Pee Pee in the Potty?

For the last 2 days, Mallory has been sitting on the potty trying to do her best to put something in there. On two different occasions, she sat on the pot for 45 minutes, without complaining (for the most part) and just "missing" the pot. The first time (yesterday before naptime), she told me she needed to go "icky poo poo" and I stuck her on the pot before she could go in her diaper. She sat on that pot for 45 min and downed a whole cup of juice while sitting there. Then she started complaining a lot, because I KNEW she had to go. In her frustration, a little nugget passed into the pot, to which I got wildly excited and immediately gave her a treat. I knew she needed to go more, but she started complaining so badly (screaming uncontrollably is more like it). I didn't want her to conjure up distain for the miniature pot, so I went ahead and put her diaper back on, and she immediately went. She then sat on the pot and asked for her treat. The second time (this morning after she woke up with a dry diaper), she sat on the pot for another 45 minutes, stood up, peed on the floor, sat back down and asked for her treat.

Anyway, she's wearing "special diapies", as we call them around here (AKA pull ups), and I'm hoping that she'll eventually put all the pieces together and realize it's a good thing when she uses the potty. I made her a chart for her to put stickers on when she finally does pee. And the fruit snacks (her treat of choice) are waiting to be eaten.

An update

For those of you that have been praying for my grandmother, I greatly appreciate it! She's out of the hospital now and is back in rehab, praise God! She's still having antibiotic administered twice daily for her MRSA infection, though it's much better now. My grandfather is doing well, though he's still worrying about grandma and wishes he could be with her. My mom is still down in FL trying to help prepare my grandpa's house in case my grandmother can come home in the near future. When she'll be released from rehab is still questionable, though hopefully in the some-what near future. I am planning on seeing my grandparents when Patrick and I head down to FL in October.

Anyway, my sister was a great minister to my mom, grandma and grandpa while she was down there. I think my sister is heading back today and my mom may be heading back home in the next couple of days, too, which is a blessing.

Funeral arrangements for my grandma's sister are still not made...it's a long story. But, I still don't think my grandmother knows of her sister's passing.

God is good. He is providing, like He always does.

Walking? Already???

Ethan's Dedication

Here are some pictures from Ethan's dedication. Gram and Pops were there, but I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of them. And these are from my dad's camera. I don't think I took any pictures on my camera...

And by the way, the shoes that Ethan is wearing were Patrick's shoes when he was a baby. Awww.

Here is the video my dad took of Ethan's Dedication this morning. What a special time for us! We pray God will shower his blessings upon our little boy:

A little cheer

I don't mean to be all gloomy in my last 2 posts, but I wanted to just share my thoughts over my loved ones.

But to add some cheer, my in-laws are in town through the weekend to watch our little E-man be dedicated to the Lord this Sunday. We're very excited about this little ceremony and are looking forward to making a public committment regarding our call to show Jesus to our son.

And by the way, E went the pediatrician today and we found out that he's 27 lbs and 31 inches long. Not quite off the charts, but close. Very close.

Another day of remembering

Brooke MacKenzie

I'm thinking and praying for Joy and Bobby today, knowing that they are aching the loss of their little girl. I don't know if Joy reads this, but I remember Brooke and think of her often, especially today.

Thinking, Remembering, and Praying

My mind has been heavy with thoughts of my mom and her folks over the last few days. My grandparents are both dealing with significant life changes at this time and my mother, being 8 hours away from them, is struggling with wanting to be with them and wanting to be home. I can imagine her dilemma but I cannot yet relate.

My grandmother fell and broke her hip about 3 weeks ago. She had already been failing in health, suffering from dimensia and advanced arthritis. And because she broke her hip, or shall I say shattered it, she received a total hip replacement. After her time in the hospital, she moved into a rehab facility for therapy and care. In the meantime, my grandfather is struggling with finding his new meaning in life, since his entire life was consumed with caring for my grandmother. Now, she was being cared for and he was left at home alone to worry about her.

But, as my grandmother was recovering, she developed an infection in her wound that tested positive for MRSA, a nasty bacterial infection that can be very dangerous if not treated properly. She was admitted back into the hospital earlier this week because she kept removing her IV port. My grandpa and my mom's brother asked my mom to come down to FL to be with them since both my grandpa and grandma were struggling with...well...life. Mom is a strong one. Well, I guess I should say she gives the appearance that she's the strong one, though I know she's struggling along with them. I can't imagine. Anyway, mom arrived in Florida yesterday and she luckily beat Fay to Ocala, which Fay is pounding at the moment.

So, I get a phone call from my dad today to let me know that my grandma has been pretty depressed because she's in the hospital being treated with this horrible infection, which was hard for my mom to see because grandma actually had a good day yesterday. In addition to the stress of my grandmother's poor health, my mother found out this morning that my grandmother's dear sister, Margaret, passed away last Sunday. As of this afternoon, my grandmother still doesn't know. I know she will be greatly, greatly upset.

I've spent many of the last 24 hours thinking about my grandma, how much fun she was, and how I miss her. I haven't seen her since last July and hope and pray I get to see her again. I've also thought about my Aunt Margaret and what an amazing woman she was. She battled with polio since her mid-twenties and has been confined to a wheelchair about 3/4 of her life. She lost her son and his entire family (David and Bibiana), including her only grandchild, in a helicopter crash nearly 20 years ago. Yet, she saw the beauty of life in everything. Always postive. Always curious on how her neices and nephews and great-neices and great-nephews and great-great-neices and great-great-nephews were doing. Always willing to give a hug. I will miss her.

My sister is heading down to FL today to be with our family. I'm praying for her as she battles the affects of Fay. I wish I could be there, too, and I'm praying that God will somehow open up a door to allow me to see my grandma and grandpa soon. Oh, how I want to give them both a hug.

I'm blessed to have such a close-knit family. We feel each other's pain and wish to bear each other's burdens. We are all helping in anyway we can - some physically, some emotionally, all prayerfully.

From the last time I saw Grandma back in July '07

From the last time I saw Aunt Margaret during the same trip down to FL in July '07 (and that's my mom in the pic with Mal):

I Heart Garage Sales

I went garage sale-ing on Saturday and racked up on some great toys for the kids, the prize being a practically new play kitchen for $18. A man was manning the garage sale and told me that they had bought it for their sons, who had out-grown it. I was shocked when he told me he wanted $18 for it; I would've paid more than that for it because it was in excellent condition. I bullied another prospective buyer out of the kitchen and swiped it up to put in my car almost immediately after I arrived on the scene. Anyway, I was so excited!

We gave it to Mallory on Sunday night after I spent about an hour disinfecting it, eventhough it looked pristine. Though Mallory didn't jump for joy or go crazy, she was VERY excited to get it. She's spent quite a bit of time putting all the food in the microwave and even hiding her animals in the fridge and dishwasher. And lemme tell ya, she can whip up a mean pot of peas.

Ethan and the Shaker

Ethan's learning early to cheer for the Gators. :-)

Our big girl

Mallory had a big weekend, furthering the truth that she is now longer a baby but a big girl; we turned her crib into a toddler bed. It was a bitter sweet moment for me, like most moments with her these days. She does so many things to remind me that my little girl is growing up.

She was very excited to have full access to her bed. The first line of business was to introduce ALL of her animals to her bed. She also really liked her pillow (I sacrified my sacred feather pillow for her enjoyment) and she loved running from one end of the room right into her bed with her face in the pillow. It was enjoyable for me to watch her excitement.

She did OK her first night in her bed (which was Saturday night). She tried to throw Doggie overboard several times, screaming for us to come get him, and not making the connection that she could now get out and get him. She did obey us by not getting out of her bed, but we're trying to make her understand that she IS allowed to get out if she throws Doggie. Anyway, she stayed in her bed very well. I had a little trouble today at nap time (day #3), but she'll eventually get the hang of it.

I did a little bit of rearranging in her room to accomodate a new special toy we got for her, commemorating her big girl moment. I'll post about the special toy later. In the meantime, here is some of the rearranging I did (for those of you who had seen Mal's room before):
1. Moved the books from the far,back corner behind the chair onto a shelf in the closet
2. Moved the lamp where the hamper was
3. Moved the trash can next to the lamp
4. Moved the hamper where the trash was
5. Shifted the table, chairs and rocking chair to the left to clear a space for her special toy
6. Moved all other toys that were once in her room into the closet

And here are the pictures (notice Doggie's new "bed"):

Currently...

I'm trying to make plans for the kids this fall. I sorta "flew by the seat of my pants" this summer and my brain is seriously running out of things to do for the kids...or I think of cool things last minute but lack motivation to get it done. I want the fall to be fun and more scheduled so Mallory can look forward to certain things and I won't have to think about "what are we going to do today" every day.

I have a few things tossing around in my brain, but I'm hoping to take Mallory to the gym weekly instead of every-now-and-then. I'm hoping our playgroup will re-form during the fall and I'm looking into a family kindermusik to take both kids to. I'm also thinking about swim lessons, but may postpone that until the winter.

Nothing is for certain. Everything is up in the air. But I'm hoping to nail it all down within the next 2 weeks. A new schedule starting Sept 1 is my goal, carrying us through until Thanksgiving. We will have a week off for vacation in October, but other than that, I'm hoping we'll be at home in order to have some sense of normalcy until the holidays...

We'll see.

Do any of you moms that have had a 2-year-old have any suggestions on fun activities? Should Mallory be cutting? Gluing? Pasting? I don't really want to glue or paste yet, but that's mainly a selfish thing as I think of the cleaning efforts. I'm interested in some good project ideas...

What's for breakfast?

Can anybody guess what we had for breakfast this morning?

What a big helper!

Mallory is such a big helper to me! She helps me sort laundry, she picks up toys, she stacks her books, she helps me load the dryer, she "helps push" the vacuum (really not helping, though she tries), and, with great enthusiasm, she helps me unload the dishwasher. I've been teaching her how to help me do different chores around the house and her favorite is the dishwasher. It's great because she unloads the top portion, stacks all the bowls and cups, and sorts the silverware. And I can also usually unload the remainder of the dishwasher, wipe down the counters, and finish any handwashing while she's at it...and she's not messing up anything else in the house!!! I'm glad she enjoys helping and I hope that her attitude will carry forward on into her older years...

Trip to Albany, GA

The four of us went down to Albany, GA to see my sister and brother-in-law this past weekend. It was a LONG trip for such a short period of time to be down there, but it was worth it to see my family. My sister was performing in a play called "The Taffetas" where my sister sang tons of 50's songs in 4-part harmonies. It was great. She did great. And I'm very glad I got to see it.

We also watched some Olympics and went to the pool at the hotel my parents were staying at. The kids had a blast in the water, especially Ethan. He was so cute!

Anyway, it was a crazy weekend, but loads of fun. We love you, Aunt Amanda and Uncle David!

Hands On! Museum Farm Function

Last weekend, the Hands On! Museum in JC has a free farm exhibit outdoors later followed by a free showing of the movie Babe. We decided to take the kids to the exhibit, but knew they would not be able to sit through a movie. There were miniature horses and donkeys in addition to a bunch of tractors for the kids to sit on. Mallory liked seeing the horses, but was terrified of a man blowing up balloons and making animals out of them. And when I say terrified, I mean terrified. Anyway, we had a good time.

Also, there was a photographer from the Johnson City Press there and he took a few photos of our kids. Click here to see some pictures. There are 5 of our kids.

Having fun wasting time

Thanks, Kelly, for pointing me to this useless site for lots of laughs. Yearbook Yourself is quality. I wasted almost an hour looking at this sight and, literally, laughing out loud. Check it out!
1968:

















1978:

















1980:


















1994:


















1996: (the year I graduated HS)


















And I couldn't resist:
1980:
















1
1986:




















2000:

Ethan is 9 months!

This is a big milestone for me because Ethan is as old as how long I was pregnant with him. It's amazing how much quicker these past nine months have past than when he was in utero!

He's a precious little boy and is so active for his age. He crawls all over the place, pulls up on anything he can, and eats anything in sight. He and Mallory are getting along more, but we've had a few incidents where space issues are concerned and are working on it. At 25.5 pounds, Ethan and Mallory weigh the same and Ethan is probably just a few inches shorter than Mal. He's a biggun'. His 9 month peds appt is in a few weeks.

Here's our little man (I'll post more when I get a chance to sift through them all...):

What I did tonight....

...and what I hope to do a lot more of in the future...

Ava's first birthday!!!

Curtains

I made my curtains! I hung them up last night, took down the paper blinds, and it looks so much better! Next, is the shades which I'll make for LR windows and the decorative windows next to the door.

Here is the rest of the material: (from top to bottom):Pillow,Pillow,Shades,Curtain Panels,Trim for the shades

Eavesdropping on a VERY important conversation...

Upadated: Mallory was jabbering like this for about 5 minutes before I got the camera. I don't know entirely what she's saying, but from what I've gathered, her conversation ranges over a lot of different topics, including (but not limited to):
- "Big Sister" (her book "Big Sister, Little Sister")
- Gommy (my mother)
- Gommy's here (which she wasn't)
- Poppy's here...Poppy's coming (my dad, who was about to arrive soon)
...I think she's talking about Gommy and Poppy until the point she puts on her glasses, then she starts counting...
- One, Two, Five, Six (she's learning to count)
- Doggie Nonny (Doggie [yes, the dreaded Doggie] Night Night)
- Zachary (which is how she says Zaccheaus...which is one of her favorite Bible Stories)
- Cayman watch
- Gossie (which is another one of her books)

Birdie Momma

There is a momma bird caring for two of her babies in a nest in the Bradford Pear tree outside of Ethan's bedroom window. For the last few days, I've fed Ethan in his chair as the birdies were being fed by their momma. It has been fun for me and I look forward to watching the momma nurture her tiny babies with grubs and bugs that she diligently searches for around the area. I don't how much longer they'll be doing this, but I'll miss them when they grow up and leave the coop...

I'll stop now before I start comparing this to our lives, which I think about as I watch these birds. If you look close in this picture, you can see the babies and their watchful momma:

Visit with Poppy

My dad came up for a brief visit, mainly to get a grandkid fix, but also to hang out with me as well. It was nice to see him and I was sad to say goodbye to him this afternoon. We had a lot of fun going to the park yesterday and to Chick-fil-A today. He was supposed to stay until tomorrow, but I think my mom needs him back home. Mom's mom fell in the wee hours of Sunday morning and broke her hip. She had surgery on Sun afternoon and the surgery went well, but last she heard the doctors were trying to regulate her BP, which was consistently high. In addition to the stress over her mother, one of their employee's father died on Monday and that employee needed to go to Ohio to be with her family. Needless to say, my mom has a lot on her brain and definitely needs my dad there to support her. I wish I could be there for her, too. :-)


















Anyway, I appreciated my dad coming to visit even though mom needed him home. And I appreciated mom letting dad come to visit, even though she needed him home. We had a nice time and, again, I love watching my parents love on my kids.

Some videos

OK, here are some recent videos I've taken of the kids. The first one is of Ethan pulling up. This happened maybe 2 weeks ago and this was actually the very first time he had ever pulled up. He was starting to pull up on this table when I ran and grabbed my camera and I can't believe I got it on video! Now, he's pulling up on everything he can. He's a mobile fella.



This next video is of Mallory and her friend, Kaitlyn, playing Ring around the Rosie. Kaitlyn's and her family live just over a mile from me. Dawn, Kaitlyn's mommy, is a good friend of mine and not only are our daughters the same age (2 months apart), our boys are also the same age (1 month apart). We get together at least once a week to have our kids play. And to give you a little background on the kids, Mallory is a shy little girl who like her space and prefers to play by herself and usually remains distant from a lot of activity. Kaitlyn, on the other hand, LOVES to play with others and loves to play loud. She runs to whereever the most activity is and loves attention from others. Needless to say, their personalities clash quite a bit, but Dawn and I are hoping our children will learn to respect each other and begin to establish a good friendship. As you can see in this video, we're making progress.



PS - Mom, that video I was telling you about on the phone the other day is still on my camera!!! I'll get that posted soon. Love you!!!

BBQ Education

Patrick requested I post this. It's very funny and is worth the 3+ minutes of your time, especially if you're a BBQ fan.




Hat Tip to Kelly

Game night

Patrick and I dusted off the Scrabble board this week and enjoyed doing something different than our normal routine of working out/watching TV/sewing/surfing the net. It was a very interesting game and this was the first time I've ever played Scrabble when every single letter was used. The score was VERY close, where I was down by 3 going into the last round. But, I did play my final letter (M) next to an open "A" to make the word "Ma", which Patrick argued wasn't a proper word. He didn't want to challenge me and he didn't name me the victor. I told him that he can look up the word himself to see if Ma was in the dictionary. So, you tell me, who won?

Good game. Good game.

Updated: I just noticed that "quiet" is misspelled (by me, of course). How did we miss that?

A mosk, you say?

Patrick, Mallory and Ethan were"playing" in Mal's room the other night with the bristle blocks. Actually, Mallory and E were doing something else while Patrick built, what he called, a mosk. Hmmmm. Why, you may ask? Let's just say it's a Patrick thing.

It did turn out well, though.

And I just have to say that this is probably one of the best on-camera smiles I've seen Mallory do. And the pic of Ethan? Well, he's just so darn cute (...as he's gettin' ready for football season).

I just have to say...

I think I'm going to start a new series on things I just have to say, though I'll have to limit myself on this series because I just have to say just about anything.

But, I'm noticing more "Twittering" going on with my friends in the blogging world and I just have to say, WHY? It's just one more thing to subscribe to, one more thing to post about, and one more thing to waste my time. I mean, I already have enough cyber-temptations around to keep me on the computer during all most ALL of my free time. And, do I really need to know who's listening to what music at this exact moment, who's about to mow the lawn, who's about to wash a load of clothes, who's watching a movie, if you think it's a beautiful day, if you're tired, if you're cranky...shall I go on? I just don't get the point.

Also, this new form of communication is just one.more.way. to add to how passive relationships have become these days. For example, I say I keep in touch with many of my long-distance blogger friends, but do I really? I read blogs and comment, but it's such a selfish form of communication. I don't pick up the phone, I don't drop a card in the mail, and I even don't email. It's a shame I've let things get so passive (and that I prefer it!!!) and it definitely hasn't helped me become more open to new relationships. I ask people for an email address rather than a phone number these days!!!! Is it convenient? Yes. Is it reliable? Yes. But it's all made me withdraw into a cyber-tonic (um, it's a new word, K?) way of relationships. I've yet to find a good balance and feel that these "new and improved" ways of communicating are worsening our social skills rather than improving them.

So tell me, what is a benefit of Twitter? Why should I care about it? And why should I think "it's the best" rather "geez, this is so foolish"?

And for those of you who are gasping with hands over mouths, get this: I think the same thing about texting! If I hear one more bleep of a text that interrupts a conversation or see one more family sitting around a table at a restaurant texting their friends rather than talking to each other, then I'll go crazy (I'll have to post about this some other time...).

Anyway, I just had to say it.

He's officially mobile.

A night with E

Patrick took Mal to church last night while I hung out with E. I decided to snap a few pics, since there was some EXCELLENT light streaming through the windows. I couldn't resist a mini-photo session with the big man.

Pool Parties on Saturday

We went to two pool parties on Saturday; one party was for our Sunday School class and the other was for one of my girlfriend's kids first birthday. It was both M & E's first experience with pools and, needless to say, they both enjoyed themselves tremendously. Mallory was jumping into the pool (while I was holding her hands, of course) and Ethan just sort of vegged out in a floater.

At the birthday party, Mallory jumped in a trampoline (and she had an "I heart trampolines" look all over her face the entire time she was jumping) and enjoyed a LARGE inflatable water slide, too. It was a child's greatest fantasy.

Good times.


...and a very short video clip

My first creation

Here are pictures of my very first roman shade and rod-pocket valance that I made. They have been installed for a few weeks now and since then, I have made 3 roman shades for Ethan's room (which I'll have to show later; he's currently sleeping).

I wanted to practice a bit before I tackled larger projects like the living room and master bedroom. I bought fabric remnants at $3.99 a yard for both the shade and valance and learned A LOT as I sewed them. The pattern I used is online - free and VERY detailed for those who like details (like me!). It's a great pattern, though you must have patience with it because there are lots and lots of steps. It has detailed instructions on how to make your own pattern, what hardware to buy, how to measure windows, etc. I loved using it, though I'm going to tweak it a little when I make the living room shades. Anyway, it was fun. And I'm lovin' the sewin'.

A little bit 'o rearrangin'.

My mom came up for a visit for a few days this week, which I THOROUGHLY enjoyed. It seemed so brief, eventhough she was here for 4 days. I had shed a few tears when she bid me her goodbyes as I didn't want her to go, but I know that we'll see each other again soon. Whenever mom (A.K.A. "Gommy") comes to visit, I'm always able to get so many things done that would have taken me weeks to accomplish. She not only helped me do loads and loads of laundry, she watched the children for me as I went to the dentist, applied for my passport, and ran several other errands, she gave the children baths and put the kids to bed every night she was here so Patrick and I could enjoy some time out and about with each other, she lowered Ethan's crib mattress for me (since he is *almost* pulling himself up in his crib), and so many other things I just don't have the time to list. It's also very nice to chat with her about life and kids and I can't express how much I enjoy watching her enjoy my kids. It's a delight.

While she was here, I was vocalizing how I was, yet again, unsatisfied with the arrangement of my living room. It's such a big space and it's very hard to make it warm and cozy. I was telling her how I'd like to move the couch here, flip the rug around, blah blah blah and she said "Let's do it!". So, after vacuuming, dusting, and a little back bending, we rearranged the furniture (for the 3rd time since we've moved in) and I must say I'm liking it. Again, I can't explain all the whys and hows of the better arrangement due to time, but it's strides better than how it was. Patrick came home to the new arrangement (I hadn't told him we were doing it) and he really liked it. I think once I add curtains to the window, it will really warm it up. I was planning on buying fabric yesterday, but I found out that my local fabric store is having a one day sale next Saturday where all designer fabric is 1/2 off. Now, since I'm planning on buying fabric upwards of $20-$25 a yard at 6-7 yards a pop, that's a HUGE HUGE savings.

Anyway, here are some pics of the new arrangement now (here it is before):

Farm Fest 2008

We took the kids to Farm Fest again this year (see pics from last year here). It was about the same as it was last year, but not as many people because it had rained the majority of the afternoon. The clouds broke in the late afternoon, which led to a nice, albeit humid, trip to the farm. We had free watermelon, lemonade and corn on the cob. We also saw horses, cows, sheep and roosters. Mallory was a bit skiddish with all of the above, but we were able to snap a few pics. Ethan rode around in his stroller like a champ. We topped off our family time with dinner at a local pizza joint. It was a lot of fun for us to take the kids to something like this as a family. I always get excited when we can do something like this.

Ethan Videos

8 months old - Large and In Charge

I can't believe my little...or shall I say "big" little...baby is 8 months old. From last month to this month, he has started moving from the tummy to sitting position and has started to crawl. He's a mobile little fella who loves playing with his toys, though he prefers someone watching him while he's playing with his toys.

Though I can't say he's "cuddly", he loves to be held and played with. He does this "push up" move all the time as if he's wanting to stand or something but doesn't know quite how to get there.

He watches Mallory ALL the time and though she's still possessive of a select few of her toys, she's very good at sharing. Mal will bring E a toy and loudly say "Share E", to which Patrick and I praise her profusely.

Ethan is still b-feeding exclusively, though he had to have a bottle of formula this month as I distractedly left his bottle sitting on the counter on the way out the door to our 4th of July festivities. Thankfully, my wonderful friend, Dawn, had an extra bottle of formula handy for me to give to Ethan. Honestly, I would have turned around, fought traffic back home and paid for parking again to get that bottle, but common sense told me to just let it go. He kept pushing the bottle out with his tongue, but he was hungry enough to guzzle down 7oz. So, my baby has had formula. I guess it was inevitable. And it's not a bad thing, don't get me wrong. I've just been working hard to keep up my milk supply with this baby since I lost it so early with Mal.

Anyway, as I look back on my photographs, I'm a bit disappointed at how un-creative I've become. I used to have so many ideas on how to photograph my kids and I seem to be doing the same thing. Oh, how I want to get more in to my pics! I could spend hours in my photo software if I had the time. But, I have to put that to the side right now. I'm still taking pics and fiddling with them a tad, but just not as much as I'd like to. OK...enough of that.

Here is my sweet E. So precious. So sweet. So much to love. And love him, I do.

After months of planning...

It's Booked!

And I'm so very excited.