"Mommy, I go potty!!!"

Yes, I hear those words alot these days. I've spent a good part of this week following Jadyn around saying, "OK, time to go potty." She's doing great about taking care of business on the potty. You should see her sticker chart! She has enough stickers on there to supply....well, I don't know what it could supply, but she definetely has earned a lot of stickers! We have already filled up the chart with pink stars that came with a potty book we bought when we started this process. We have since had to dispose of the book when, ironically, one of the cats peed on it while we were away on vacation. But, who needs a book when you've read it so many times you now have it memorized! And speaking of the chart that came with that book, what were the publishers thinking? Four rows of 10 stars would be enough to say a child is officially potty trained? Not! We have filled up the chart and are not fully potty trained. Yes, Jadyn does good about going on the potty, but she's also still really good about going in her pants and doesn't at all seemed bothered by a wet diaper, pull up, or panties! So, we are 'recycling' the chart and are now putting new pretty foil word stickers OVER the pink stars every time she goes potty. Jadyn loves it and doesn't seem to mind that she's covering up her previous accomplishments! :-)

Little Miss Pigtail Pie is becoming quite the independent. These days, she's taken to saying, "No, mommy, I do it!" She continues to amaze me with the sentences coming out of her mouth. Here are some of the things I hear from her these days:

• "I want suh-um, mommy! I want suh-um!"
• "I hungee, Mommy. I hungee."
• "Jadyn's cup. Jadyn's cup."
• "I pee pee in the potty!"
• "Eeee-Li!"
• "Eee-li wake. Eee-li wake, mommy."
• "Eee-li hungee, mommy. Eee-li hungee."
• "Go outside? Outside?"
• "Pay wid pay-dough? Pay wid pay-dough?" (Play with playdough)
• "Big girl bed? Big girl bed?"
• "No, no, No! (tone change) No thank you"

It's funny how she has to repeat everything she says twice. I guess she's concerned I won't understand it if she says it once. Or maybe, mommy repeats everything she says to Jadyn and that's where she learned it. Hmmmmmmm.

It's been a rather trying few days this week as Jadyn is learning and exerting her independence. She's testing boundaries and patience. Bed/Naptime have been battle grounds the past couple of days. She's not staying in bed and it's been a battle of the wills. Jay and I have been trying out different discipline methods to see which fits best for Jadyn and for us. Spanking seems to have lost its power. I've realized that I use it too much and am changing tactics up a bit. When it comes to going to bed, we do the same routine we always do, but now when she disobeys and gets out of her precious and oh-so-neat big girl bed, we pop out the pack n play in the middle of her room and put her in it with just a pillow and a blanket. No snugglies, no stuffed rabbits, no baby dolls, nothing of luxury. We then say good night again and leave her to wail her complaints out. Once she calms down from the injustice that's been served her, one of us goes back in. Her first words uttered tonight were, "Big girl bed?" I put her back in the 'big girl bed' with all her luxuries, and reminded her it's time to go night-night and no getting out of bed. I left the pack n play set up as a reminder. I didn't hear a peep after that, and upon a recent check on her, I found her to be sound asleep! Yes!

I tend to want her to catch on to things the first time or in a day or two. I have to remind myself to be patient and it may take more than one time. The pack n play seems to be working though, and she seems to be getting the message. As for other discipline issues during the day, we still use spanking some, but also use time outs as well. She's learned that time outs aren't fun places to be. But, no matter what, she's always quick to say, "Hug? Hug?" when it's over. My sensitive little girl...melts my heart to see her cry in sadness! Parenting sure pulls at the heart strings!!!

Well, this post took me only 2.5 days to write. :-) I'm hoping to post some more sooner. More stories to share, like Jadyn's not the only one getting bigger around here. Eli and his oh-my-those-are-some-big-cheeks has now been officially promoted tonight to a bigger carseat (still rear-facing, though). Good times, good times! :)

Uh, yeah...we are still here.

Hi! Remember me? I know, I know...it's been FOREVER since I've blogged! Sheesh, you'd think that as a stay at home mom, I'd be blogging daily with all the extra time I now have! But, I find (rather frustatingly) that it's now over 7 months since I've had my son and I'm still trying to find the balance of full-time mommy and wife, aspiring blogger, and barbie-body seeker. :-) Anddddddddd, this is where you say, "Hello, Shannon? Get real. Not everyone can be an aspiring blogger...". Haha, you thought I was gonna say 'have a barbie body', didn't you? :)

Ok, well, I really am trying to find the balance and it's still a MAJOR work in progress. Now that Eli is old enough, I'm trying to work up the nerve to go to the gym during the day (you know, that place where we donate to monthly that has all that work out equipment in it?). I don't know why I'm being such a sissy, but I keep holding off until Jay and I can go together with the kids so I don't have to go the first time by myself. I know, I know...quit being a ninny and just go. Got it.
As a family, we are all doing well. The holidays and birthdays flew by in a blur and now things are SORT of winding down. We are now finding about a couple nights a week where we AREN'T doing something or going somewhere. We got to welcome into the world some new friends this past week. Our friends, the Delgados and the Chadwicks, now have new members of their families and we were priveleged to meet the little ones and spend time with the familes! Welcome baby Judah and baby Aubrey! We enjoyed a fast-paced trip to Phoenix a couple of weeks ago to see family. Relatives got to meet Eli for the first time and see how big Jadyn has grown! We enjoyed seeing everyone and look forward to our next trip there!


Little Miss Pigtail Pie has promoted in the toddler world to a toddler bed. She absolutely LOVES it!! The first night, mommy and daddy made about 12-13 trips into her room to put her back in bed and tell her to stay there and no playing, but since then, it's been pretty smooth sailing! The second night, we put her down and she stayed down and went right to sleep! I was so impressed with my big girl! We are also back to working on potty training. It's a work in progress, but we are chipping away at it. I knew it was time to get back to it when she started telling me when she pooped and was trying to assist in taking off her diaper. So, yeah...pull ups and frequent potty visits with sticker rewards it is. She loves the stickers and she loves to sit on the potty! Two plusses!

Eli is HUGE! He is 7 months old, 20 lbs, and wearing 12 month shirts and clothes! He's outgrown his car seat pretty much, so we are having to shop for the next step up. He'll be rear-facing still for atleast 5 more months, but poor guy is wedged into the car seat he has now! He's also the same size diaper as his 2 year old sister. Yup, my 2 yr old and 7 month old wear size 4 diapers. At least it makes for packing the diaper bag easier...only one size diaper to pack! No more rustling around for the right size diaper for the kid you are changing. Well, so Jadyn's mostly in pullups now, but still. If we need a diaper for her, we just grab one of his! How crazy is that!? :) Eli is a pro at sitting up on his own now. You can sit him down and he'll be content for a long time playing. He's recently taken to rolling over more frequently, but still is not an avid roller just yet. We're getting the ball 'rolling' on that though, by putting him on tummy time more.

And that's the gist of it. Now you know...we are alive and kicking and havin' a good ole time! :)

Turning 2 and getting ready for Christmas

Wanna see more? :)

My Little Pony can be frightening!

Jadyn has recently started playing with My Little Pony. She got one from her cousin, Rebekah, and enjoys playing with it, carrying it around, feeding it, etc. It is a toy that has brought her much enjoyment...that is until........we put batteries in it and now it TALKS AND MOVES!!! Ah!!!! THE HORROR!

All of the sudden, she was scared of it! LOL! We have no idea why, but being the kind and sensitive parents that we are....we just had to record her reaction! :)

Parenting top ten things...

No child has ever died from:

1. Screaming his lungs out (the lungs don't literally come out)

2. Not getting the latest handheld, GPS-encoded musical thingamabob that all the other kids have. (Even if all the other kids really, truly do have it)

3. Eating cheese sticks exclusively from age 2 to 3

4. Taking 30 seconds to think about what he's thankful for before lunging for the sweet potatoes

5. The heartbreak of a hopelessly twisted Slinky

6. Having to put her arm around her brother for five seconds for your family Christmas-card photo

7. Being left with-gasp!-Dad while you go off for a much-deserved girls' weekend

8. Seeing the Hannah Montana movie the day after it opens

9. Having to wait till he's older before he gets to use the pocket-knife his clueless uncle got him for his birthday

10. Too many hugs and kisses

(Taken from Parenting Magazine)

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

We've been on a roll around here. Jadyn's on roll of repeating everything you say (and getting quite clearer in her annunciation). Today, she learned that the cats have actual names. Now, she can say their name as she's running after them to terrorize (I mean, love on) them.

Potty training is rolling along slowly but surely. She goes potty at least once a day, and this book is a MUST! She requests it EVERYTIME she sits down. In fact, I can recite "Big Girls Use the Potty" from memory now. It just rolls right off my tongue...

Jay and I are rolling into our 4th week of jogging training. We are almost half way through the program! We are officially registered for the Fort Worth Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.

Eli's been hard at work at practicing his rolling. He can almost roll all the way over! In fact, by the time I finish this blog, he'll probably have mastered it! It seems like overnight he decided, "OK, I'm going to roll now." And BAM! He nearly has it!
Here is some footage of him practicing.




Kenya's 3rd birthday rolled around and we went to her birthday party at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch this past Saturday. Jadyn and Eli got to go on a hayride, and then Jadyn picked out pumpkins for Eli and herself.


We're getting excited for the holidays to roll in! Jay and I are also looking forward to getting away this weekend, kid-free. We're headed to Houston where Jay has an ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) conference. Hotel room, here I come!!! :)

Well, that's pretty much what's been rolling around over here. How about you?

Autumn = changes

I love this time of year! The crisp cool air, the changing of leaves and falling to the ground, hot chocolate, and fires in the fireplace! It's also a great time to take up a new hobby....jogging! I have taken up this hobby in the past week. I did it once several years ago and even ran/walked in a 5k. It was one of the greatest sense of accomplishments I have ever felt. And then....I quit right after the 5k. Why? Who knows? But, I'm turning over a new 'leaf' (since it is Fall) and have begun again. I'm doing this program called C25K, which stands for from the Couch to (2) a 5K. It's designed for all of us who are couch potatoes and not used to any kind of excercise and get us running a 5k. It's a 9 week program and I am now on week 2. Week 1 felt great! I look forward to my walk/jog today as I start the 2nd week. To seal my commitment even more, I purchased a double jogging stroller off of Craigslist.com last week. I got a great deal on it for $70!!! It's practically brand new and hardly used!!! The kids love to go for a ride in it. In fact, the jogging stroller is sitting right next to the car in the garage, and whenever we leave to go somewhere, Jadyn runs to the stroller and climbs in rather than head to her carseat in the car. I have to pry her squealing body out of the stroller as I lift her into her carseat almost every time. AND, to go a step further in my commitment to live healthier, I am running in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. I'll be around week 7 of my training, so I'm not going to run as a competitor, but I will run nonetheless. My goal is to be a 5k competitor by April for Race for the Cure.

Eli will be 4 months old on the 16th. I know I always say this, but, man! Time flies! He's a bald baby now since I shaved his quickly-falling-out hair about a week ago. The new hair is already getting longer and it looks like he's going to be fairly blonde! :) I can't shower enough kisses on his adorable head! I figure the day is going to come when he'll squirm out of my arms, not wanting all of mommy's kisses and hugs, so I have to do it while he's too young to get away! ;)

Jadyn is about to turn 2 in a month. She is interested in potty training, but not yet serious about it. And quite honestly, I am not sure how much of it she understands. She doesn't seem to make a connection with the whole reward system, and I sure don't want to FORCE her to go potty, since she's not even TWO yet! So, I keep telling myself that we'll continue to sit on the potty at her own pace for a while longer. Most of the time, she'll sit on the potty, but GOING potty is another story! Even though she's 'pee-peed' twice out of the 50 million times we've gone, I don't think she still comprehends that when you sit on the potty, that's when you 'go'. You don't 'go' after we sit on the potty and pull the training pants back up. Sigh.

On another Jadyn note, she has changed from a toddler of any play toy, to a little girl who likes girly things. These days, she can be found carrying around her doll or My Little Pony. She likes to feed her doll and pat her, then put her in the Bumbo. Then, she'll pick up her doll, feed her, then put her in the Bumbo. And, repeat. :) I love seeing her carrying around her 'purse' or looking at herself in the mirror, or 'fixing' her hair after mommy already has. I love having a girly girl. She's starting to sit for longer periods of time too. She enjoys coloring and reading books. Her still all time favorite are BALLOONS! This child will spot a balloon from a mile away! She'll play with balloons for hours! (when you add up all the increments of minutes she plays with balloons, it really will equal hours!) She's even started calling me "momma" sometimes. A couple of times, she yelled "Mom!" from her crib, as she was ready to get out. When I went in there, I reminded her that I am still Mommy and that she was too young to be referring to me as "Mom" already! :)

Work has been kind of slow for Jay these days, but we're praying it picks up soon. He has an engineering conference coming up at the end of this month in Houston, and he and I are looking forward to the getaway time with no children. While he's at workshops, I'll be enjoying the quietness of the hotel room...sleeping in, reading books, watching movies all kid free! And of course, I'm still going to miss my kiddos! I don't think I'll ever get used to being away from them. Originally, we were going to take them with us, but I decided it was time for a little just 'us' time. :) Jay was really excited when I told him the kids were going to Grandma's. Haha! :) I'm looking forward to just 'us' time too. :)

Well, the chili is simmering and the family is ready to head out for a family 'jog' before dinner. Week 2 Day 1 of C25K, here I come! :)
Catch ya later!