See what I mean?
He's constantly making me smile. Too bad Mr. Potato Head's glasses don't fit him so well... Haha!
Such a sweet little guy I have!
Happy Friday, y'all! Have a wonderful weekend! :)
Friday, January 6, 2012
Goofy Goofball
I've got a goofy little goofball for a son.
See what I mean?
He's constantly making me smile. Too bad Mr. Potato Head's glasses don't fit him so well... Haha!
Such a sweet little guy I have!
Happy Friday, y'all! Have a wonderful weekend! :)
See what I mean?
He's constantly making me smile. Too bad Mr. Potato Head's glasses don't fit him so well... Haha!
Such a sweet little guy I have!
Happy Friday, y'all! Have a wonderful weekend! :)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Flashback!
Hahahahahaha!!!!
Last night at bedtime I decided to switch things up for LO a bit. Before reading her a book (technically, she's usually the one reading to me now), I told her we were going to enjoy a video book! She was super excited, as was I. Thanks to the power of YouTube, I busted out a blast from MY past...
It's an audio book of "Glimmer of Hope" -- one of my favorite She-Ra books from my childhood. I was a serious She-Ra fan. I'd draw She-Ra and her rockin' white and gold mini-dress and gold ear-wings, I'd pretend the arm of the couch was Swift Wind and would hold my foil-covered cardboard sword aloft and say,
LO and I watched the short video together, and she even asked questions about Princess Adora and the Glitterbugs. It was so freakin' entertaining and hilarious and cool at the same time!
Here's the video for your viewing/flashbacking pleasure... :)
Last night at bedtime I decided to switch things up for LO a bit. Before reading her a book (technically, she's usually the one reading to me now), I told her we were going to enjoy a video book! She was super excited, as was I. Thanks to the power of YouTube, I busted out a blast from MY past...
She-Ra, Princess of Power
It's an audio book of "Glimmer of Hope" -- one of my favorite She-Ra books from my childhood. I was a serious She-Ra fan. I'd draw She-Ra and her rockin' white and gold mini-dress and gold ear-wings, I'd pretend the arm of the couch was Swift Wind and would hold my foil-covered cardboard sword aloft and say,
"For the honor of Grayskull, I am She-Ra!"
LO and I watched the short video together, and she even asked questions about Princess Adora and the Glitterbugs. It was so freakin' entertaining and hilarious and cool at the same time!
Here's the video for your viewing/flashbacking pleasure... :)
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Potty Time?
I'm tired of diapers. Especially the dirty, stinky ones. I'm tired of changing them, and I'm tired of paying for them. I'm longing for the day we get Chase out of diapers, and I recently started thinking we'd give it a try sooner than later. But my mommy instinct is telling me he's just not quite ready to tackle that yet.
((sigh))
I looked back to see when we potty trained LO, and remembered it wasn't until after we returned home following Chase's birth and Norwood when she was 2 1/2 years old. I documented her "training" in this post (also copied below for your reading pleasure) and I'm afraid she set the bar a bit too high. Seriously. It was like, 2 days of training and she was DONE. Trained. Fully trained both day and night. Zero accidents since. See what I mean? Set the bar too high. I'm scared thinking about what Chase has in store for us! Haha!
Of course, I also have the heart mom dilemma of potty training him before his Fontan. So if we wait until he's 2 1/2, that'll be in April. Chances are, with him being so chunktastic, that his Fontan could take place as early as this summer/fall ((shudder)). And let's remember he's a boy, and I think I've heard boys are harder than girls to potty train? So I just don't know what to do. I try to keep my parenting timeline with Chase as close to LO's as possible, because I want him to be treated the same and not feel different because of his special heart, and being consistent with the kids is one way I feel I can do this from an early age. But I also don't want to be spinning my wheels for nothing! Ugh. Anyone have any thoughts/comments to help a mama out??
For your reading pleasure, here's a post I wrote last January about LO's potty successes. Enjoy the video, too -- it's one of my faves of that little girl of mine!
((sigh))
I looked back to see when we potty trained LO, and remembered it wasn't until after we returned home following Chase's birth and Norwood when she was 2 1/2 years old. I documented her "training" in this post (also copied below for your reading pleasure) and I'm afraid she set the bar a bit too high. Seriously. It was like, 2 days of training and she was DONE. Trained. Fully trained both day and night. Zero accidents since. See what I mean? Set the bar too high. I'm scared thinking about what Chase has in store for us! Haha!
Of course, I also have the heart mom dilemma of potty training him before his Fontan. So if we wait until he's 2 1/2, that'll be in April. Chances are, with him being so chunktastic, that his Fontan could take place as early as this summer/fall ((shudder)). And let's remember he's a boy, and I think I've heard boys are harder than girls to potty train? So I just don't know what to do. I try to keep my parenting timeline with Chase as close to LO's as possible, because I want him to be treated the same and not feel different because of his special heart, and being consistent with the kids is one way I feel I can do this from an early age. But I also don't want to be spinning my wheels for nothing! Ugh. Anyone have any thoughts/comments to help a mama out??
For your reading pleasure, here's a post I wrote last January about LO's potty successes. Enjoy the video, too -- it's one of my faves of that little girl of mine!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Potty Time!
Guess who finally started potty training the day after she turned 2 1/2? Yep! That's right! Our sweet LO has officially begun the process of ditching the diapers (Amen!)! Yesterday was our first day. I'll be honest, I had NO IDEA where to start. I've read about so many different approaches to potty training, from putting her in pull-ups all day, to going straight to "big girl" panties, to letting her run around the house completely naked for three days to magically do the trick. After much thought, I decided it would be best for us to go straight to the big girl panties during the day, and pull-ups during nap time and nighttime. My assumption is that this would be the best way for her to know when she's had an accident, plus it would eliminate transitioning from pull-ups to panties.
I consider our first day to be a complete success, although we technically had a 50% success rate. Her first accident was on the bean bag we bought her for her first birthday. That was my fault -- I should've known better than to leave the bean bag in the room. Then she headed towards the carpet in her play area and I caught her in the act and put her on the potty. Then later in the day she went twice on her potty! Woot! I was so excited!!! She got a few mini M&M's and an Elmo sticker each time. At nap time she wore a pull-up and woke up poopy, which I sort of expected. Later in the afternoon she went on the carpet outside the bathroom (again, my bad -- I thought daddy was watching her at the time), but then last night she went in the potty again for the third time! I figure if she uses the potty 3 times on her first day, that's a pretty good first day!!! She woke up very wet this morning, which really didn't surprise me (I understand the nighttime training usually comes later after she masters the daytime). She had one accident this morning where she peed on the hardwood floor standing 2 feet from hubs -- I'm not sure why. But I figure we just stick with this and try to be consistent and hopefully she will figure this out soon. It's really hard to keep her off the couches and carpeted areas, so I hope it doesn't take forever! :)
Here she is announcing to the world what she did yesterday!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
2011 Recap... Better Late Than Never!
The guilt has overtaken me and I feel compelled to sum up 2011 with a blog post. I'll warn you: it's not the shortest post ever. But hopefully it'll be entertaining. :)
January 2011:
Do you see this sweet little BABY we started 2011 with? Ohmyheavens. I could just squeeze him! Note his unsteady, wobbly standing in this video:
He was having physical therapy once a week to help him get mobile. Later that same month... first steps!!!
And what about his big sister? She was as happy as ever!
February 2011:
It seems I spent a lot of time talking about LO's behavior issues. I vividly recall the attitude we were getting from her and how lost I felt. We tried some new techniques from a book and started to see some improvements.
It was also in February when Chase's cardiology appointment resulted in scheduling an unplanned heart cath. :( His echo showed some narrowing in his LPA and his cardiologist, as well as the team at MUSC, determined it would be necessary for him to have a cath to try to balloon the narrowing. This was NOT the news we wanted to hear. :(
I also shared a series of guest posts from fellow heart moms to raise awareness for Congenital Heart Defects. You can read them here (Noah), here (Mary Clare), here (Aly Jean), here (Anna Grace), here (Brandt) and here (Bodie). :)
February also brought the devastating loss of a sweet heart warrior, Travis DiCarlo. I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing when I read Nicole's updates following Travis' 4th surgery. I literally could barely get out of bed for 2 days as my heart was breaking for the DiCarlo family. Travis was just 3 days older than Chase and his loss really hit me hard. Please continue to keep Nicole & Roger in your thoughts and prayers as the first anniversary of their loss is approaching. God bless them and hold them and their family close during this time.
March 2011:
This month we took a trip to Cincinnati, Chase had an ER visit at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with what was diagnosed as RSV, and we headed to Charleston for his heart cath. The cath was successful in that they verified he IS a candidate for the Fontan (Praise the Lord!!), they ballooned his LPA, which didn't show any flow restriction (whew!), determined he COULD wait for the typical Fontan timeframe (age 3-4, approx. 30 lbs.) AND he was returned safely to us... looking pretty good, all things considered.
We also decided to start Chase in speech therapy, and I seemed to do a lot of sewing last March, too. See? And see? I also had my first ever blog giveaway!
April 2011:
I spent a LOT of time on my new hobby: sewing. I made this amazing (IMO) black & white quilt for Chase's physical therapist, who we had to say "see ya!" to in April because our little man was a walking pro! Daddy also wrote an informative post about living through an HLHS diagnosis as a father/husband, which was pretty awesome of him. In an effort of full disclosure and total honesty, hubs and I were in the midst of the hardest season of our marriage we had ever encountered. We had made it through Chase's diagnosis, two heart surgeries and two heart caths, and the emotions of it all were finally catching up to us. I hadn't prayed so hard for my husband or our marriage in my life!
May 2011:
This month brought Part II of hubs' perspective on being an HLHS father. We also had some fun at the park with the kids.
My birthday and Mother's Day were also "celebrated" during May (hubs should enjoy those quotes -- haha!). The kids and I enjoyed some fun in the sun playing in the backyard together, too!
Chase's speech therapist also recommended that we have Chase checked out by an ENT to see if he has any fluid in his ears, which could be contributing to his speech delay. We met with a local ENT and awaited the results... I also took a bit of a blogging break during the month of May last year.
June 2011:
Oh the joy of another procedure at MUSC! It was determined that Chase needed to have tubes put in. Imagine his excitement when we told him:
Haha! The poor kid! June 7th was his tube surgery at MUSC and not surprisingly, he did great! We had some issues with the right one after we got home, which would result in another trip to MUSC in the coming months. I didn't blog much in June, but I did enjoy spending time and making precious memories with these guys:
We also had some technology issues during June. From my mishap of epic proportions (busting the front glass on my iPhone) to Chase knocking my laptop on the garage floor, rendering the hard drive completely dead. Good times, huh?
July 2011:
July was a big month for LO! From her first dentist appointment to her 4th birthday parties (Yes, plural. See here and here.), it was a lot of fun!
I'm sure we also spent lots of time playing outside, going to the pool and/or playground and just enjoying a fun summer together.
August 2011:
I played a little catch up on my blog since I hadn't been posting as often. We also took a little family vacay to Hilton Head, SC for a much-needed getaway.
It was while we were on vacation that I got "the call" with an offer for a part-time job I had applied for. Completely stoked!!! Woot!!!
Chase finally started talking a little bit more. See? August also brought a repeat trip to MUSC to replace Chase's right ear tube. Good times. But obviously the tubes have helped his speech, thank goodness!
September 2011:
September was very light in the blog posting department. With preschool being in full swing, then adding soccer to LO's schedule, and working part-time for the first time since becoming a SAHM, and planning Chase's 2nd birthday party, free time was VERY hard to come by, and what little I had obviously wasn't spent blogging. But we did have fun with a trip to see Sesame Street Live, which the kids really enjoyed.
And of course LO loved playing soccer, too!
I think finding an amazingly delicious copycat recipe for Starbucks Hot Chocolate was the only other thing I apparently deemed post-worthy in September.
October 2011:
Chase's 2nd birthday was by far the biggest highlight of October! He had such a blast and it was so wonderful to celebrate two years of having God's blessing in our lives in the form our our little rock star! I made his birthday cake, which, I thought, turned out pretty decent and tasted amazing!
We had a great time celebrating our little guy, but we also learned through that party that it would probably be the last big birthday event we have at our house for either of our kids. We'll be keeping things low-key from now on.
It was crazy to stop and think back to where we were 2 years prior during October. Packed up a U-Haul and headed to Charleston for Chase's birth and first surgery. With a 2 year old in tow. And no clue what the future held. By far it was the scariest time in my life, and I wish so much that the current me could've told myself then that Chase would be a thriving, crazy, 2-year-old toddler! Oh, the fears and uncertainty that would've relinquished! But I'm so very grateful for the journey we've been on with Chase. We've learned so much about ourselves, our family and those who would be there to support us along the way. We are so grateful!!!
October was also the month that we started on our journey of building a new home! I never took it seriously in the beginning because it seemed to good to happen to US, so I just went along with it -- not getting too emotionally involved -- until I could see that hubs was absolutely serious! Yippee!!
November 2011:
Our big boy moved into his big boy bed!!!
Still can't believe how huge this kid is. Seriously. We also had our 6-month check-up with cardiology, and were so very happy and blessed to hear that everything looked great! We were still on schedule for a 3- to 4-year-old Fontan, depending on Mr. Hefty's weight gain over the coming year or so. He's already up to a chunk o' monkey 28 lbs., and considering his surgeon wants him to be between 30-32 lbs., I'd say it's quite likely our little rock star will be rocking the Fontan in 2012. I don't want to even start thinking or talking about it until it's a sure thing, so, moving on...
Chase had his 2-year check-up with his pediatrician as well, and all was well. Not much more to report during November, except...
Oh, that's right!!! We bought a house!!!!! Officially signed the papers on Wednesday, November 30, 2011. Woot!!! :)
December 2011:
During December, I had a bit of a debacle with how LO was being punished at school. I was glad to see my blogging community agreed with me. Seriously. Making a 4-year-old run laps?? Ugh.
Chase got his second round of Synagis for this season, I had to work on Christmas Eve, and we had The. Most. Hectic. And. Least. Enjoyable. Christmas. Holiday. EVER. Between working part-time, being overextended with volunteer/ministry commitments, family gatherings and several meetings concerning our new home, time was something I just did NOT have enough of. That resulted in the Christmas holiday being one great, big "TO DO LIST" with things getting checked off as they were done. Work Christmas Eve? Check. Christmas Eve service at church? Check. Christmas Eve gathering at my mom's house? Check. Christmas morning service at church? Check. Opening presents with kids in 10 minutes or less after church? Check. Driving out to hubs' side of the family for Christmas dinner? Check. It literally wasn't until Monday morning, Dec. 26th, that I could finally breathe and relax. I HATED the way my family's Christmas holiday unfolded this year. I do NOT like to rush around. I like to ENJOY the holiday and STOP to be THANKFUL for what it really means. I'm already thinking through how we'll make next year a complete opposite from this year. Christmas is too important to me to treat it like a "To Do List." New Year's Eve (after I got home from work) was nice and quiet. It was a wonderful way to start the new year. Hubs and I were in bed at 11:30PM. Ahhhhh...
So there you have it! A super crazy-long post to recap 2011! Whew! And in case you missed it, take a look at this...
Chase - January 2011:
Chase - December 2011:
My baby done growed up.
January 2011:
Do you see this sweet little BABY we started 2011 with? Ohmyheavens. I could just squeeze him! Note his unsteady, wobbly standing in this video:
He was having physical therapy once a week to help him get mobile. Later that same month... first steps!!!
And what about his big sister? She was as happy as ever!
February 2011:
It seems I spent a lot of time talking about LO's behavior issues. I vividly recall the attitude we were getting from her and how lost I felt. We tried some new techniques from a book and started to see some improvements.
It was also in February when Chase's cardiology appointment resulted in scheduling an unplanned heart cath. :( His echo showed some narrowing in his LPA and his cardiologist, as well as the team at MUSC, determined it would be necessary for him to have a cath to try to balloon the narrowing. This was NOT the news we wanted to hear. :(
I also shared a series of guest posts from fellow heart moms to raise awareness for Congenital Heart Defects. You can read them here (Noah), here (Mary Clare), here (Aly Jean), here (Anna Grace), here (Brandt) and here (Bodie). :)
February also brought the devastating loss of a sweet heart warrior, Travis DiCarlo. I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing when I read Nicole's updates following Travis' 4th surgery. I literally could barely get out of bed for 2 days as my heart was breaking for the DiCarlo family. Travis was just 3 days older than Chase and his loss really hit me hard. Please continue to keep Nicole & Roger in your thoughts and prayers as the first anniversary of their loss is approaching. God bless them and hold them and their family close during this time.
March 2011:
This month we took a trip to Cincinnati, Chase had an ER visit at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with what was diagnosed as RSV, and we headed to Charleston for his heart cath. The cath was successful in that they verified he IS a candidate for the Fontan (Praise the Lord!!), they ballooned his LPA, which didn't show any flow restriction (whew!), determined he COULD wait for the typical Fontan timeframe (age 3-4, approx. 30 lbs.) AND he was returned safely to us... looking pretty good, all things considered.
We also decided to start Chase in speech therapy, and I seemed to do a lot of sewing last March, too. See? And see? I also had my first ever blog giveaway!
April 2011:
I spent a LOT of time on my new hobby: sewing. I made this amazing (IMO) black & white quilt for Chase's physical therapist, who we had to say "see ya!" to in April because our little man was a walking pro! Daddy also wrote an informative post about living through an HLHS diagnosis as a father/husband, which was pretty awesome of him. In an effort of full disclosure and total honesty, hubs and I were in the midst of the hardest season of our marriage we had ever encountered. We had made it through Chase's diagnosis, two heart surgeries and two heart caths, and the emotions of it all were finally catching up to us. I hadn't prayed so hard for my husband or our marriage in my life!
May 2011:
This month brought Part II of hubs' perspective on being an HLHS father. We also had some fun at the park with the kids.
My birthday and Mother's Day were also "celebrated" during May (hubs should enjoy those quotes -- haha!). The kids and I enjoyed some fun in the sun playing in the backyard together, too!
Chase's speech therapist also recommended that we have Chase checked out by an ENT to see if he has any fluid in his ears, which could be contributing to his speech delay. We met with a local ENT and awaited the results... I also took a bit of a blogging break during the month of May last year.
June 2011:
Oh the joy of another procedure at MUSC! It was determined that Chase needed to have tubes put in. Imagine his excitement when we told him:
Haha! The poor kid! June 7th was his tube surgery at MUSC and not surprisingly, he did great! We had some issues with the right one after we got home, which would result in another trip to MUSC in the coming months. I didn't blog much in June, but I did enjoy spending time and making precious memories with these guys:
We also had some technology issues during June. From my mishap of epic proportions (busting the front glass on my iPhone) to Chase knocking my laptop on the garage floor, rendering the hard drive completely dead. Good times, huh?
July 2011:
July was a big month for LO! From her first dentist appointment to her 4th birthday parties (Yes, plural. See here and here.), it was a lot of fun!
I'm sure we also spent lots of time playing outside, going to the pool and/or playground and just enjoying a fun summer together.
August 2011:
I played a little catch up on my blog since I hadn't been posting as often. We also took a little family vacay to Hilton Head, SC for a much-needed getaway.
It was while we were on vacation that I got "the call" with an offer for a part-time job I had applied for. Completely stoked!!! Woot!!!
Chase finally started talking a little bit more. See? August also brought a repeat trip to MUSC to replace Chase's right ear tube. Good times. But obviously the tubes have helped his speech, thank goodness!
September 2011:
September was very light in the blog posting department. With preschool being in full swing, then adding soccer to LO's schedule, and working part-time for the first time since becoming a SAHM, and planning Chase's 2nd birthday party, free time was VERY hard to come by, and what little I had obviously wasn't spent blogging. But we did have fun with a trip to see Sesame Street Live, which the kids really enjoyed.
And of course LO loved playing soccer, too!
I think finding an amazingly delicious copycat recipe for Starbucks Hot Chocolate was the only other thing I apparently deemed post-worthy in September.
October 2011:
Chase's 2nd birthday was by far the biggest highlight of October! He had such a blast and it was so wonderful to celebrate two years of having God's blessing in our lives in the form our our little rock star! I made his birthday cake, which, I thought, turned out pretty decent and tasted amazing!
We had a great time celebrating our little guy, but we also learned through that party that it would probably be the last big birthday event we have at our house for either of our kids. We'll be keeping things low-key from now on.
It was crazy to stop and think back to where we were 2 years prior during October. Packed up a U-Haul and headed to Charleston for Chase's birth and first surgery. With a 2 year old in tow. And no clue what the future held. By far it was the scariest time in my life, and I wish so much that the current me could've told myself then that Chase would be a thriving, crazy, 2-year-old toddler! Oh, the fears and uncertainty that would've relinquished! But I'm so very grateful for the journey we've been on with Chase. We've learned so much about ourselves, our family and those who would be there to support us along the way. We are so grateful!!!
October was also the month that we started on our journey of building a new home! I never took it seriously in the beginning because it seemed to good to happen to US, so I just went along with it -- not getting too emotionally involved -- until I could see that hubs was absolutely serious! Yippee!!
November 2011:
Our big boy moved into his big boy bed!!!
Still can't believe how huge this kid is. Seriously. We also had our 6-month check-up with cardiology, and were so very happy and blessed to hear that everything looked great! We were still on schedule for a 3- to 4-year-old Fontan, depending on Mr. Hefty's weight gain over the coming year or so. He's already up to a chunk o' monkey 28 lbs., and considering his surgeon wants him to be between 30-32 lbs., I'd say it's quite likely our little rock star will be rocking the Fontan in 2012. I don't want to even start thinking or talking about it until it's a sure thing, so, moving on...
Chase had his 2-year check-up with his pediatrician as well, and all was well. Not much more to report during November, except...
Oh, that's right!!! We bought a house!!!!! Officially signed the papers on Wednesday, November 30, 2011. Woot!!! :)
December 2011:
During December, I had a bit of a debacle with how LO was being punished at school. I was glad to see my blogging community agreed with me. Seriously. Making a 4-year-old run laps?? Ugh.
Chase got his second round of Synagis for this season, I had to work on Christmas Eve, and we had The. Most. Hectic. And. Least. Enjoyable. Christmas. Holiday. EVER. Between working part-time, being overextended with volunteer/ministry commitments, family gatherings and several meetings concerning our new home, time was something I just did NOT have enough of. That resulted in the Christmas holiday being one great, big "TO DO LIST" with things getting checked off as they were done. Work Christmas Eve? Check. Christmas Eve service at church? Check. Christmas Eve gathering at my mom's house? Check. Christmas morning service at church? Check. Opening presents with kids in 10 minutes or less after church? Check. Driving out to hubs' side of the family for Christmas dinner? Check. It literally wasn't until Monday morning, Dec. 26th, that I could finally breathe and relax. I HATED the way my family's Christmas holiday unfolded this year. I do NOT like to rush around. I like to ENJOY the holiday and STOP to be THANKFUL for what it really means. I'm already thinking through how we'll make next year a complete opposite from this year. Christmas is too important to me to treat it like a "To Do List." New Year's Eve (after I got home from work) was nice and quiet. It was a wonderful way to start the new year. Hubs and I were in bed at 11:30PM. Ahhhhh...
So there you have it! A super crazy-long post to recap 2011! Whew! And in case you missed it, take a look at this...
Chase - January 2011:
Chase - December 2011:
My baby done growed up.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Where's the Post?
Okay, so it's 10:29 PM on Sunday, January 1, 2012, and I just started feeling guilty about not having a fresh, new post ready to hit the blog Monday morning. So I thought I'd share a cool YouTube video with you guys. Only I logged into my YouTube account, and it doesn't seem I've uploaded anything exciting recently. And no new video gems on my iPhone, either.
Poo.
Then I thought I should maybe do a fantastic recap post of 2011, sharing about what we experienced over the past 12 months. But did I mention it's 10:29 PM already? And I'm tired. So apparently no really awesome 2011 recap post will be happening after all.
Poo.
Oooh! Then I figured I'd just post some amazing new pictures of my kids! Everyone loves pictures of my kids, right? Haha! Only, too bad. I don't have any awesome new pictures to share, either.
Poo.
I guess I'll just wish everyone a Happy 2012 and raise my imaginary glass of sparkling white grape juice to both of my blog readers and wish you all a happy, healthy and love-filled year! Thanks for sticking with me and for joining us on our journey. You guys rock.
Oh, and P.S. My resolution (along with 80 million other people) is to lose weight this year. Ya'll will help me with that, right???
Poo.
Then I thought I should maybe do a fantastic recap post of 2011, sharing about what we experienced over the past 12 months. But did I mention it's 10:29 PM already? And I'm tired. So apparently no really awesome 2011 recap post will be happening after all.
Poo.
Oooh! Then I figured I'd just post some amazing new pictures of my kids! Everyone loves pictures of my kids, right? Haha! Only, too bad. I don't have any awesome new pictures to share, either.
Poo.
I guess I'll just wish everyone a Happy 2012 and raise my imaginary glass of sparkling white grape juice to both of my blog readers and wish you all a happy, healthy and love-filled year! Thanks for sticking with me and for joining us on our journey. You guys rock.
Oh, and P.S. My resolution (along with 80 million other people) is to lose weight this year. Ya'll will help me with that, right???
Friday, December 30, 2011
Breeze
I SO love the fact that we can cruise with the windows down in December. I love living in the south! Obviously the kids were loving the breeze, too! :)
LO's face especially cracks me up...
And I love Chase's new hairdo in this one...
Happy December, y'all!
LO's face especially cracks me up...
And I love Chase's new hairdo in this one...
Happy December, y'all!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Our First Visit
Whoa. Yesterday was NOT a pleasant day for me. I don't know what I came down with, but I felt absolutely miserable yesterday! And it was awful because I had so much I wanted/needed to get done around the house but literally didn't have the strength to do much more than yell at LO to stop irritating the crap out of Chase and to make a couple of PB&Js. Ugh. Awful. I finally started feeling better last night after a long, hot shower and a turkey croissant.
Anywho, so I've been stockpiling all the stuff we've seen, done, compiled, selected, discussed, etc. concerning our new house since we started this process back in October, and I can finally let that stuff slowly filter out here on the blog. I'll try not to bore the pants off anybody, but I do want to share the fun stuff!
During one of our first trips to OUR homesite on December 18th, we took bunches of pictures. I thought I'd share a few of those with you guys today.
Here I am standing at our property line.
And here I am at our other property line. I'm such a dork.
My beautiful girl with a pic of our new home!
Here's my sweet family checking out our new yard!
LO's super excited about building a new home -- with stairs and everything! Haha!
My sweet boy. Such a cutie!
Love this crinkle face of his!
After scoping out our lot, we ended up at the playground near the pool that is literally across the street from our lot. We love this!
My girl on the swings! She can really get herself moving! And I love that I only have to push one kiddo on the swings now. :)
I'll be posting some pics of our floor plan, color selections, etc. soon. I get so excited about this stuff! Although I'm guessing you guys aren't too stoked about my upcoming blog posts on building our new home. I kind of caught on to that fact when I received ZERO comments on my big announcement post on Sunday. Haha! So sorry if this stuff isn't interesting to you guys, but I gotta keep it real! :)
Anywho, so I've been stockpiling all the stuff we've seen, done, compiled, selected, discussed, etc. concerning our new house since we started this process back in October, and I can finally let that stuff slowly filter out here on the blog. I'll try not to bore the pants off anybody, but I do want to share the fun stuff!
During one of our first trips to OUR homesite on December 18th, we took bunches of pictures. I thought I'd share a few of those with you guys today.
Here I am standing at our property line.
And here I am at our other property line. I'm such a dork.
My beautiful girl with a pic of our new home!
Here's my sweet family checking out our new yard!
LO's super excited about building a new home -- with stairs and everything! Haha!
My sweet boy. Such a cutie!
Love this crinkle face of his!
After scoping out our lot, we ended up at the playground near the pool that is literally across the street from our lot. We love this!
My girl on the swings! She can really get herself moving! And I love that I only have to push one kiddo on the swings now. :)
I'll be posting some pics of our floor plan, color selections, etc. soon. I get so excited about this stuff! Although I'm guessing you guys aren't too stoked about my upcoming blog posts on building our new home. I kind of caught on to that fact when I received ZERO comments on my big announcement post on Sunday. Haha! So sorry if this stuff isn't interesting to you guys, but I gotta keep it real! :)
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
It's That Time Again!
Guess what time is quickly approaching once again?
That's right! It's time to get Chase to ditch the paci! I searched my blog archives and confirmed that we got rid of LO's paci about 2 weeks before her 2nd birthday. Looks like we're a bit behind schedule with Chase... haha! As if he conforms to any kind of a schedule -- too funny! But now that he's talking more and is so independent with his big boy bed, I think we're gonna give it a go this weekend. He only uses the paci at nap time and at night, so I'm hopeful it won't be too difficult. LO was super easy when we got rid of hers with the awesome "clipping" method my friend H shared with me. Check out the flashback post from 2009 below. :)
PROJECT PACI.
That's right! It's time to get Chase to ditch the paci! I searched my blog archives and confirmed that we got rid of LO's paci about 2 weeks before her 2nd birthday. Looks like we're a bit behind schedule with Chase... haha! As if he conforms to any kind of a schedule -- too funny! But now that he's talking more and is so independent with his big boy bed, I think we're gonna give it a go this weekend. He only uses the paci at nap time and at night, so I'm hopeful it won't be too difficult. LO was super easy when we got rid of hers with the awesome "clipping" method my friend H shared with me. Check out the flashback post from 2009 below. :)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday was a fun day. Hubs and I (okay, really it was all me) decided it was time to phase out the pacifier ("paci") with LO now that she'll be TWO a week from Saturday. She's only ever used it at nap time and night time, so I knew it shouldn't be too painful. However, she really does love her paci and her teddy bear when it's time for sleep. I dunno. We thought we'd give it a go anyway and see what happens.
A good friend of mine told me she had read that you can cut off the tip of the paci, causing it to lose it's suction ability. Then you just cut off a little bit every 2 or 3 days until there's not much left of it. Usually by that time the child has already given up on it.
So starting at Monday's nap time, I gave LO two pacis, both of which had been "snipped." I closed the door and before I even got to the living room, she was standing at her door, wailing. It only lasted about 12 minutes before she tired herself out and went to sleep. That night, it was pretty much the same.
She's done very well at both nap time and bed time, although the first several minutes are a struggle. Quite frankly, she's more irritated at her paci than anything else. She doesn't even bother with it, but that doesn't stop her from being mad about the situation (understandably).
We've noticed she's not sleeping as "heavy" or as much as she had been previously, but we figure that's just how it's gonna be from now on. Case in point? This morning, she woke up around 7AM (normally it's not until 8:30-ish) but I refused to get my lazy self out of bed. After all, she has an entire toy box in her room that could occupy her for hours (ha-ha). However, this morning, she apparently found a better use for her time:
Isn't that just lovely? One entire drawer emptied, another half-emptied, clothes taken off hangers in her closet AND "Pat the Bunny?" Another casualty of her boredom. You can see it all ripped up on the glider chair.
Oh, and that toy box FULL of toys?? Not even touched.
Good times.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Christmas 2011 Recap
Yay for Christmas! We FINALLY had a chance to relax and enjoy a little of the holiday festivities last night, and it was wonderful! Today has been even better -- NOTHING on the "To Do" list, nowhere to be, nothing to do... ahhhhhhh, pure bliss!!! We spent the night with hubs' family last night and came back home (to a WRECK of a home... so not like me to leave it such a mess when going out of town but there literally were not enough hours (minutes or seconds!) in the day yesterday!) with only ONE of our TWO littles. LO stayed behind with Gramma & PaPa for a little sleepover while hubs, Chase and I have been enjoying a leisurely (and QUIET!) afternoon/evening. We'll get our girl back tomorrow and all will be right with the world once more! ;)
So our Christmas day was quite honestly the most hectic, stressful and unmerry of any holiday I've ever experienced in my 30-something years. I hope we NEVER repeat the stresses and unjoy of the schedule we had to keep for this holiday season ever again! I'll tell you this much about working retail around the holidays: being forced to spend time AWAY from your family ON Christmas Eve truly truly truly SUCKS!!!!! I missed seeing my kids for over 24 hours due to my work schedule on Friday ('til 12AM!) and Saturday (6:45AM-4PM!) and I hope it NEVER happens again. Literally, I baked ZERO holiday treats and those of you who know me well are GASPING at the very thought, right?! Seriously. LO and I whipped up some "cake mix cookies" for Santa at 9:30pm on Christmas Eve. It's been that kind of holiday season around here. Gaw!
But once we were finally able to be together as a family and push our way through our overcommitted holiday schedule, it was truly wonderful! I am so very blessed to have the amazing husband and kids that I do! Thank you, Jesus!
So how about some pics of my kids? Don't mind if I do! Enjoy!
The Christmas stash.
TWO plates for Santa this year, one from LO and one from Chase. I think there were 9 cookies total plus a cup of chocolate milk (Santa's favorite). Would you believe Santa ate Every. Single. Cookie? Whoa! Hubs and I need to have a little chat before Santa's visit next year!
The stockings hung nowhere near the chimney because we don't have one! Haha! But we will next Christmas! ((WOOT!!)) Notice the ginormous bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms hubs left for me. Sweet!
My favorite Christmas morning pic ever! Both kids were in a slight sleepy stupor when they arrived in the family room to see all of the goodies. Please note LO's huge bouffant.
Time to open the stockings! Chase was very much enamored with a Cars 2 light-up spinning thing.
Seriously. He LOVED it. Great last-minute addition to his stocking! We got one for LO, too, but somehow he had confiscated hers...
Just a cute smiley pic of my precious boy! Love him!!
A new ball? Yes, please! :)
Um, I think LO was excited about this particular gift. Just a tad...
She was excited about The Ladybug Game, too!
Don't ask me why, but both of my kids love to watch Caillou. Seriously. He's a bald-yet-not-sickly-4-year-old boy with by far The. Most. Annoying. voice known to mankind. He's obnoxious. But the kids love him.
Can't wait for the four of us to try this one out! LO seems pretty stoked, too!
Chase got a computer for Christmas. Not that I have any notion that he'll leave my MacBook alone and just play with his new Leap Frog laptop. Especially since it doesn't get pbskids.org. But it seemed to hold his attention for at least a couple of minutes!
Such a big, handsome, grown-up little man!
Opening more presents with hubs' family. Both of the kids majorly scored with that clan (as did hubs and I, too).
Case in point about mommy's score? I'm so crazy excited about my new All-Clad measuring cups and spoons from Williams-Sanoma! You just can't imagine!!!
Yay for girlie toys! LO is stocked up on some serious Barbie gear. And yet, after all the gifts were unwrapped, it was Chase who was playing with the Barbie horse and LO playing with Chuck the Tonka truck! Haha!
So our Christmas day was quite honestly the most hectic, stressful and unmerry of any holiday I've ever experienced in my 30-something years. I hope we NEVER repeat the stresses and unjoy of the schedule we had to keep for this holiday season ever again! I'll tell you this much about working retail around the holidays: being forced to spend time AWAY from your family ON Christmas Eve truly truly truly SUCKS!!!!! I missed seeing my kids for over 24 hours due to my work schedule on Friday ('til 12AM!) and Saturday (6:45AM-4PM!) and I hope it NEVER happens again. Literally, I baked ZERO holiday treats and those of you who know me well are GASPING at the very thought, right?! Seriously. LO and I whipped up some "cake mix cookies" for Santa at 9:30pm on Christmas Eve. It's been that kind of holiday season around here. Gaw!
But once we were finally able to be together as a family and push our way through our overcommitted holiday schedule, it was truly wonderful! I am so very blessed to have the amazing husband and kids that I do! Thank you, Jesus!
So how about some pics of my kids? Don't mind if I do! Enjoy!
The Christmas stash.
TWO plates for Santa this year, one from LO and one from Chase. I think there were 9 cookies total plus a cup of chocolate milk (Santa's favorite). Would you believe Santa ate Every. Single. Cookie? Whoa! Hubs and I need to have a little chat before Santa's visit next year!
The stockings hung nowhere near the chimney because we don't have one! Haha! But we will next Christmas! ((WOOT!!)) Notice the ginormous bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms hubs left for me. Sweet!
My favorite Christmas morning pic ever! Both kids were in a slight sleepy stupor when they arrived in the family room to see all of the goodies. Please note LO's huge bouffant.
Time to open the stockings! Chase was very much enamored with a Cars 2 light-up spinning thing.
Seriously. He LOVED it. Great last-minute addition to his stocking! We got one for LO, too, but somehow he had confiscated hers...
Just a cute smiley pic of my precious boy! Love him!!
A new ball? Yes, please! :)
Um, I think LO was excited about this particular gift. Just a tad...
She was excited about The Ladybug Game, too!
Don't ask me why, but both of my kids love to watch Caillou. Seriously. He's a bald-yet-not-sickly-4-year-old boy with by far The. Most. Annoying. voice known to mankind. He's obnoxious. But the kids love him.
Can't wait for the four of us to try this one out! LO seems pretty stoked, too!
Chase got a computer for Christmas. Not that I have any notion that he'll leave my MacBook alone and just play with his new Leap Frog laptop. Especially since it doesn't get pbskids.org. But it seemed to hold his attention for at least a couple of minutes!
Such a big, handsome, grown-up little man!
Opening more presents with hubs' family. Both of the kids majorly scored with that clan (as did hubs and I, too).
Case in point about mommy's score? I'm so crazy excited about my new All-Clad measuring cups and spoons from Williams-Sanoma! You just can't imagine!!!
Yay for girlie toys! LO is stocked up on some serious Barbie gear. And yet, after all the gifts were unwrapped, it was Chase who was playing with the Barbie horse and LO playing with Chuck the Tonka truck! Haha!
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