16 Month Update

Wow!  How did the month of April pass me by with just one blog post?  So I guess we'll start anew in May!  One of the reasons I haven't written lately is I have been so burdened by a friend from Oklahoma's recent diagnosis with a rare cancer.  Everything I have considered writing seems so trite and shallow compared to the weight of what her and her family are facing.  If you want to follow along with her journey and labor for her in prayer, this is her blog.

I have had a 15 month blog post for this little guy swirling in my mind...except 15 months came and went, and now he is 16 months!  It's really hard to believe that Elliott was just a couple weeks older than Mason is now when he was born!  He still seems like such a baby!  All I can say is I'm thankful to not be delivering another baby this month.

 Mason FINALLY started walking when he was 15 months old.  The little guy took his sweet time!  He LOVES it and I am so thankful.  He still has quite a few spills (especially on uneven ground and when his sister pushes him down), but he is improving by the day.  I love to see him try to "run."

 This is a picture from when he first started walking.  Love the little straight-legged baby walk!  Worst thing about a walking child...I now feel he should probably wear shoes when we go out.  It may not sound like much but it's one more clothing item that has to be found and put on a very squirmy child.

 He has also started saying more words this month.  Yay!  Also slow to develop.  When we saw the pediatrician at his year well baby check-up, we was literally not saying a single word.  Not one.  Now he says mama, dada, more (which he usually screams), uh oh (his favorite), go, and has started mimicking lots of words.  My favorite is when he says "T" (what E calls our dog Truman).

He loves playing outside (which we have finally been able to do lately without heavy coats) and especially likes trying to eat sticks and dirts.  He also has been obsessed lately with washing his hands, water from any spout, splashing, and swinging.  I think he is much more laid back than E was at this age, but he still has strong opinions and is NOT afraid to express them (usually by high pitched screaming).  He is my little picky child and will NOT eat something I put in front of him if he doesn't want it, even if he is hungry, and don't even think about feeding him the same meal twice (unless it's cheese).  His favorite meal time activity is throwing food on the ground.  Also trying to use a fork.

He has been getting his molars which has made for more fussiness, but generally he is such a happy little guy.  He loves his mama which never fails to melt.my.heart.  He always reaches me, finds me in a room, and prefers me to hold him.  I know this won't always be the case but for now it blesses me.  This little guys brings me so much joy...makes me laugh and makes my heart feel light.  I'm so thankful for his life!

 And I had to post a few pics of sweet E.  She also is thrilled at the warm weather and all the outdoor activities that become possible.

Raising children certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, but I'm so thankful God allowed me to become a mama.  Love my sweet babies!

Delayed Easter egg hunt

We decided to have a little Easter egg hunt with our small group, but since several people were busy Easter weekend, we did it the following week.  Besides it being colder than I would have liked as well as windy (stupid wind makes it feel so cold), we all had a really fun time!

Miss E was much better looking for eggs this year.  Until she got tired of it.  I find as a parent, it's really difficult not to point out the eggs that are literally, right in front of their face.  And I'm the one that wants to keep pushing her..."Keep going, there are SO many more eggs to be found."

My two boys.

She was so proud of her finds.

Mason mainly observed this year...and got to play with sister's eggs.

I so love this picture.  They all look so thrilled to be there. :)

The kids and their daddies.  One of those days that things wouldn't have happened without them.  They hid the eggs then went out with the kids to find the eggs while the moms stayed inside to keep warm.  Gotta love "dad jobs."

Sweet things....

I have done such a poor job posting updates lately, and the main reason is we have basically run out of space on my computer to upload pictures. I do realize there are ways to fix this issue, but unfortunately neither Kev or I are very computer savvy. We can also tend to procrastinate on things we don't enjoy. Surely no one else out there does this, right? :) Every weekend, I think, this is it. We're going to deal with it this weekend...but the weekends go so quickly and I do often feel I look back and so little has been accomplished. Such is life, I suppose.

So what have we been up lately?
We've been fighting off stomach bugs by snuggling with daddy.
Dressing like princesses with friends.
Playing together and learning how to walk.
And opening fun packages sent by thoughtful family members.

It's the simple things...

Momo vacation

We have been drowning in a sea of snot and surrounded by some serious grumpiness at our abode.  I forget how terrible it is when your kids are sick...and I'm talking cold sick...until it happens.  Lack of sleep, the indecision on whether or not they need to see the doctor, wiping noses a million times, all the whining and grumpiness.  But the worst...seeing them completely, absolutely miserable but feeling helpless to know what to do.  I'm hoping we're on the tail end of the sickness, although sometimes I think I tell myself that to get through the day.  It makes me realize what a complete wuss I am, when some peoples' kids are dealing with serious health issues.  Thank you God for the blessing of health today.

Prior to getting sick, we got to experience a wonderful week with a favorite in this household...Momo (aka my mom).  We were so thankful she was willing to make the trek from Texas again.  Let the Momo vacation commence...date night for Kev and I, shopping on an almost daily basis, special treats in the evening, Starbucks daily, wonderful, encouraging conversation, and a free babysitter when I'm at work.  My tank is full.

 Kev and I got to see a Broadway show (a special gift from my in-laws).

 Miss E's smile face.  She certainly loves her Momo.

The new glasses were a big hit.  Princess sunglasses. 

 Mason loved his Momo time too.  This has been his favorite activity lately.  Sitting on the closet step...

thinking about walking...

our little stander.

 The closest has been like a secret fort.  So much fun...

 until it's not fun.  Don't let E's innocent face fool you.  I'm fairly certain his tears were caused by her.

 Thankfully they don't usually last long.  Momo tickles the best.

 Waiting in anticipation to see what she will do with the toy.

One of the most difficult things about moving to Indiana was moving away from my family.  We lived only 4 hours away when we were in Oklahoma which was so doable.  Now, we basically have to fly or set aside 2 days for a car trip (gag).  I realized this past week that God has blessed us in the sacrifice of moving.  When we were in Oklahoma, mom would visit fairly often but hardly ever longer than a weekend.  She is not able to visit quite as often now, but now she stays for much longer times (rarely less than a week).  I have been so very blessed by her long visits and the extra time we have to spend together.  Love you mom!

Potty training adventures

Potty training.  Hilarious, but not so funny at times.  Totally mind-boggling.  Day-to-day.  Exciting and at times totally defeating.  A work in progress.

Potty training is going slowly and surely at our house.  Here are a few things I've learned in the past couple of weeks. 

• Miss E is not motivated by stickers, stars, or candy.  She goes when she wants to, not EVER when I suggest (I still feel like I need to ask her a million times).  I tried to set a timer at first so she would at least sit on the potty regularly.  That worked...NEVER. 
• Potty training (for us) did not happen in a weekend.  The result?  We leave the house...a lot.  Therefore it's a constant battle knowing whether or not to make her wear a diaper for our outings.  I've felt pretty brave lately and let her wear panties out several times.  The good news is she peed in the potty at the mall.  The bad news is she pooped in her panties when we were over at a friend's house for dinner.
• Accidents can be really traumatic!  Oh the drama...
• Princess panties are a great motivator.
• I never knew I would be SO excited to have my child poop in the toilet.  This is apparently, not as easy to learn as I remembered. 
• Following the last point, it's very difficult for a toddler to fully empty their bladder/etc when they're so excited at what's happening.

All in all, Miss E is doing pretty amazing.  In some ways her independence is helpful (she will go to the bathroom without prompting, all by herself), but in some ways it can mean a battle (she doesn't want to put a diaper on for a nap, I can't make her sit on the toilet if she doesn't want to).  She had only one very small accident today, and a couple days ago she was accident free.  Our biggest struggle lately is not peeing, but in the pooping department.  I'm sure this must be common, but it's difficult to know quite how to deal with it.

Today, I'm thankful for pooping in the potty!  It's the small joys in life...

2.5 years old

Two and a half years old.  Closer to three than two.  Where did the time go?  Our little girl is growing up so fast and she is always quick to correct me that "Macey's the baby" but she's a "big girl."  She is such a ball of life and energy.  She does everything whole heartedly, with such zeal.  She is still our little introvert and it takes her a long time to warm up to people, and yet when she does, she loves whole-heartedly.  She talks about people she loves constantly...no matter the distance that separates them.  

She can be so sweet one moment and then completely ornery the next.  This particularly pertains to her little brother most recently.  She loves her "Macey" and insists that they play in the tent together, on the bed, etc.  She loves to make him laugh in the car when they're riding side by side.  She loves to wrestle with him and play catch together.  Until a mean streak hits...then she wants to take his toys away and put them places he can't reach.  Says he's "pinching/touching me" when they're riding side by side in the car.  She just occasionally wants to be mean and he is the recipient of this most often.

She LOVES band aids as evidenced by this picture.  She went through a phase several weeks ago where she insisted on wearing band aids on her forehead.  I decided it wasn't a battle worth fighting, so we got lots of questions on what she had done to her forehead.  Thankfully, she has moved on to putting them on her fingers.  She now only asks for two at a time, because it makes her really sad when we run out.  She also loves her princess panties (as seen in my last post), so much so that she wanted to bring them INTO Target yesterday.  We tried to convince her to leave them in the car, put them in her pocket, in my purse but she could not be convinced.  So we were that family with their young daughter swinging her panties all around, completely oblivious to how strange it all looked (she did still have a diaper and pants on...just to clarify).

 She also loves painting, drawing with pens or markers (never crayons), stickers, climbing and jumping, playing chase, and reading books.  Kev usually takes the kids to the library weekly so her favorites are constantly changing.  She has really enjoyed reading all of the Knuffle Bunny books lately, The Gruffalo books, Llama llama books, and Clifford.  She also likes her Story Bible, lately David and Goliath, Zacchaeus, and Jesus' death and resurrection.  She loves her daddy and has insisted he put her to bed lately.  Every night.

She is still our little early bird and wakes up anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30.  Since we dealt with so many months that she was frequently getting out of her bed in the middle of the night, waking up early doesn't really seem that bad.  She is usually raring to go in the morning and immediately wants to change into her clothes for the day (which she of course wants to pick).  She still doesn't love going to bed or down for naps but she is a girl who desperately needs her sleep.  It is OBVIOUS when she has not gotten enough sleep.

She still doesn't really play with many toys.  She does like playing with balls and has started to pretend more with inanimate objects.  She does play with puzzles some, but she has never loved babies/dolls.  She does however love princesses.  I'm not sure why she likes them so much.  We've only seen a couple princess movies.  It probably doesn't help that princesses are everywhere...food items, band aids, clothes, balloons.  You basically can't go anywhere without seeing princess-something somewhere. 

 She still has so many strong opinions and I still struggle knowing whether or not it's just her age or her personality.  She insists on choosing her clothes, which is tough because she rarely matches.  She also loves changing her pants multiple times a day so I never know what she'll end up with.  She also insists on wearing her puffy purple coat lately and will only wear her boots if I am wearing boots as well.  There are benefits to her independent spirit...she can easily crawl in her car seat, get her water/milk cup no matter where it is, get in and out of every door, put most of her clothes on and take all of her clothes off, hoist herself onto a normal toilet, and I even found her trying to change her own diaper today (unsuccessfully I might add).  She does not want help until she asks for it which can be incredibly infuriating but definitely saves frustration if you know that.

Miss E has brought unspeakable joy to our lives and is definitely teaching me more than I think I am able to teach her.  We're so thankful for this gift God has given us!

And it begins...

The potty training adventure.  I have heard stories from multiple moms, read the best "techniques," but I still don't think it has prepared me.  Probably because every kid is different.  There isn't one size fits all in the potty training department (although that sounds so much easier to me).  I don't really feel like we've really jumped into full-time potty training, we're just dabbling in it.

It all started with a pair of panties...princess panties to be specific.  My mom sent E princess panties in her Valentine's package, and the girl loves princesses so she insisted on wearing them.  So I figured how could I keep her from peeing in the potty if she wanted to, so what the heck, let's see what happens.  What happened the first day was lots of accidents...which meant lots of pee on the floor (thankfully no poop).  I made the mistake of promising an m&m if she went in the potty which promptly led to a complete meltdown because she couldn't have m&ms immediately.  By noon, I think she was feeling frustrated, and she said, "I need to wear my diaper mommy."  Sounds good.

Day two, she woke up wanting to wear panties and peed and pooped in the potty multiple times.  Success!  I admit I had fleeting thoughts of being able to tell people my daughter didn't have any accidents her second day to wear underwear.  Those thoughts were fleeting indeed because she did in fact have accidents, and by noon she wanted her diaper again.

Since then, it's been hit or miss.  Sometimes she wants to wear panties, sometimes she doesn't.  And the thing about Miss E is she doesn't do anything half-heartedly.  If she has her mind made up she wants to wear a diaper, by golly she is going to wear a diaper and visa versa.  This really hampers our schedule.  She usually wants to wear her panties when we're about to run errands, etc and Lord knows she's not ready to be in public in her big girl panties.  I have found that she pees in clusters.  She'll go a little bit every 5 or 10 minutes which makes me wonder if she just doesn't know how to fully empty her bladder.  Also, she decided she no longer wanted to use her little potty (which was actually kind of disgusting to me), so she now pulls herself onto the big toilet, all by herself.  It's a wonder she can pee with her legs straddling the toilet.  Looks incredibly uncomfortable.  But at least I don't have to clean the little potty.

So I really have no idea what is going to happen.  I assume eventually she will learn to go pee pee in the toilet consistently, but I'm not really sure what her time line will be.  I don't know if we should designate a weekend devoted to potty training but my fear is if she is not in the mood, I think it would be more frustrating than productive.  Or should we let her govern the steps?  The thing potty training has made me realize is I'm not that patient.  It can be exhausting sitting by her, thinking she needs to go, her getting so frustrated, only to have nothing happen.  We're both learning through this process...