Convo with My Mom this morning

On OPRAH yesterday:

hey - two things jumped out that was said on oprah 8:59 AM 1. for every hour you commute to work - it cost an extra 40,000/yr 8:59 AM 2. the happiest people interact with other people at least 8 hours a day 8:59 AM interaction - thru work, donating time, or whatever - they are around other people 8 hours a day 9:00 AM what do you think of those two little tidbits of info

Intimidation

So I keep wanting to write a blog post full of cool stuff like recipes I have tried and liked or crafts I have done. Well guess what, I have ZERO time these days. Like seriously, getting a shower is a BIG thing. Oh and getting one by MYSELF is equally BIG. I know these are sweet times. It won't be much longer before I will get the sleep I need to enjoy them. Luke wakes up normally around 2a.m. and 5a.m.-ish. Well Kate has taken it upon herself to start waking at 5:30 and bolting to our room to get in the bed. She doesn't really want to sleep though and that wakes the whole family. Yesterday she was an ill-pill about being awake yet she didn't want anyone (including herself) to go back to sleep. Yay for me! So today we are taking a mid-morning nap. I am included. Bad thing is that Luke normally needs me during this time. So I am going to try to time it so that I feed him and then lay Kate down and we all rest.

Another big deal is that I left the house, by myself, with the children on Monday and yesterday. Monday was a quick trip to Target where we bought Potty supplies. They were both perfect angels. Yesterday we met some friends at the Galleria for lunch and a carousel ride. The children did good then too. I for see me only doing short trips place for a few weeks unless I am with my mom.

About the potty training thing... We are starting Monday. We have purchased a hollow doll, 9 pairs of training pants, and a potty that you empty the bowl in the big toilet. We are going to try to follow the book, Toilet Training in Less than One Day. It was written in the 1970s so I'll let you know how that goes. Basically from what I have read you pump them full of liquids and leave them in a certain room with no distractions for an extended period of time until it clicks. The doll will be used to demonstrate at the beginning then get her to teach herself. Not going to lie, I am extremely intimidated by this. :) I showed her, her training pants and she threw them across room.

Here is a video of Luke at 7 weeks. Ignore extremely annoying voice in background...

Potty Dance

Maybe this will make Kate's potty training easier. Any advice gladly accepted!

Bird Out of a Cage

That's what this girl will be come Monday, or maybe Tuesday due to the Blizzard of 2011 coming our way. :) I can lift Kate starting Monday which means I can leave the house by myself with both of them. I have been able to drive since 2 weeks after his birthday but that didn't do much good to me unless I could lift her. As many of you know, many 2 year olds have tantrums on a regular basis and I couldn't ask some stranger to peel my girl off the floor. Also, for you guys who commented or cared for my last post, yes, Don and I are selling our house. We hope to have it listed come Spring. We realize it might sit on the market a year or more but we got to start this process. :) Here is a picture of Kate and Luke with their cousins on New Year's Day. If you remember we weren't able to see them any over the holidays due to the stomach virus so this was our Christmas with them. We also celebrated Ryan's 5th birthday. He will be a kindergartner starting in the Fall. Time Flies!

purge..minimize...STAGE..

all words that will become very familiar to me once Don and I's new project is accomplished. Who can guess what I am talking about? :)

Handsome Sugar Man

Happy Birthday to this Handsome Sugar Man! He has proven over the last week, month and year that I made an excellent decision to choose him to be my lifelong partner, father to my children, leader of my family, and friend. We love you Da-da!

Happy 1 month Sweet Baby Luke

Whoa mama this has been a busy month. It has also been a fairly unusual month in that I have hardly gotten out of the house. What makes it all worth wild though is my sweet snuggly baby boy of mine.

Last week I got the stomach virus early Tuesday morning (yep, for a girl that never leaves the house what are the odds!?!). It was pure misery. All I could think about Tuesday morning as I lay lifeless in the bed was if the stomach virus would ruin my chances of nursing Luke until he was 12 months old like I did his older sister. Yep, that was my main concern. Unfortunately Kate got the stomach virus 2 days later, then D late Thursday night/early Friday morning. We are still not sure if Luke got it or not. I am thinking so but he has been spitting up/throwing up alot after feedings and lots of poop diapers are fairly normal. I sure hope he didn't get it sure was a crazy contagious variety. Anyway, so that was my baby's first Christmas. All of us, recovering from a ruthless stomach virus and no extended family visitation. Yes sad but in times like those, I think you realize how much the people around love you (just the way you are..."for better/for worse...in sickness and in health").

So anyway, Luke's first 2 weeks were fairly easy. Then he hit a downward turn where he would want to nurse all the time, scream all the time and just flat wear me out. It has been better in the last week but I occasionally still see those marathon feedings before bed that flat wear me out. Luke still has not been back to the doctor for his 2 week checkup. Yep, you read that right. He is 4 weeks old and hasn't been to his 2 week checkup. That is because I thought I scheduled his checkup the week before Christmas on a Wednesday but after calling to cancel because of bad weather I was informed I had actually scheduled for the week before Christmas. Okay, so last week we were heading to appointment when Kate starting throwing up. Had to cancel, which brings me to this Friday at 8:30a.m. Lets hope we make this one.

Luke is a good baby but we are noticing he is a little harder right now then his sister was. We think he is just a gassy baby. I am going to talk to doc about that and hopefully straighten it out. Kate would eat and fall back to sleep. EASY! Luke will have a bad diaper, change it, nurse a little, fall asleep, throw-up on me, change his clothes, change another diaper, nurse a little more, scream, wear himself out, maybe fall asleep. Ahhh, I am exhausted thinking about it. :) Still love him! We are a blessed family. I look forward to the coming months and all the precious memories. By the way, the "BIG" sister loves him to death and wants to help mama change his diaper, get his passie, help with baths, and lots of loving. She really loves him. Thank goodness! :)