Poopy training

I have been trying to teach Reese how to use the potty for over a year now! She absolutely will not sit on the potty anymore to pee. I have tried every trick in the book from offering rewards (candy and stickers), making a big deal out of any success, involving grandparents and family in her success, buying a second toilet that plays music and has fun toys, and even peeing on her potty chair myself to demonstrate how it works! In order to get her back to using it, I have been catching her mid-poop and getting her to finish on her potty in the hopes that succeeding at something will encourage her to use the potty to pee on also. Tonight the mess in cleaning up afterwards almost made me want to quit until she is 4 and ready to start school!

Mini me

Reese follows me around and does everything that I do and repeats most of what I say. This is really funny and cute when she calls my husband, her father, babes.

It is really sweet when her little brother Aidan is crying and she tells him, "It's ok Aidan, I'm right here."

It can be a little annoying when she tries to mother him and physically moves him away from something he should not have.

It is also a little bit sad because it just shows how much more mature and older she is getting each and every day!

"You hot mommy!"

We just recently moved and I have been working non-stop to get everything put away in it's place and decorate. As a result of all of the moving of furniture and running around cleaning that I have been doing, I have been forgoing a shower until later in the day. Recently I needed to run a few errands, so I showered and got all dressed to go. Reese looked at me quizzically and said, "You shower mommy?" as if that was something completely foreign. She then said, "You hot mommy!" I only wish that my husband could be as impressed by the simple feat of taking a shower!

Tender Moments

Reese is such a good big sister and the bond between she and Aidan is more evident every day. There are the simple things that reveal their bond, like her asking about his whereabouts the second she wakes up in the morning and throughout the rest of the day, to her constantly giving him hugs and kisses. Recently, we went to the races and did not have ear plugs for either of the kids. We took turns holding them and covering their ears so that the loud noises from the cars would not hurt their little eardrums. While I was holding Aidan, Reese came up next to me and put her little hands over Aidan's ears to protect him. It was the cutest thing! I teared up immediately! I worried that they would not be as close because they were not the same sex, but so far that does not seem to be an issue!

Since I have not been working since Aidan was born and rarely leave the kids with a sitter, I thought that I would be missing out on those moments when Reese would be really happy to see me, such as when I used to pick her up from daycare after work. Though I rarely get the greeting that I used to get then, both of the kids have become very attached to me. If I go to the bathroom and don't tell Reese, she walks around the house saying, "Where are you mommy?" The only other question she asks just as freuquently is, "Where daddy at?" Randy and I have gotten to where we don't like to do anything without the other parent because Reese is constantly asking where the missing parent is. Though she is very attached to both of us, she does have an independent streak. Recently, while swimming at a hotel pool, Reese was jumping off the edge into the water. I would swim up to the edge so I was close enough to catch her, at which point she held out her hand in a stop signal and would say, "No mommy! Stay back!" She is growing so fast and my heart bursts with pride and sadness at the same time.

Will things ever slow down?!

I have been looking forward to the end of the summer just because I am ready for things to slow down and become a bit more relaxed. That couldn't be farther from what is actually happening! We are booked every weekend through the end of November! There goes fall!

More cute Reesisms

Everbody qweem up!- Somewhere we started singing clean up, clean up as we clean up the toys that we have been playing with. For some reason Reese sounds like she says qweem instead of clean and it is so cute!

That's Aidan- If you ask Reese what her name is she quickly points to Aidan and says "That's Aidan". We haven't decided if she is just a proud big sister or is hoping that somebody will take her little brother so she can be an only child!

I want em- This translates to I want lemonade!

Shocklate milk- chocolate milk

Cubbers- when tucking Reese into bed she always asks for her cubbers (covers).

Kwikwi- her blanket used to be kiki, it is now known as kwikwi

We recently went to a streetfest in our little hometown. They had a band playing and Reese ran around and danced until we dragged her kicking and screaming home to bed! When we returned to the restaurant a few days later Reese pointed and said "I go dancing!"

Wow! What a whirlwind we have been living in! Had move in with my in-laws and were waiting to start building our dream house. Though we had preapproval, everything quickly fell apart! The bank was wanting more and more down from us, for me to get a job and myriad other things that just seemed to be impossible to do right now. (though I have been looking for jobs for several months and actually interviewed for several, I have yet to hear back on any of them!) In my frustration of having no end in sight to living with my in-laws, I encouraged my husband that we should start looking at existing houses that were already on the market. This option is easier as it requires less money down, doesn't have to be dependent on my having a job and much more! We started looking and found many viable options in the area. We contacted a realtor and started looking at houses. Some were really cool, but not really practical for us with 2 young children. Some were so dated and unkept that we would have to completely renovate before moving in, again not the option I was looking for. Finally, after a huge blowup, we skipped out on plans with my family to go to an open house. Randy knew instantly that it was the house! Situated right along the river we have an unobstructed view of the Mississppi from the house and the massive deck all along the front of it. The three car garage was another clincher for him! Inside there are 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms! Though the kitchen is very small, it could eventually be expanded into the adjoining sunroom or opened up into the dining room. All of the rooms are neutrally painted, though some of the flooring is not my taste (dark green and red carpeting) it is livable for now until we can afford to make changes. With 2 small children the carpeting will probably be stained and be ready to be replaced before too long anyways! So though I had my heart set on moving into a brand new house with the perfect floor plan and no projects to finish immediately, I am really excited to move into this house and spend the time decorating and making it our own! I can't wait until October 1st!

Reverse Psychology

Though I am very affectionate with the kids, always giving them kisses and hugs, Reese has never been too free with her shows of affection. Though she has come around the opposite way with hugs (she chases me around saying "huggie!" and jumps in my lamp to give me a hug) she still does not like to give out kisses. Well, I found a way around that! Recently she learned that kisses make boo boo's all better and has me kissing her elbows and feet when she takes a fall. All I have to do is tell her that I have a boo boo on my lip and she showers me with kisses to make it better! I love it! Now onto getting her to go on the big girl potty!

Are we happier?

It has been a week and a half since we moved in with my in-laws and things are going pretty well. The greatest perk of moving in with grandma is that Reese sleeps like a champ at her house. I'm not sure if she was getting up in the middle of the night and waking up so early in the morning because she fell out of her big girl bed and thought she should get up or what. She is back to sleeping at a crib here and she sleeps all the way through the night. She also takes a minimum 3 hour nap in the afternoon. She is like a totally different kid! Because she is not tired she is so much less whiny and fun to be around when she is awake! Randy and I were discussing this and he thought that maybe she is happier because we are happier. It is true that the fighting between the two of us has decreased, but I believe that most of that was due to the stress of moving. Our fighting has also decreased because I retreat somewhere out of the way rather than argue with him in front of his family. Anyone that knows me knows that this will not work out for too long because eventually I will get totally fed up and just pick up and take off with the kids or something even more drastic! I need to have a serious discussion with him about my expectations of there is going to be some major drama here soon!

Following the trend!

Since we are closing on our house this Wednesday, we took advantage of the weekend to move everything that was left out of the house. That means that we are officially living with my in-laws until we finish our house! Somehow it is not very calming that a lot of people are taking advantage of the benefits of sharing a household to reduce expenses. Though we stayed almost every weekend for the past two years, it is a totally different story moving in. His parents are great and have been more than accomodating, but the move wasn't very organized, so things are missing or not in places that are easy to get to. We have a lot of stuff and it is spread out between my mom's and his parents garages and his grandparents basement. I feel like we are totally putting everyone out and can't wait until the next couple of months are over! The original plan was to have the house done 12 weeks from closing, which would put us in sometime end of October, beginning of November. I overheard Randy saying the other day that he wants to try to push back the new house so that we move in after the new year so that we can delay taxes a full year! I could have strangled him right there and then, thankfully, I think his mother could have too!

So much going on!

In the month since my last post a lot of things have changed. I interviewed for a secretarial position and hope to find out tomorrow whether or not I will be awarded the position. We finally sold our house and close the 29th. I have been busy packing and preparing for the move in with my in-laws. I took Aidan in for his 4 month check up a few weeks ago and found out that he is growing even faster than I had expected. He was 27 1/2 inches and 17 pounds. The nurse told me to check out his car seat and make sure that he hadn't surpassed the height and weight limitations. When I got home I did and found that he should be moved out of it by 29 inches. I can't believe that at five months old I am going to have to move him up to a bigger carseat! Another sign that he is growing, recently he has been very fussy at night and wanting to eat nonstop before bed. Today I finally decided to try a little rice cereal in the afternoon and it went really well. I tried it with a spoon at first and he did ok, but soon he was too hungry to take the time for that, so I put it in a bottle and he gulped it down right away. Though he did poop right away tonight (he has been going a few days between bowel movements up until now), it did not seem to help him get ready for bed any faster. He has been staying up until 11 or later, changing my whole routine. Usually I get the kids to bed by 9:30 at the latest, go to bed with my husband so we have a little time to reconnect, get back up and clean/have a few minutes to myself to unwind before finally going to bed. Now I can't put Aidan down until 11 or later, get no time with my husband because he is already asleep and no time to myself because I have to clean up quick and get to bed myself. Maybe I'll have to try the rice cereal a little later or play with how much I feed him to see if I can get him to go to bed any sooner!

Parenting is hard!

My mother has always told me stories of what a great kid I was growing up. I would sit in my playpen and look at books or watch tv for hours while she and my dad did the chores on the farm. For some reason I expected that when I had children they would be much like me, WRONG! Reese is the most stubborn child I know. I have actually reached a breaking point and don't know exactly what to do or who to talk to. Everything we do turns into a screaming, fit throwing temper tantrum and I don't know exactly how this got started and how to make it stop. For instance, Reese used to love to take baths, but somewhere around the age of 1 she started throwing a fit when I went to wash her hair and body. She screams and thrashes in the tub while I do all of the washing, through drying her off and getting her dressed and more when I comb out her hair. Tonight I actually got into the tub with her and washed her hair and body without a single instance until I went to brush out her hair. I have been trying to potty train her for almost 9 months and have stopped several times when she throws a hissy fit at sitting on the toilet. She will kick, scream and flail around on the floor while I try to make her sit down on the toilet. It seems to have gotten worse since I have been home with her full time. So rather than letting her set the schedule I am enforcing a schedule that I set. This has helped to make bedtime smoother, though toothbrushing is still an ordeal! At first I thought that it was just terrible twos, but I have never seen a child act like this before. I will just have to stick to my routines and try to keep my patience and hope that this too will one day pass!

Money, money, money

Finally got some calls back on my ad for daycare services. Both of the people that called were looking for someone to watch their children second shift and weekends. For some reason I was assuming that I would only be called by people looking for first shift care Monday through Friday. I guess since I don't really know anyone with young children, I'll have to start out at the bottom rung and work my way up to a schedule that is more like what I am used to. It will have it's perks though, we will probably only be able to go to visit my in-laws on Sunday and I'll still have my mornings to schedule appointments for the kids and I to go to the doctor.

Where did all the room go?

Before kids I had the cleanest car you have ever seen! I kept a pair of sunglasses and a couple of cd's in my car and that was it. You could have eaten off of the floor mats or any of the seats. Fast forward a few years and I traded in my sporty Alero for a mini van so that we would have plenty of room for kids and the stuff that comes along with them. I actually keep my back seats folded up in the floor to make plenty of room, and I use all of it. I keep a double stroller and a single stroller in the car because you never know which one might be more convenient to use. I would keep an umbrella stroller in there as well, but I don't own one because there is not any room for one! Randy throws his carseat in the back of my van whenever he will be having co-workers ride along with him. There are toys and extra blankets. I have a dvd player and dvd's to keep Reese entertained on the long trips back and forth to grandpa and grandma's house. I took cans back last night, but there were several garbage bags full of cans. I keep baggies on hand for garbage and dirty diapers or clothes. I threw a phone book in, which came in handy the other day when I had to find a dentisit while running errands in town! I always have things that I need to drop off to a family member, right now I have a box of duplicate kitchen appliances that I need to give to one of my younger brothers. My purse and diaper bag occupy any room left on the floor! The floor and seats are so dirty with food crumbs and dirt and leaves. I don't even remember the last time that I washed the van. It is totally unlike me to be so disorganized, but I think that it will be a long time until my car can be the relaxing, clutter free haven I remember!

It won't be like this for long....

There is a beautiful song by Darius Rucker called "It won't be like this for long" that has become my mantra. When things are going really well or just the opposite when things are difficult, I just remind myself that it won't be long and the kids will be all grown up and I will long for the simpler times. The moments where Reese gets in Aidan's face saying, "hi buddy!" and kissing him all over will fade into moments where they have a sibling rivalry. The moments where I have to fight Reese to take a bath will fade into moments where she will spend hours on end primping in her own bathroom for a dance or date. I really wish that I could have a videocamera in my head so that I could remember and playback all of these moments at any time.

First Haircut

Aidan's hair was getting a little curly around his ears and the back of his neck, so I finally decided that it was time for a trim. Set him up in the bumbo seat with a few toys and he was perfect! I was actually quite impressed with myself for doing such a good job because I am so horrible at doing anything with Reeses' hair (and mine, in fact I have only blow dried my hair and done anything with it probably 5 times since Aidan was born). She screams bloody murder whenever I wash it or comb it. I have to chase her around the house and pin her down to put it in a ponytail out of her face. I really want to cut it in a cute little bob that would be easier for me to take care of and cooler for the summer, but every time that I mention it Randy and his family practically hit the ceiling. They have excuses that it is so cute long and blah, blah, blah, but none of them has to deal with her kicking and screaming to do anything with it everyday! If I could get her to sit still to cut it I definitely would. Maybe her aunt Steffane would want to try it out, she seems to have the touch when it comes to that stuff!

Beauty Parlor

Recently for Reeses' birthday she got a beauty salon from her uncle Derek. Lets just say that some assembly required was a major understatement. There were at least 56,000 pieces (that may be a bit of an exaggeration) and it took me 2 hours to put it all together. It didn't help that Reese was taking the pieces that I hadn't put together yet and playing with them, or moving them all over the house! I should have done this while she was napping! She was also so excited that she kept coming up and clapping and playing with it as I was trying to put it together. When I finished putting the whole thing together (including all of the little accessories) she immediately busied herself putting all of the accessories away. Unfortunately by this time it was time for a nap, so off to bed she went. But since she got up from her nap, she has been playing with her beauty salon! She loves it!

I love you!

To all of my family and friends, I want to say that I love you! I want to make sure that everyone in my life knows just how much I really appreciate them. On our way home from Randy's parents house tonight we came upon a really horrible accident. A friend of mine was in front of us a few miles so I looked closely to make sure hers was not one of the cars involved. Though my friend was fortunately not involved in the accident, I still felt sick to my stomach. I immediately said a prayer for the people involved in the accident and their families. Soon after that Randy and I were both on the phone calling our families just to tell them that we loved them! We have lived away from our families and spent a lot of time travelling over the past 9 years. We have been very fortunate thus far though there have been a few close calls. Seeing this accident really put things into perspective to not take any day for granted, and I am going to try to be more appreciative from now on.

World's worst mommy!

Today I had the house all cleaned up for the showing and was working on getting the kids out of the house and into the car. Reese jumped up into the car while I strapped Aidan in. When I went around to put her in her seat she was up front pretending to drive. I told her to hop in back so that we could go and she wouldn't budge. I counted to ten and asked her again to move to the back, but she was having too much fun. I opened the drivers door and pulled her towards me. I totall miscalculated how much room there was for her head and totally bumped her head on the car door. I kissed her forhead where I thought she had hit, held her until she calmed down and buckled her into her seat. I went to HyVee where I planned to get a few groceries and got the kids out of the car. When I got Reese out I noticed that her blanket had blood on it, so I checked her forhead again where I thought she had bumped, but there was nothing there. Her finger had blood on it so it dawned on me that her mouth was bleeding. I was completely taken aback when I found blood around her front tooth and noticed a chip in the corner. I took the kids in to get the few groceries that we needed while I decided what to do. Of course Randy had my dental insurance card because he couldn't find his, so I had to call him to get the information. Then I called the insurance company to see whether or not a visit would be covered or not and what dentist I should go to. I had been planning on finding a dentist to start her with regular cleanings and checkups, but hadn't gotten around to it yet! I got the information and called the dentist. They could get me in right away for we went straight there. Reese enjoyed all the toys at the office while I filled out all of the paperwork. Afterward they called us back. The dentist came in and asked me a few questions about her eating & brushing habits. Then she had me sit Reese in my lap and lay her head back onto the dentists' lap. She put some flouride on a toothbrush and quickly brushed Reeses' teeth. She then rinsed them and dried them. Somehow she had a chance to check out the tooth while she did this and Reese kicked and screamed the whole time. Reese sat back up and I held her to calm her down while the dentist explained to me that the tooth may change color because the tooth had actually moved and may have damaged the nerve underneath! At that time I really felt like the worst mother in the world! They said to call with any major changes and to come back in 3 months to recheck. By this time Aidan was crying hysterically for his lunch, so they rushed through the rest of the things I needed to do to care for the tooth, gave Reese a prize and we rushed out the door. Not exactly how I had forseen our first visit to the dentist going!

Reeseisms

Here are a few more of the funny things that Reese is saying:

Cubbers: Translation covers. It is so cute when she lays down in bed for the night and asks for her cubbers!

Big cock: Translation big truck. I don't know why she can't pronounce the tr sound. I have been trying to switch her to semi.

Move car: Driving to Target the other day a car was moving kind of slowly in front of me. Before I could say anything Reese yelled, "move car!" I guess she has been riding with daddy, the world's most aggressive driver, a little too much lately.

I want pizza, I want french fries, I want ice cream! Reese has always been a good eater, but lately she is requesting certain things that are not so good for her. The smarty pants even recognizes signs as we are driving and requests the appropriate food: Pizza Hut- pizza, McDonald's- french fries! I just have to make sure that she continues to eat the good stuff at home and make these foods treats for special occasions!

Awesome! I think that it is so funny when she proclaims anything as awesome, especially my cooking!

Happy Birthday Reese!

I can't believe that it has been 2 years since Reese was born. It really seems like I was just pregnant with her! She has changed so much, especially in the last couple of months! I can't believe how much she is talking, how her looks have changes and how mature she seems at times. We had a perfect day for her party on Sunday. Though it gets crazier every year as more kids are added to our families, it is crazy in a good way!

We went in for her 2 year check up today and got proof of just how much she has grown. Though I knew she was pretty much wearing a size 3T and lots of people have mistaken her for being older than she really is, I was not expecting her to be off the charts. She was 36 inches tall and weighed 33.6 pounds! This is towards to top of the 90th percentile, where she has been since she was born. There is an old wives tale that says to double a child's height at 2 to see how tall they will be as an adult. If that is true, Reese should expect to grow to be 6 feet tall! I guess she may one day be supporting her father and I with her WNBA salary, that is as long as she got her fathers' athleticism instead of my klutziness! The doctor actually lectured me on making sure that I feed her something from all of the food groups, don't force her to finish her plate and don't reward or punish her with food, none of which I really do! She actually prefers fruits and vegetables to anything else, usually eats more than what I put on her plate without being asked and eats snacks twice daily, which I sometimes use as a reward. Though the doctor made me feel like I am making her fat, I think that she just comes by her size through genetics. I will be more vigilant about giving her healthy options because I do not want her to suffer through the childhood that I had!

Dads are oblivious!

This afternoon I packed a bag for the kids and I to go and meet Randy in Davenport so that I could go with him to the nutrionist tomorrow to find out more about his diabetic diet. I had fed Aidan and laid him down while I fed Reese and myself, packed the car (so much stuff for 1 night it looks like we could stay a week!), and cleaned the house (in case there was a showing since the house is still for sale) all in about 30 minutes. We were about halfway there when Randy called and told me to call him when we got close because he was out on the boat with some co-workers and wanted us to join them. I agreed and continued on my way. When we were about 30 minutes from our destination Aidan woke up very hungry and began crying. Soon after Reese woke up and joined in. There was really nowhere to stop and do anything with them, so I decided to drive to his parents and skip out on boating. Well Randy called and begged me to drive there and feed Aidan on the boat. As I pulled up to the dock, Randy was taking off in the boat with his co-workers family, leaving me to carry both Aidan and Reese (both of whom were still crying) and a huge bag overflowing with stuff for the kids. His other friends were there on the houseboat and helped to get me settled in with the kids. Randy returned and apologized, I'm sure he still didn't even know what he had done wrong! His friends wife got me some motrin for Reese which I had forgotten in the car. I asked Randy to give it to her and he proceeded to push the whole syringe into her mouth so that she spit it out all over herself. The whole night pretty much went like this. It ended with me starting out carrying everything back to the car, including both kids and having to ask Randy to help. Why is it that men have to be told what needs to be done. How can he not see me carrying everything while he makes his way to the car with absolutely nothing. How can he sit and eat while I feed Aidan and cut up all of Reese's food, wash her hands and clean up the floor while I try to eat before my food is completely cold. I don't know how someone so smart could be so oblivious about everything that I do!

Scary fever

I have been very lucky in that both of my children have been pretty healthy for the most part. We have not had to deal with anything much more than fevers for cutting teeth in the past two years. Tonight I finally got a real scare. Reese woke up from her nap and felt really warm, thinking that it was just from being wrapped up in the covers on her bed and the house being a little warm from having the windows open, I just took her clothes off. She has been snuggling with me for about half an hour until she wakes up and then she runs around like crazy until she goes to bed. After about a half an hour today she still felt warm and showed no signs of moving out of my lap. Then I noticed that she was breathing kind of funny, short and quick. I started to get all worked up that maybe it was related to her fall this past weekend, which we never took her to a doctor for. I called the doctors office and they had to have the nurse call me back, so I called Randy who was not available to calm me down. So I called my mom and asked her to come over and watch Aidan while I took Reese to the doctor. By this time I was starting to get hysterical because I had all kinds of crazy ideas running through my head! Before mom got here Aidan woke up and I started to feed him. The doctors office called back and said that if the fever or her breathing got worse to bring her in to be seen. Soon after I hung up Reese started kind of shaking and her eyes were rolling all over the place and closing. I kept asking her to look at me or say something and she just acted like she was going to go to sleep. I immediately set Aidan down and grabbed a cold washcloth and put it to her forehead. She wouldn't take it so I started a cool bath and gave her tylenol. Mom showed up just as I was putting her in the tub. Reese was fighting me, so I ended up stripping and getting in with her. She calmed down and we saw a difference almost immediately. She started playing with the toys and was wide awake. After half an hour we took her out of the tub and she was back to her normal self! I couldn't believe how quickly we saw a difference. We made some dinner and she ate a decent amount. Besides going to bed at 9pm, you would not have known the rest of the night that she had been sick at all. Thank god I haven't had to deal with that kind of thing very often because I did not handle the situation very well.

Memories

This past weekend was our 5th wedding anniversary. Randy has always said that you should return to your honeymoon destination for your 5th anniversary, but I was not going to travel to Baltimore, MD and Dover, DE with 2 children. He was thinking we should go without them, but I won't leave them behind for even a full weekend yet! Rather than stay at home and just go out for a fancy dinner, we decided to return to Maquoketa and spend the night in the hotel where we had our reception and stayed on our wedding night. Staying at that hotel made me realize just how much things have changed in the past 5 years!

First of all, the hotel was brand new when we had our reception there and it was beautiful. Fast forward 5 years and the decor looks kind of dated and the furnishings were starting to show some wear and tear. This is not unlike Randy and I! As I looked back at pictures from our wedding day we really looked like kids! I never thought that 5 years would make such a difference, but we look so much more, um, mature.

On our wedding day we fought over trivial issues such as whether or not there were enough tables for all of the guests that we were expecting (for the record, I said there were enough, and I was right!) Now our arguments are much more serious regarding major life issues such as moving, the kids, jobs, and money.

The day of our wedding Randy and his father were still working to fix the car that we took on our honeymoon, a sporty red cavalier. The car that overheated several times on our trip to the east coast and cost us one day of our vacation (which we spent at a dealership where they worked on our car and tried to sell us something newer). Now we have a sporty red minivan! At least it works all the time!

At one point last night while we were playing with Reese and Aidan in the pool, Randy turned to me and said, "This isn't as romantic as I had imagined it to be!" I just laughed. I never expected it to be romantic, just relaxing and that it was. I didn't have to cook or clean for an entire evening. We got to just hang out with the kids, who were really well behaved for the night. And I even had a few alcoholic beverages! There will be plenty of time for romance, maybe for our 10 year anniversary!

Some things have changed for the better though. For example, we were so tired on our wedding day that we ended up falling asleep in the hot tub and going to bed without consumating our wedding. Somehow this time after putting the kids to bed we still had the energy!

Happy Anniversary????!

Our plan for celebrating our anniversary tonight was pretty low key. Randy was going to come home from work early so that we could run a few errands before meeting some friends and their kids at the park to catch up while the kids entertained themselves. Randy did come home a little early, but that is the only part of the evening that went according to plan. He asked if I cared if he went out for drinks with a co-worker and I just walked away from him and went to play with Reese. Eventually he figured out that I was mad and came to ask what was wrong. I explained to him that I was hurt that he wanted to spend the night with this guy and blow off our plans. He apologized and we packed the kids up to run errands. We went to a local car dealership to test drive a car because he is determined to get us a newer car. We test drove the car and then began a long process of trying to find a car that would fit into the price range we are willing to go with. After over an hour of entertaining both kids, it was time to get going to meet my friends at the park. I informed Randy and he got mad at me, saying that he couldn't just leave in the middle of this deal. I told him that I would take him to his car so that I could get going with the kids. He told the salesman he would be back and we went to get his car. We fought the whole way and for some reason he decided to go with me to the park. As we were running late, he was going to stop and get us something for dinner while I went ahead to the park. We arrived at the park and none of my friends were there yet, so I fed Aidan and watched Reese play. Randy arrived and we started eating. Reese was more interested in playing so we were watching her while we ate and I was holding Aidan. She climbed up on a jungle gym, which made me nervous, so I got up and walked over closer. As I was walking over she climbed up again and fell down about 5 feet. She immediately started crying and I tried to pick her up while .holding Aidan. I couldn't get her and was afraid she had broken something. Randy got there and picked her up. After a quick lookover she seemed ok, just a little scared. We immediately packed up the cars and headed home, fighting the whole way. On the way I passed a girlfriend and called to tell her we would not be there due to the accident (this was 40 minutes after we were to have met and nobody was there yet!) We went home and thoroughly checked her over and she seemed to be fine, just shaken. We got her to eat and walk around a little bit and she was back to herself before long. Since she was doing ok we decided to go out to get our groceries for the week. What a great way to celebrate our 5th Anniversary! I can wait a lot longer for the next milestone anniversary to come!

More energy

Today was my third straight day in a row of getting on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Though my eating hasn't been perfect, I definitely feel like I have a lot more energy. I can only imagine how much energy I will have to play with my children as I lose the excess weight!

It is also my second day without a real pepsi! And I was drinking at least 2 cans a day! Since I don't like diet pepsi, I have found that diet sunkist orange and diet rootbeer can satisfy my craving for a pop. Now if only I could find a piece of fruit or a serving of vegetables as satisfying as ice cream before bed!

Cute expressions

Recently Reese's vocabulary has exploded! She is talking a lot! Some of it is still blabbering and undecipherable, but she also uses full sentences to ask for things. The following are a few of the things that she says that are just too cute:

Ki Ki- Reese has had blankies since she was a baby. If she is upset, hurt, sleeping or anything else she has to have her ki ki. I don't know where this expression came from other than that she shortened it from blankie to ki ki.

Fruit fruit- Almost every night since Reese was able to eat real food, she and I have shared a grapefruit. She gets really excited and tries to help me peel it because she just cannot wait to eat it. Again she must have shortened this one to just the last sylable.

Morning buddy- Every morning when Aidan wakes up, I go into his room and exclaim, "Good morning buddy!". It is just too cute when Reese follows me in and repeats those words. I hope that it is a sign that they will be good friends!

Mess- Somewhere Reese has picked up her mother's obsession with cleanliness. Recently she spilled some juice and ran into the kitchen to grab a towel to clean it up. Until she had sufficiently wiped it up she repeated, "uh oh, mess!"

Flower (sniff, sniff)- Whenever Reese sees a flower she says flower and makes a noise like she is smelling it, she does this whether it is real or in a book, carpet or wherever!

Willpower

On a couple of tv shows that I have seen, someone comes in and throws away all of the food in the house that is not diet approved. Being the frugal person that I am, I decided that I should just eat that food and then start my diet after I can go shopping and start fresh with good diet foods. Randy was not buying that excuse when he got up late one night to find me snacking and watching tv! I have no willpower with all of this stuff in the house while my husband has been able to completely cut out everything with sugar after his recent diagnosis of diabetes. Maybe it is because I do not feel the health risk in the same sense that he does (though looking at us you would definitely pick me as the less healthy one!) I am going to have to step it up soon here though or he is going to surpass me and find a much more desirable mate!

Water fun!

At the end of the season last year we bought this inflatable frog pool. You can hook the hose up to it so that it sprays water into the pool like a sprinkler. The other day I decided that it was warm enough to try it out for the first time. I pulled it out of the box and started huffing and puffing! Almost 90 minutes later it was as inflated as it was going to get! Reese had been playing outside while I did this and occassionally came up to me to pound on the frog, which didn't make things go any faster! We went inside and put on our swimsuits and she was really excited. Once appropriately dressed, I plug the hose into it and turned on the water. She tentatively walked up to it and got sprayed a little. She immediately ran away and stood there saying "I no like it!" I turned off the water and she approached again. Not enough water had collected to play in it, so I unhooked the hose and filled the pool with a little water. Splashing in the inch of water kept her busy for about 10 minutes, just long enough for me to snap a picture or two! At least now it is blown up and will be easier to use in the future.

Motivation to live healthier

Randy and I were both pretty nervous going into the doctor today. I expected to hear that he had diabetes, but was nervous that it may be something else. He got called right back and they weighed him and checked his blood pressure, both were down from the last time he was in, so his medication is working. Then the doctor came in to explain his blood test results. He said that a normal persons' blood sugar is between 170-220. When they tested his blood, his blood sugar was 770, that's almost 4 times the normal reading! No wonder he was not feeling well! Though I was expecting diabetes, I was not expecting for it to be that bad. They immediately showed him how to take an insulin shot. They are going to try to lower his sugar slow enough so as not to shock his system, but quickly enough so that he is feeling better sooner. Though he will probably be on medicine the rest of his life, at least there is a treatment! We then went to the lab and they gave him a test machine and showed him how to use it. He will have to go back to the doctor once a week for the next 2 months and meet with a dietician to learn how to use his diet to better control his blood sugar.

With 2 young children we both really need to take better care of ourselves or risk not being around to see them grow. Though I am not glad that Randy has such a serious illness, I think that it was just the kick in the pants we both needed to make some serious lifestyle changes. I have had a weight problem since I was a child and could definitely stand to lose some weight. Hopefully learning to cook better for Randy will also help me to lose some weight. We are both committed to using the treadmill that we bought in January as part of our New Year's resolution to be more active and healthier and have used only a couple of times! Though it will take a lot of time and dedication, I hope that by this time next year we will both be well on our way to a healthier lifestyle!

Health Scare

Randy has had gastrointestinal problems since I met him. The very first time I cooked him dinner I fried the hamburger for the spagetti. This put him in the bathroom for the remainder of the night (his mom boils hamburger, something I had never heard of but learned to do!) In the past year he has gotten glasses and started taking medications for high blood pressure and gout. In the past week he has started drinking constantly and urinating more frequently so he called his doctor and went in for a blood test. Today they called him back and only said that they need to see him tomorrow! They have tested him for diabetes before and determined that he was pre-diabetic. I am certain that they will tell us that he is now diabetic. Whether or not that is the case, we are both going on a serious diet. A family friend recently died in a car accident. He was 32 with an 11 week old baby, that is the same age as Aidan! I can't imagine losing Randy in a tragic accident like that, we definitely will not lose him to a preventable disease.

Thankless job

Last night Randy called his mom to tell her the good news about Reese using the potty all by herself. I happened to overhear him telling her the story and it went something like this: "So we put the potty away for a little..., we helped her to get on the potty...", we, we, we!!!!!! I'm sorry but he wasn't there until after she had peed and all he did was get her some candy as a reward. Not to mention that I'm the one that has done all of the work over the past 6 months on gettting her to this point! I'm sure his mom knows that it was me who did everything, but it kind of peeved me off listening to him tell the story as if he had had any part in our success!

This reminded me of our very first checkup with Reese after she was born. The doctor asked us how many times she ate and about how much she was eating. Randy immediately piped in with the answer, while I tried to count them up in my sleep-deprived head. How could he answer this when I was breastfeeding and he was staying on the road 5 nights a week. The doctor then asked how much we were changing wet and poopy diapers. Again Randy chimed right in with an answer, though he had never changed a single diaper. I can count on one hand how many diapers he has changed in the past 2 years! He is the first one to eat at family functions or when we go out to eat, while I cut up food or feed the kids. He has never given a bath or dressed the kids. On the other hand, I lean on him to do a lot of the punishing since I can be a pushover and Reese definitely knows it. He also spends a lot of his time that he could be doing things with the kids to work and provide for us. The other day somebody asked if it is easier to be the mom or the dad. I responded that they both have there advantages and rewards and I would still have to agree.

Success!!!!

Reese way back in October when we started potty training.

Finally after months of working on it, Reese went potty on the big girl potty! This has been a long and very frustrating journey and we are finally reaping the rewards! When Reese was about 16 months old she started pulling at her diaper after she had wet or saying poopy after she had had a bowel movement. She would also stay dry all night. These are signs that she was ready to potty train so we pulled the potty out of the box and tried to get her to use it. I thought that we would have enough time to get her to learn to go before Aidan was born, though I worried that she would regress after he was born. We started by putting her on the potty first thing in the morning when she woke up. I would give her a bowl of cereal and turn on cartoons or give her a book to read, and she actually went a few times right away. Unfortunately, she wasn't fully trained before Aidan was born. In the first two weeks after his birth, we didn't even pull the potty out or suggest that she use it. By the end of that 2 weeks I was feeling more up to the challenge and we went at it full bore. I set her on the potty first thing in the morning, before nap and before bed. She would happily sit for 20-30 minutes at a time, but would wait to pee until she got up and I put a diaper back on. After going through about 30 diapers one day, I decided to try real underwear.

Thanks babes!

Over the course of the past 12 weeks I have not taken the time to tell my husband how much I appreciate everything he does for our family. We discussed my quitting work even before Reese was born. At the time it was not really an option. The subject came up again when we got pregnant with Aidan. This time it really did not make sense for me to return to work to basically pay the daycare costs, so we decided that I would stay home. This Friday would have been my first day back to work after maternity leave, but because my husband has worked so hard, I am officially a stay at home mom. He is up at 6am every morning and doesn't usually get home until 6pm at night. Being at home doesn't necessarily mean that work stops though. He is checking emails, putting together proposals, taking phone calls, and writing reports throughout the night and on weekends as well. After all of this work, he still worries whether or not he will be able to provide for us financially, as he is only rewarded if he makes the sale. Though he wishes that we could take lots of vacations and buy the latest and greatest in electronics and recreational equipment, he is forgoing those dreams so that I can fulfill my dream of staying home with our children. I feel very lucky to have a husband who is willing to make such a sacrifice for his family. Thank you and I love you!

The boy way?!

My sister is the mother of two beautiful little girls and really wants to have a little boy. I also desperately wanted a boy when we were trying to get pregnant last. I looked up on the internet to see if there was anything I could do to increase my odds of having a boy. Apparently if the egg is fertilized at the end of your fertile period it is more likely to be a boy. Don't ask me it was something to do with lazy swimmers! Anyway, we used this method and after 6 months (took a little while to get the timing just right, not too late but right at the end) we were finally pregnant. Imagine my suprise at 20 weeks when we found out that we were actually having a boy and it had worked! Anyway, I was explaining this whole process to my sister and she actually asked me when I knew I was fertile!? Are you kidding me, she has 2 kids already and she doesn't know how her cycle works! I guess my job at a family planning clinic gave me a little bit more knowledge on my monthly cycle than the average bear, but still! Are you kidding me! So I proceeded to explain to her in detail her monthly cycle.
It is really sad that there is not more of an informational standard in teaching people about reproduction. I think that it is horrible that we have an abstinence only approach in most schools. If they do discuss sex, it is only to show awful pictures of sexually transmitted diseases to enforce the abstinence only position. The saying goes that with a little boy, the parents only have 1 penis to worry about and with a little girl, you have every penis to worry about! As the mother of a little girl, I know that I will be teaching her everything that I can so that she can have all of the information necessary to make the right choice for her. I don't want her to be having random sex, but if she does, I at least want her to be protected. The same goes for my little boy, I don't think that he should be treated any differently because of his gender, he could suffer any of the same consequences as a girl. I don't believe that the information itself makes the child want to go out and experiment, I think it is not having the information that causes them to seek out the information for themselves.

Sleep

Last night I realized just how lucky I am to have had babies that understood the difference between day and night at a very early age. Both of my babies were sleeping through the night by the time that they were just two weeks of age! According to most people that I have talked to this is very rare, especially for breast fed babies! Last night marked the first time in 10 weeks that I have been up for a late night feeding. Aidan woke up crying at 3am. Though his crying startled me awake, it was nice to have some time with him all to myself in the quiet of the middle of the night. I actually kind of feel cheated that I didn't get more of that time with them, especially since I was up anyway checking to make sure that they were still breathing!

This reminds me of a woman that I met at the doctor's office at my 6 week postpartum check up. She was sitting in a chair straight across from me and asked how old my baby was. I told her he was 6 weeks and she responded that hers was about the same age. She then asked if I was getting any sleep and if I had any suggestions on getting the baby to sleep more. It was then that I took in her total appearance, she had a scarf wrapped around her hair, no make up on, was dressed in a sweatsuit and looked like she was holding her eyes open with toothpicks. I couldn't tell her the truth, so I told her that I had an older daughter at home and that it gets better as they get older!

Terrible Twos

Today we had schedule a session to have both of the kids pictures taken as well as a new family photo. As my Mother's Day present Randy was going to allow me to spend whatever I wanted on pictures and not complain. Well, wouldn't you know that things couldn't go as perfectly as planned! Reese was up at 6 this morning and running around the house like a crazy person as I tried to get everybody washed up, ironed, dressed and pack the diaper bag with toys, treats, diapers and 10 changes of clothes. I fed her some of my cereal so as not to end up with banana in her hair and having to take a bath this morning. I showered and dressed and dressed Aidan. Finally at the last minute I chased her around the house pulling her clothes on to get her dressed for pictures. She always thinks that it is a game and that we are chasing her for fun! Not so much!
We get in the car and arrive at the photo place 20 minutes early. Their appointment is not there yet, but they decide to wait a few more minutes to make sure before they get us started. Five minutes later, we start with Aidan's pictures because Reese is busy playing with the toys, perfect! We get his individual shots with the 1st background done and decide to bring Reese in and take some shots together. Well she didn't want to stand by her brother, she wanted to play with the props. We finally got her to sit and take a few good pictures, then it was her turn. We thought she had picked one of the chairs out for pictures, but really just wanted to move all of the chairs in the place into the photo studio. The photographer snapped a few quick shots and then we tried to quickly move into a family pose. Reese immediately started crying when we tried to make her sit down by daddy. We tried moving her to sit by me and that didn't happen either. We bribed her with candy, spanked her bottom and tried to make her laugh with props. Now she was throwing a hissy fit on the floor. We left the room and gave her a talking to and took a five minute break. She had settled down, but as soon as we tried it again, you guessed it, hissy fit! Then Aidan started screaming for his feeding. Randy took Reese to the car, while I fed Aidan and picked out and purchased the photos holding back my tears. The poor photographer reassured me that this happens all of the time, but it didn't help.
Today just reminded me that I know my children's schedules and need to stick to that over whatever works for anyone else. I knew Randy would be pissy if we went over the weekend and they were busy, so I thought weekday would be best. He said this day before this time would work for him, so I called and scheduled it, thinking that it would be close to the time that she usually starts to get cranky and tired! Well it was and as a result, I didn't get the pictures I wanted (at least it saved Randy some money!) We will definitely be scheduling her upcoming birthday party for a time that best suits her schedule. If nobody comes because of that, then that is their loss. It is not worth it to me to have a party that everyone can attend, if she is tired and not behaving her best.

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, my husband wanted to treat me to dinner out at the restaurant of my choosing. Aidan had just eaten, so we rushed out the door and planned on going to a buffet, since we could sit right down and eat so we could make it back home before he wanted to eat again! He honestly eats every 2 hours or so when he is awake, but I can handle that as long as he continues sleeping through the night. When we got there people were lined up out the door, so we got back in the truck and drove to IHOP, the next closest restaurant and there wasn't anybody else there. We sat down and ordered. Reese was happy to walk around playing in our section of the restaurant until our food came. Just as we got our check, Aidan woke up and started screaming. We immediately picked up and headed home.

While at the play place at the mall today, Reese was trying to push a little girl out of the helicopter so that she could have it all to herself. Instinctively I yelled, "No, no Reese!" Immediately, the little girl that she had been pushing repeated what I said. Her grandmother then scolded her that they don't say that word. At first I was embarassed like I had done something wrong, but afterward I was pissed! Since when is saying no to a child something to be embarrassed about! It's not like I was screaming real expletives at her and I wasn't beating her (for the record I do believe in spanking). What does one do if their child is doing something that they don't want them to, could possibly hurt another child, and they are 10 feet away? I guess I should have gone up to Reese and calmly explained to her what she was doing wrong and why it was wrong (btw, I usually do this after yelling at her to stop and possibly putting her on timeout). Call me a bad mom if you want, but I feel that is the most effective way to get her attention at the moment. I bet that if I hadn't yelled at Reese and she successfully pushed the girl out of the helicopter that the grandmother still would have been mad!

Nap time

When I was working and Reese was in daycare I did not realize how important nap time was. On the weekends when I actually got to spend time with her I looked at it as an inconvenience to have to go home or try to lay her down for a nap wherever we happened to be. I also saw it as a waste of the very little time that I got to see her. Now that I am home with her all day I realize how necessary that time is for the both of us. Last week she was sleeping about three hours a day! It was the best! I almost didn't know what to do with myself for those three hours! But there was plenty of laundry, cleaning and work to do around the house. I actually began to think that if I could get her to sleep for 5 hours I could maybe even catch up on my scrapbooking or maybe read a book!

Bath time as punishment?

Reeses' wild hair to match her wild pants!

Ever since she was a baby, my daughter has loved bathtime until it comes time to actually clean up and wash her hair. She will sit in the tub and play until she is absolutely pruny, but as soon as you try to wash her hair, she cries, screams, thrashes and just throws a fit. I don't remember ever getting soap in her eyes or any other traumatic bathtime event that would have made her react this way. I know that she loves the water because she has been swimming ever since she was just a few weeks old. She will even go underwater in the pool without hesitation. I have tried everything from singing funny bathtime songs, bathing with her, transitioning to showers instead of baths, but nothing seems to work. I am getting to the point where I would rather shave her head than have to fight through one more bath. If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate any ideas. I am hoping that once she allows me to wash her hair, it will lead to allowing me to brush and pull her hair back! I would love to doll her up, but most of the time she ends up running around with a disheveled looking mop, hair in her face and food all stuck in her hair!

Can we put down some roots already?!

In May my husband and I will have been married for five years. In that time we have lived in 4 houses in 3 different towns! Right before we got married we bought an acreage in the country and planned to build a house on it. As we couldn't get financing right out of college, we had to hold off on building until we had been at our new jobs for a few weeks. Luckily, the man we had bought the acreage from had a rental house, that he was nice enough to rent to us for $100 a month. Great deal, right? Let me just tell you that you get what you pay for! It was a really cool old farmhouse, but we ended up blocking off three rooms of the house and living in those because the rest of the house was so scary and dilapidated. In the 3 months that we lived there we caught at least 20 mice, and it was summertime! Can't imagine if it would have been wintertime! Thank God we were fresh out of college and had very little furniture because almost everything we moved in there, we left because we were afraid to bring varmints with us.

After the 3 months we moved into our brand new ranch house! With money from our wedding we slowly bought new furniture for the house. After about a year, we realized that we were in over our heads and put the house up for sale. The listing was about to run out and we were at a point that we thought we could actually keep it, so I started painting and personalizing the house. A week later, we had an offer on the house because the buyer really liked the color I had picked for the dining room! I was devastated!

Fortunately, we found a house in the neighboring town that I absolutely loved. We moved into the house on our 1 year anniversary! You know that your bond is strong as a couple when you spend your 1st anniversary yelling at each other about where to put the furniture instead of out for a romantic evening. One of our new neighbors even pulled out a lawn chair and sat at the end of her driveway taking it all in (suprised she didn't have popcorn and all the fixings for the show we were putting on!)

Once again, I had just about gotten the house exactly the way I wanted it, when Randy accepted a new job. We could live anywhere in the midwest, so we decided to move home to be by family since he would be on the road a lot and we were expecting. We moved in with my mom in Dubuque and started working and waited for our house to sell. We found a house and moved in the middle of January. We lived in this 4 bedroom house for 3 months with only a bed on the floor until our old house finally sold and we could move all of our furniture back.

Fast forward 2 years and we currently have our house for sale! The plan is to build our dream house on a lot that we have purchased and to live there the rest of our days! Well, at least that is my plan. In my husband's opinion nothing is permanent and can be sold! I can't believe that we have been married for 5 years and together for 8! There must not be a market for me because I'm sure my husband would not refuse any acceptable offers!

Official Blog

I have created many websites over the past couple of years and written blogs about what was going on in my life at the time. In an effort to keep everything in one spot and minimize the time I spend checking multiple sites I have decided to create an official blog spot.

As the mother of two children, a girl who is almost 2 and a boy, 9 weeks old, a lot of my current blogs are about my children. The trials and tribulations as well as the joy and jubilation of parenting are often the center of every story. Because of the content of my blog (and the fact that I was watching a Baby Story at the time!) I have decided to call my blog "Parenting Story".

I look forward to hearing from friends and anyone that may happen upon my blog! Enjoy!