a bit of cabin fever as the boys and I hadn’t been anywhere, except a couple car rides to pick Princess up from school, for a couple weeks. So, I loaded everyone up in the van, swung thru the drive-thru at McD’s for a coffee drink and hash brown patties, then drove to a park north of town that has a small lake. I parked so we could look out at the lake while we enjoyed our treat. I also brought along my ipod to plug into the van’s stereo system. When Princess saw what I brought she said “yay! We get to listen to adult music!”  Adult music?? We are just going to listen to the same list we are listening to now. I said. “Yes, but it will be different than the van music.” Princess replied.  Guess I need to add music to the van as she is apparently getting tired of what is in there. J Anyway, after watching the lake for a bit we left and drove around a couple different neighborhoods in town. One of them had big houses which Princess really enjoyed looking at. This past week she wanted to do it all again, especially looking at the big houses. We weren’t able to, but I told her we would again sometime soon. I know that when the kids aren’t able to get out they are benefited by just taking a drive but I often forget that it is so easy to do. I need to remember that especially this summer when Princess won’t be going to school two days a week. She is likely to have serious withdrawal as she is very much a people person.

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. Blue Eyes was still sick so Hubby took Princess and Buddy to Church. After Church, he took them out for lunch then over to a flower shop to find something for Mommy. They each picked out nearly identical flower bouquets but as they got in line to pay, Buddy looked up and saw a giant balloon. “Ba’oon, Mommy, Ba’oon, p’ease?”  Hubby asked him if he wanted to get the balloon for Mommy, Buddy said he did so they put the second bouquet away and got the balloon. After swinging thru Culver’s drive-thru they came home. Buddy came into the house and patted my leg saying “ba’oon, ba’oon Mommy!” He was so excited about it! It was a nice day with my family, even though we had to cancel plans with my parents, Grandma, and most of my sibs.

A few more updates

May 4, 2016

 So here is a brief (I hope) summary of how & what the kids are have done/are doing.

Princess

 My little girl is now 4 ½ years old. Last summer she got glasses—she has broken one pair but has been doing really well with wearing them. In August she started Preschool at our local Christian School. She had to be in the 3 year old class as her birthday missed the cut off by a few days! This means that she currently goes 2 days a week in the morning. This fall she will be in the Early Kindergarten class and will attend every day in the afternoon. She is really looking forward to this as she asks us all the time why she can’t go every day! I’m thinking this summer will be rough, we may need to try to find some organized activities for her.

She finally got potty trained last fall—it only took 11 months! Now some days she tries to get Buddy interested (actually a year ago he was further ahead than she was but as he was still quite young lost interest) by telling him he can have candy if he goes. On the one hand it might be nice to have help, on the other I am NOT READY to start that up again, certainly not before our vacation this summer. Also, Buddy is still not verbal enough (more later) to tell us when he needs to go, so I would rather wait!

She has become quite the little helper (when she WANTS to) around here. She is often able to get me things I need for the boys. She likes to help unload the dish washer and usually likes to help sweep the floor. We have recently made it her job to sweep after lunch. She does this with varying degrees of completeness but it’s a step in the right direction. She LOVES to tell her brother what to do; sometimes he listens to her better than to us! We tell her that it is not her job, but I’m not sure she believes us. She likes to treat Blue Eyes like a doll. Tries to pick him up, move his body around, pick out his clothes (I think she’d try to dress him if I’d let her.) Considering that he weighs almost 2/3 what she does and is quite tall while she is short, it looks funny and scares me a bit. In case you are wondering Blue Eyes usually takes her in stride and doesn’t complain her treatment of him!

Buddy

My little boy is now 2 ½ years old. He has more words than he did a year ago, although there are also words he used to say but does not anymore. However, he is often hard to understand. Last fall my brother noticed that Buddy wasn’t raising his tongue up to the roof of his mouth. It’s hard to say certain sounds without doing that. He is doing a little better now but still drops or doesn’t say some sounds. I talked to his doctor about it and she said to keep working with him for now but that if he doesn’t improve in a few months we will probably have to get him some speech therapy. He has really liked the books I’ve gotten him that use the same letter in various parts of words and in the different ways and has been doing better the last month or so. He still doesn’t pronounce the first letter of his name, but is VERY insistent that it is his name. His sister has always tried to add an “a” or “ie” to his name, lately when she does that he points to himself and says “NO, I …” dropping the first letter but pronouncing the rest. She added the word boy to his name as well as his middle name and was corrected quite strongly by him too! He can’t say her name so he calls her “Girl”. She told me that she didn’t like that and he needed to call her by her name. I explained that he couldn’t, but that if she really didn’t want to be called “girl” then we needed to come up with another name that he could say for him to call her by. She decided he could just keep calling her “girl”.  

Last summer he had a rough time with the kiddie swimming pool. He kept landing face first in the water. For a while after that he hated the bath but now likes it again. We will have to see how he does with water this summer. J

His sense of play and imagination has really blossomed. He loves to play fix-it, build, and cooking, as well as turn anything and everything into a weapon (including his body!)

Blue Eyes

I had a terrible time coming up with a blog name for my baby boy. Nothing seemed to fit. Since he has beautiful blue eyes and appears to be keeping them I decided to call him that. He is now 11 months old! In many ways this year has flown by fast. He has done some things earlier than the others while other things took a little longer. He is still not in the same room as his brother. We moved him into our closet a few months ago, and keep talking about putting him in Buddy’s room but there are always reason to put it off!

He is bigger than the other two were at 15months! When he stands up under the table he hits his head. He isn’t walking on his own yet, but is standing and walking along furniture. There for a while we thought he might skip crawling but he didn’t. Over the course of about 10 days last month he went from scooting backwards and spinning to change direction (and being able to walk holding onto someone/something) to doing a funny sit scoot (similar to what Princess did) to actual crawling to crawling with one or both feet flat on the ground. He acts like he is just going to take off walking any day now but so far hasn’t. I haven’t seen how he does it but he is standing up in his pack in play, which must be some trick as there really isn’t anything to grab onto.

He eats more solids than the other two did at this age. At 4 months he WAS sleeping 10 hours a night but then he started teething and the time changed so he didn’t really do that again for about 4 months. Since then it’s been an off and on thing. Lately he hasn’t been again. L I’m hoping that changes quickly as I’ve been pretty much sleep deprived for the better part of the last 5 years!

Overall he is a content little guy, though lately he falls apart if I leave the room. I know this is normal but it is still hard to have him screaming as he tries to follow me. He loves to crawl all over the main floor of our house. We took down the baby gates last fall and haven’t put them back up because with two older siblings it’s kind of pointless to try to block off the front part of the house. This means though that he can get to the stairs now. He made it to the third step the other day and then started to lean back when I grabbed him. A couple days before that he fell backwards off the bottom step. He’s fast when he wants to be. The other day as he headed down the hall, I followed. When he got to the bathroom doorway he paused, looked back at me and then put on a burst of speed to try to get in before I could stop him. I shut the door just before he would have gotten in. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be in there! Sometimes Princess and Buddy will crawl around so he can follow them in a circuit around the house. He loves it but gets so tired trying to keep up!

Well, I should stop now. It was longer than I intended but oh well. J I may fill in a few memories of the last months in future posts as they occur to me or are relevant. 

Almost a year: I’m BACK!! I hope!

May 4, 2016

It’s kind of hard to believe it has been so long since I posted, but then again it’s not. At first I was just too tired to post, then I didn’t feel like I had time as every time I would sit down I would be interrupted. However, I think it then became a habit to not post because I would think that I didn’t have time, but would then spend hours in the evening surfing fb or amazon etc, really just killing time non-productively. I have always thought that you make time for what is important so if you say you don’t have time you are really saying that it isn’t important enough to you to do it. With kids that is partially true, there are days that you are prevented from spending more than 5 minutes on any one thing and that you have 10 partially completed tasks and nothing gets finished, but there are other days that if you tried to do something you actually would have been able to finish it had you started in the first place. Lately, I have had a lot of those. Late in the day I will think/realize that I could have done more had I actually worked at it. So anyway, I’ve been thinking of starting up again here. I will even plot out a post in my head as I’m doing laundry, dishes, or cooking, but then FAIL to actually write it out that evening, instead surfing online, playing multiple games of candy crush type games, or reading.  I am planning to post at least once a week now, hopefully a little more often, but at least once every week for the next several months. Then we’ll see how things go. I know of someone who has been posting every day for weeks now and has been doing great! I haven’t read them all but have been encouraged by what I have read. I’m pretty sure that I would fail massively if my goal was every day, so instead it will be every week. Feel free to send me a message if you see that I’m slacking off or just to say “HI”. J

Random moments, events, and sayings over the past months

Here are the things my Hubby or I have recorded on Fb over the last months. Sadly, we didn’t record many of them. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget these things. L

 August 27, 2015

Today was Princess’s first day of Preschool!! She thought it was great and wanted to know why she couldn't go every day. J

            (She still LOVES it. She didn’t like snow days or breaks because she couldn’t go to school!)

Oct 5, 2015

I'm very thankful for the Lord's protection and care of my children. Two years ago today, we were supposed to take Buddy home from the hospital, but instead he spent two days in the NICU. We never really got an answer as to what caused his problem but we know that his quick recovery was from God.
This evening as I was cooking supper, a dish exploded in the open door of the oven. All but one small chip of glass stayed inside but sauce splashed the base of the bouncy seat where Blue Eyes was sitting. Nothing got on him, and Princess and Buddy were playing in another room instead of being in the kitchen where they like to be while I am cooking, so they were safe too.

From Hubby’s fb:

Oct 7, 2015

Tonight Emily came running out of her room upset because she couldn't find her glasses. I got her calmed down and said, "Honey, they are on your face." She reached up and touched them and was then relieved that they were ok. I guess she is getting use to wearing them. J

Note: She got her glasses in July. I don’t think I put that in the last post I wrote.

From my sister’s fb: (there was A LOT more to this conversation so this is a paraphrase)

Nov 7, 2015

Mom: is mommy the prettiest girl? (The “Mom” here is my mother whom the kids call “Nana”)
Buddy: yeah
[Uncle J]: are the nursery girls prettier?
Buddy: yeah

Later

[Uncle J]: is [Uncle B] going to take your girl?
Buddy: (looks at [Uncle B]) growls!

Later

[Uncle J]: are you saving all the girls for yourself?
Buddy: yeah

Hubby’s Fb

Nov 22, 2015

Today in church Princess (4 years old) tenderly whispered into my ear. "Daddy, I love you, and I want money." (sigh). They start so young. J

            She actually wanted money to put in the offering plate! She has done this a few times since, and not always for the offering.

Jan 3, 2016

Princess is walking around the house singing "Gloooooooria, in a shell stable" at the top of her lungs. J

Jan 30, 2016

Wow! Today Blue Eyes is wearing this outfit that Buddy wore a year ago! (I mean this literally, before seeing this post [A picture from the previous year as a look back.] I put this shirt on him! Only difference is that Blue Eyes is wearing 12 mon pants and Buddy was in 9 mon pants.)

            Yes, my baby is bigger than the other two were at this age and a lot older than he is now. Blue Eyes is just a few pounds less than Buddy and a couple inches shorter. They can almost wear the same clothes. Not sure what I’m going to do this summer if Blue Eyes is the same size as Buddy because Buddy does not like seeing Blue Eyes in his clothes.

Hubby’s fb

Feb 3, 2016

We were answering questions related to marriage today from Princess, and she was concerned that she didn't know who she was going to marry. Then, she was VERY distraught because she didn't want to have to wear a wedding dress. She just wanted to wear a normal dress.  J

Feb 21, 2016

Today on the way home from church we passed a pet store that we have visited before. Princess asked if we could go back sometime to see the animals. I said that we could and added that we could even buy some fish to take home next time. She liked the idea, but added happily that we could take the fish home and mommy could cook them and we could eat them. Apparently, she needs clarification on what having a pet means. Of course, she is probably thinking of the times when I told her that I was going to take her fishing. Oh well!

April 5, 2016

Princess (our 4 yo) has developed some interesting doctrine. Earlier she found out that daddy was a teacher. She immediately announced that daddy couldn't be a teacher because teachers had to be girls. When asked why, she responded that it is in the Bible. I then asked her to give chapter and verse. To this she responded, "The entire New Testament."

Later, she informed Mommy that "The Bible says children can do anything they want as long as its not bad." J

April 21, 2016

SO about an hour ago the kids came racing into the family room from playing in the other side of the house. Princess had liquid dripping down her chin and wet spots on her shirt. Buddy's face, shirt and pants were soaked.
Princess: Mom, we had so much fun we were taking drinks of Buddy 's drink and spitting them out at each other. We are wet!
Buddy: Yeah! (Gobbledygook)
So I wipe their faces and search the couch for clean pants for Buddy --A full couch and NONE to be found! Grabbed a pair that is too short for him and headed upstairs as it occurs to me to ask WHERE this wonderful fun took place.
Princess: We were behind the couch. Don't worry Mom I don't think any got on the floor, it just went on the blanket that was back there!
Where do they come up with these things????

May 3, 2016

So Buddy still doesn't have a lot of understandable words, but the ones he does have...WOW! About six months ago he started saying "girl" & "pwetty". He might go weeks without saying them then he'll do something like this:
I was on FB this morning and saw that a couple people had shared a song about kids growing up to fast and needing to slow down. J At the end of the song Buddy looks over and says: "Girl, pretty, mine please?" 
Me: You want to hear the song again?
Buddy: Uh huh!
Me: Okay, lets change you first. (We then head upstairs.)
Buddy: Girl, pwetty!!
Me: Do you think girls are pretty?
Buddy : Uh huh! Girl pwetty Daddy?
Me: Does the Girl have a daddy? I'm sure she does.
Buddy: Daddy's pwetty girl?
Me: She probably is her Daddy's girl, Buddy. Are you Daddy's boy?
Buddy: Uh huh, daddy's boy. Pretty girl, Mine?
Me: Someday you'll have a pretty girl.
(We head back downstairs.)
Buddy: Pretty girl Please Mine? Please?
Me: yes, you can watch the video.
Buddy: Ok!

I forgot the second part of the story about Buddy. I told Hubby about the conversation at lunch. Then this happened...
Hubby: So you like pretty girls?
Buddy: uh huh!!! Girl. Girl. Pretty.
Hubby to me: I can see we are going to have to watch him. (Meanwhile, Buddy is chattering away and the only words we can understand are girl, please, and pretty.)
Hubby to Buddy: Son, we are going to have to have a chat about girls and cooties.
Buddy: WHY??? Why?
Hubby: You don't think we need to talk?
Buddy: No.

Should have been posted in June...

So I wrote this back in June but didn't get it posted...Oops. Anyway, here it is. I'll try to do a quick update later this week about the last 3 months.

June 9, 2015

Our Blessings

Meant to do another May post but didn’t get around to it. We have been very busy around here getting ready for our new baby’s arrival...HE’S HERE!!!! J

My actual due date was June 10^th, but at the 18 week ultrasound we were told that I had a slight problem. The placenta was partially blocking the birth canal. My Dr. said that 90% of the time women like me no longer have a problem by 27 weeks so we scheduled another ultrasound. It was still blocked, so we scheduled another one for 33 weeks…still blocked. My doctor said that we needed to schedule a c-section at 37 weeks with another ultrasound the day before to check that it was still necessary. We scheduled the c-section for May 21^st. On May 20^th the ultrasound showed that there was no longer a blockage but that the placenta was still a bit close. If we wanted we could try to let things go on as normal, but there was up to a 75% chance that we would end up with an emergency c-section. If we wanted to still do a c-section we could wait until 39 weeks. We were relieved to be able to wait to give him a little longer to grow and develop before birth. Due to the high risk of having an emergency section, we chose to have the scheduled one at 39 weeks instead of waiting. Our boy (I haven’t figured out a blog name for him yet!) was born June 2^nd! We are both doing well. I will write more on his birth story in a later post.

Getting Ready

Since we originally thought he’d be born in May we worked on some projects and tried to get things ready early. This year my hubby isn’t teaching any summer classes so he will be home most of the time. That is a great blessing especially right now as I recover. The beginning of May, he finished a building project he had been working on for a while. Then, he got part of the playset he built last summer stained. Since we ended up with a couple extra weeks before baby he started building a twin size bed for Princess. He’d been telling her since January that if she did a couple things he’d make her one. At first she was excited, but not enough to do what he told her, then she started saying that she didn’t want the bed, Buddy could have it. But around the time baby was first scheduled to come, she did what he told her she needed to do before he’d start on the bed. He finished painting it the day before Little One was born. That day he also stained another large section of the playset.

We set up a pack and play in our room as Buddy isn’t quite ready to give up the crib. We also thought that it might be easier these first few weeks to have him near us.

Family Fun

The kids have really been enjoying having him home though at first I think they were confused about why Daddy wasn’t going to work. We also did a number of things as a family in May. We went to the zoo twice, took the kids to the park, and did outings with them. Princess and I went on two Mommy/Daughter dates! Princess really enjoyed the library and going to Culvers. We ended up doing that two Friday’s in a row. Meanwhile Daddy and Buddy also had special time together. The first time they walked up to McDonald’s for lunch, I think they also went to the pet store. The second time they walked around a small lake north of town and went to Red Lobster as we had just discovered that Buddy might be able to eat many of the items on their kids menu. Hubby had been wanting to eat there again so he took the opportunity to do so with Buddy! We didn’t notice a reaction from him so I’m sure we’ll go there again sometime. While Hubby was working on the bed he made a number of trips to the hardware store and often took one or more kids with him. They always love to go places with Daddy, but especially the last month or so as Daddy “spoiled” them with a special treat when they went with him! J

Cute Things

The end of April Buddy started waving to any family members that were visiting when he was going down for a nap or bed time.

Buddy’s been adding new words all the time. He still isn’t real understandable but every week it’s easier and easier to figure out what he is saying.

Buddy loves to help out around the house. He loves to sweep and help. Sometimes his help isn’t really help but he tries so hard and is so proud of helping. There have been times when he tried to throw out something that shouldn’t be thrown out.

A couple weeks ago we went out for pizza, the next morning we took the kids to get haircuts. (It was Buddy’s first, he had some great curls and they hid how long his hair really was. But his hair was starting to show its length.) On the way there Princess talked about restaurants. She said that there are a lot of restaurants, there are chicken nugget restaurants and chicken strip restaurants. Hubby asked her what kind of restaurant we went to the night before. She replied a PIZZA restaurant!!!

Princess had her bangs trimmed by someone other than family for the first time. She was a little scared but did very well over all. Buddy did great! He sat on daddy’s lap and didn’t fuss. Near the end he got a little squirmy, but not bad. We lamented that we walked into the place with a baby/toddler and out with a little boy! He looks so much older with his hair cut. He seems to be getting taller too!

That night at supper Hubby said something to Princess about the ketchup on her plate. She said that she didn’t have any ketchup. Hubby pointed to the ketchup and asked her what that was. To which she responded, “that’s barbeque sauce!” Hubby was a little stunned at her quick wit. He then turned to Buddy and said, well at least I’m still smarter than you. Buddy shook his head NO, as Princess shouted out NO!

They keep us on our toes!

YAY, March is over!! Opps so is April!

May 8, 2015

After reading my previous post Hubby said “are you sure these are our kids? They sound so sweet!” He was referring to the fact that often within minutes of their cute and kind actions they are taking something from the other or upset. I don’t mena to make it sound like they are all sweetness and light, but I did say the purpose of this blog was to remember the cute and funny things they do. J I didn’t say anything about remembering the times I want to pull my hair out or run screaming from the house or fantasize about taking off as soon as Hubby gets home from work and just driving around or going somewhere to wander and be alone!

This year has been very rough on me emotionally. I don’t know if it’s the preggo hormones or extra stress or what, but I have struggled with my temper more than I have in over 14 years! I know there have been times when I was unfair to Princess and harder on her than I should have been. I am trying to work on this, especially as she has started yelling at her brother. I often feel like I am completely failing and how can I be a good mom to 3 kids when I haven’t been handling 2 very well! I better figure it out because it is about to become a reality! Seriously though, I know that I am not the only one who feels frustrated and guilty about my parenting mistakes. I know I am not perfect and much of the pressure on myself is self-inflicted. I know I need to rely more on Christ and less on myself. HE is the only one who can give me the grace and strength I need to accomplish the task HE has given me in raising these children to love and honor HIM—of course Hubby has a part too, but I am dealing with me here! There are changes I need to make I am just not sure how to make them or stick to them.

Anyway, the main reason I haven’t posted lately is I didn’t want to be too negative. March was really rough with stresses and disasters every 3-5 days! Some of them included Princess having strep, overflowing the laundry room sink (I did this) which had water flowing down into the unfinished part of the basement, finding out a week later that the water also flowed under the baseboards into our family room, Hubby going on a week-long trip—really tough on the kids especially Princess as she is now old enough to realize how long he was gone! Also, many other things caused me to think and say often “will it ever end????”

However, there were a few cute things that happened in March.

          From Hubby’s FB page:

            March 2, 2015

Yesterday, I showed Princess a video of children seeing their parents that were in the military after the parent had gotten back from deployment. I explained that their daddy's had been gone and were just coming back. Since then, Princess insists on playing a game where she has me stand on one side of the room so that she can run into my arms for a big hug. The funniest part is that when I get home from work she feels the need to choreograph her greeting. She has me stand in different places so that she can run into me arms and welcome me home multiple times J.

Buddy started copying his sister and trying to pray at meals. Usually we couldn’t understand any of the words except for “daddy” but he was really earnest and very sweet.

Hubby’s parents came the weekend after the basement flood and helped us with the last few things needed to get it all back in order. They were a great help.

          Hubby’s FB Post:

          March 15, 2015

Today Buddy received his first answer to prayer. We went out to eat at a restaurant (not fast food) with my parents. While waiting for our food, the waitress would come-by to see if we needed anything. After we told her, we were fine and she would leave, Buddy would call after trying to get her attention and clearly trying to communicate something to her. We jokingly said that he was trying to get her to bring him food. Well after a couple of times, Buddy bowed his head, folded his hands, and said something. Almost immediately, the food came and Buddy was delighted.

One thing Hubby didn’t put in his post was that after the second time she left he growled at her! We all were trying very hard not to laugh so that we wouldn’t encourage him, but it was very hard!

            From my FB page:

            March 26, 2015

Today Princess asked if she could lay on the couch for rest time instead of going to her room. I told her we could try it, but that she needed to stay on there for an hour. She said "okay, Mom, set the timer." After about 13 minutes she was calling for me, wanting a book. I told her that she could get a book but that she wasn't to ask me for anything else or get off the couch until the timer went off. 
About 30 minutes later, I peeked around the corner and found her ASLEEP!!!!!! Score!!! (She only naps about twice a week now). She is in a super uncomfortable looking position though, don't know how she does it.

She often asks if she can sleep on the couch now. I let her a couple times a week and she actually sleeps about half the time.

April flew by very fast. Not much happened that month. The kids are doing well and Buddy is trying to talk more and more. He tries so hard to communicate we just can’t understand most of what he is saying. The words we can understand often have to do with food! He says things like: Hungy {hungry}, candy, eat, more, I like that, yummy, need, want, etc. Some people might think that we never feed the child the way he reacts to food! Guess he is just a growing boy. J He still has the tendency to shove as much as he can into his mouth, though he is starting to eat smaller bites.

One day after lunch he went over to the pantry where we keep the snacks and treats. He pointed up at it and said: “need candy”. I replied that he didn’t need it he wanted it. His response was: “want candy please!” He definitely has his daddy’s sweet tooth!

The K4T club Princess was part of finished up at the end of April. We dropped the ball on working with her on to memorize scripture this semester. However she managed to memorize a good bit just by working with the leaders on Wed nights. About a week before the final program she started asking me the questions that go with the doctrines they were studying and then giving me the answers! She has continued to do so the last couple weeks since it ended. The week before the final program they had a practice, Hubby said that Princess was terrified and he wondered if we should even go. We decided that we should. I’m so glad we did! She did a terrific job! She sang part or most of every song, did many of the actions, and answered the question with her friends that her level was supposed to answer! What a huge change since the Christmas program. J

This Year is Already Going by Fast!!

February 24, 2015

Well let’s see what has been going on here? The second week of January I had an Ultrasound. Hubby wasn’t able to come with me this time as we didn’t have a babysitter at the last minute due to health issues. My sister was going to come up, but a few days before that she got chicken pox. L She had a tough time with them as they were even in her throat. Anyway, I called a friend about watching them. She agreed, but the night before the ultrasound she called to say that her kids had been exposed to the flu and one of them was acting like he didn’t feel well. We agreed that it was best for her to stay home. Therefore, Hubby had to stay home (many of our friends from Church also had sick kids that week) and not be there for the gender reveal. Later when I got home he was excited to find out that he had been right this time (in the past he always thought the opposite of what we were having). We are having another BOY!! So Buddy will have some help around here. J Princess wasn’t too disappointed about not getting a sister. Later that day Hubby told her that she has two brothers…one named Buddy, and the other Baby-we-don’t know. Off and on for the next few days she would repeat a version of this.

Buddy has been climbing/crawling up the stairs for a couple months, really since before he could walk. But he couldn’t come down them by himself. He tried going down on his bottom but his legs were so short that he couldn’t reach the next step so he’d try standing, but again his short legs hindered him. He loves to go up to the top and then put out his arms to be carried to the bottom. J In the last few weeks he has been able to come down them on his own. Though I haven’t seen him do more than a few, I have heard him upstairs with his sister (she is always letting him through the gates so he can play on the steps with her), then a few minutes later they are both back down and playing with other things.

One of Princess’s favorite things to do is teach Buddy Bible School. She directs him to the steps and has him sit there while she tells him about things she has learned in Sunday School.

They both love getting books out (especially some of mine with NO PICTURES) and sitting next to each other turning pages. I’ve tried to get them to read their own and am sometimes successful, but they always return to mine. Another thing they like to look at is magazines, any magazines. They do especially enjoy their own though. For Christmas my Grandma got them each a subscription to Highlights for their different age groups. They like their sibs magazine as much as their own! J

Buddy isn’t talking much but has a way of making himself understood. J Usually through pointing and grunting! He has been doing better in the sleep department (his doctor thinks his skin issues are a major factor in how he sleeps) but rarely sleeps through the night for more than 3-5 days. Then he’ll do 3-5 days of waking up, wanting to drink some milk, before going back to sleep. Then he’ll repeat the process. He has always been fairly easy to get to sleep he just doesn’t stay asleep most nights until recently. (Princess was hard to get to sleep when she was little but usually stayed asleep—except between 12-15 months.) But I guess I shouldn’t complain since I do get to sleep some nights without getting up. That is IF Princess doesn’t have a bad dream or lose her paci. Yes, she still has it at night. I want so much to get rid of it the rest of the way (we never intended it to still be here) but we are in the process of potty training and that is hard enough without adding this. (She seems to be clinging to it more lately.) We’ve been really trying this time for about 6-7 weeks now. There are days when it seems like progress is being made and then the next day she acts like she has never heard on a toilet. Her doctor told us that the biggest obstacle for Princess and us would be Princess’s will and that seems to be true. Princess CAN do it (often completely by herself), she just often says she doesn’t WANT to!!! ARGG!!! I know this will pass but some days it is really hard. I know that there are people who potty train in a few days and there are also those who take forever, but eventually they all get there…or this is what I tell myself.

A couple weeks ago, Princess and Daddy went on a date for donuts and to pick out a bday present for me. When she walked in the door she announced “Mommy, I got you a necklace, want to see?” She then pulled it out and gave it to me. So I got a present about a week early. J She loved that I put it on and wore it the rest of the day. It’s not really something I would have picked out but I will wear it sometimes because she got it for me. Hubby said he had to steer her away from some more outrageous choices! On my birthday, Hubby came home early to pick Princess up to help him pick things out for a party. It was very important to her that I have a cake, so Hubby was trying to figure out how to work that since Buddy can’t have store-bought cakes. He looked into ice cream cakes but wasn’t sure Buddy would be able to eat them either as they probably have soy in them too. Anyway, I don’t really care for cake, but it was important to Princess and I knew Buddy would like it so, we decided I’d make a cake from scratch while they were at the store and Hubby and Princess would decorate it later. While they were out they bought heavy cream, to make whip cream frosting, and plates and napkins, as well as balloons. Princess was so excited to show them to me. J They also picked up a pizza. Buddy couldn’t have the pizza, but I made him something else and he was fine with that that night. (He has started noticing and protesting if he is eating something different than we are.) When he saw the cake he said “Yummm”. We’ve only had one two times in the last few months but he remembered!!

A few days before my birthday, my sister came up to watch the kids and we were able to go out. For the first time when she watched them, Buddy didn’t throw a big fit when we left. (He hadn’t done it a couple weeks before when my parents watched them either!)  He often displays separation anxiety when we leave, hopefully he is starting to understand that we’ll be back.

Of course he also loves his food. He tries to put everything we put on his tray in his mouth all at once as if he thinks we are going to take it from him. If we put too much on his tray he gets overwhelmed and starts scrapping it unto the floor until the is a reasonable amount in front of him. He is getting better about this, so maybe he won’t do this long. He does really well with most things and LOVES his vegetables, especially peas, corn and carrots. Lately, he hasn’t been eating many green beans, I’m not sure why. If we have a meal without veggies, he is okay, but if the next one doesn’t have them he is unhappy. (This sometimes happens on the weekend.) He’ll just eat a few bites and then makes sad noises. If we have them available I’ll zap them in the microwave and he’ll eat A LOT of them. Sometimes as much as a cup!! Glad they are good for him. J

From Hubby’s FB

January 19, 2015

This morning I was holding Buddy, and I was trying to get him to go to mommy. First, I say "Mommy will give you hugs and kisses" (I pause, no response, still clings to me), "and some breakfast." Buddy utters a grunting affirmation and lunges towards mommy. I guess we know what he really loves.

Lately Princess has been making up words and wanting me to repeat them. Most of the time, I can’t understand what she is talking about when she does this. She has always been very clear when she speaks so this can be a bit frustrating. One Sunday, while getting lunch ready, she started up again. I said something like “speak normally; I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Hubby said “should we get someone to teach you Chinese, Princess, so that even if we don’t know what you are saying at least it would be real words?”

Princess looked over at her daddy and said “Are you insane?”

It was so hard not to laugh when she said that. We couldn’t figure out where she would have heard something like that. Somehow, kids pick up on things that we wish they wouldn’t. It’s such a responsibility and we need to remember to be careful.

A couple weeks ago Princess was supposed to be picking up some of her toys, when she realized that a few of the pieces of play food she was picking up were under the loveseat. She became focused on those pieces. She wanted me to get them out so she could put them in the bucket. I explained that I couldn’t right now and that she needed to pick the others up and not worry about the ones under the loveseat. After talking about them for several minutes and continuing to order me to get them, she just walked away and didn’t pick up anything else. After putting the kids to bed Hubby and I were talking about it when I realized that part of her problem with this (and some other things we’ve been dealing with) is that she gets tunnel vision and so focused on something to the exclusion of all else. Later that evening Hubby told me that he’d been thinking about what I said and that he thought I was right. Not only that but he thinks she gets it from him (true!). Then he said “why do our children have to inherit those things we wish they wouldn’t?” It’s all Adam’s fault!!