Tookies



Although his little boy makes me want to pull my hair out more times than not, it times like these that I just love him so much.  Hard to believe he'll be 2 in just a few days....



Eli loves his "tookies"



It's hard being a toddler!

Potty training day 2 = success! Only 2 accidents today! He's doing so good. Now if I can get him to sleep and stay asleep at night I'll be set.

Last night he was out by 8:30 but up at 11:30 then again at 4:00. As a result he passed out on the way to school :-). Crazy kid!

POTTY TRAINING!



Big Boy Underwear!

Let the potty training fun begin!  I packed Eli for school today and it consisted of 5 pairs of underwear and 7 change of clothes.  Not sure if he was going off to college or just 1 day in daycare..either way he was prepared.  I called daycare around lunch time and he had ZERO accidents!  I'm so proud of my big boy.  Can't believe he'll be 2 in just a few days....time went by so fast!



Happy 2013!

Spent a fabulous new years eve with Ben - dinner and movie minus the boys! We had lunch with my parents today - which unfortunately my mom was exhausted after being up with Eli most of the night. Ben and the boys played some football outside in the freezing cold. We left early and took the boys to the museum so my parents could get some rest.

My resolution this year in addition to keeping up with my blog better is getting Eli into underwear. We bought him some training underwear last night and the fun will officially start tomorrow. I'm a little anxious since he's so stubborn sometimes but I think he's ready.

Think we figured out Eli's night time issue - he wakes up wet and cold. So we're changing his diaper at 2am and keeping his fan off at night. So far so good at getting him back to sleep at night. Hopefully he'll catch on to this process quickly

I absolutely enjoyed having Ben home for the holidays. He hasn't been off Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, NYE or day in I can't remember how long.


SWEET BROTHERS KICK IT ELI! GOOD JOB KEVIN!

Please sleep Eli!

We decided about 3 weeks ago to put Eli in a toddler bed. He was sick when we did it and slept through the night for several days. When he felt better - he figured out he could get out of bed and come find us in the middle of the night. The past 2 weeks has been like having a newborn in our house again. We are getting up every hour with him and putting him back in his bed. He's not a cuddling child nor does he stay still when trying to put him to sleep - total opposite of Kevin.

This has resulted in 2 very tired parents and a cute little boy who doesn't seem affected by this at all. Not sure if we're going to put him back in his crib or keep with the sleepiness nights with hopes that he catches on to this big boy bed concept.

Saying good-bye to 2012 – and looking forward to 2013

Although my posts don’t reflect anything happened in 2012, the lack of posts reflect a very busy year for us!

In June, after much prayer, we made the decision to start looking for a new church.  I’ve never researched so much on the internet in my entire life.  I emailed churches, checked out websites and made numerous phone calls daily – all arrows pointed to one church – Harvest Church.  We had a few we wanted to visit but we knew Harvest was our first choice.  I went alone with the boys the first Sunday in June, cried during the worship time and part of the preaching – I just felt so alone and confused and lost and just a flood of emotions came over me!  We had been preparing for this day for a few months and it was here – and there I was – in an auditorium of about 1000 people and I knew not a single person.  Ben went with me Sunday night where we attended the Growth Track series that introduced us to Harvest…..we fell in love with the church that night!  2 hours later we were walking out and just felt this total peace about everything – this was the church we needed to be in.  Ben took off on Sundays the entire month of June and we visited as a family.  We never visited another church….we didn’t have to!  Hard to believe it’s been almost 8 months that we’ve been at Harvest.  The children’s ministry is amazing and Kevin is learning so much in his classes.  I am involved in helping in nursery twice a month and I am loving getting to know families and loving on the sweet babies in my room.

We started having some issues with Kevin’s behavior in August.  We made an appointment to see a Behavioral Doctor the end of August and at that point there were no indication that Kevin had ADHD or any form of autism (Asperger’s was a concern at one point).  He started him on a low dose medication at night to help him sleep and we changed some ways we handled him at home.  Kevin started Kindergarten mid-September at Kids’ Place and the first few weeks went well on the new medicine.  After a few weeks we started seeing issues come up again and we went back to the doctor.  After evaluating him again, he diagnosed him with ADHD and started him on a new medication to take each morning.  Kevin is a like a different child now.  He’s so calm and mostly quiet – he’s still a 5 year old boy and still our funny and outgoing Kevin – he just has control now and it’s wonderful!  Kevin is reading at a 1^st grade level and loves to read any and everything he can!  He has such a sweet heart for his family and friends.

Now to our crazy blonde headed Eli!  He’s a mess – that’s about all I can say about him…a true mess!  His smile lights up a room!  He talks up a storm now and never slows down.  He decided a few weeks to start using the potty.  We are taking a slow approach in potty training him since he tends to get bored with small tasks and I don’t want to burn him out too early in the process.  He’s doing fabulous though and we hope to have him in underwear very soon.  Can’t believe he’ll be 2 in just a week…time went by too fast with him.

Ben and I are doing wonderful….we celebrated our 11^th anniversary in August and had our annual dinner at Texas de Brazil.  I’m reminded each year what a wonderful husband God gave me and I’m so thankful for him.

Think that catches me up for the last 6 months of 2012.  My goal for 2013 is to blog better and post more pictures…we’ll see how that turns out!

Christmas 2012



Christmas City 2012 @ Harvest Church





KidU "big church" performance





Pictures with Santa





A very cold Kevin at ICE!





Daddy and Kevin @ Kids' Place Christmas Program





Eli did lots of bike riding during a warm December!





Me and my boys!





Nana, PawPaw and the Boys!




Franny with Eli and Kevin



 



White Christmas was beautiful!





Kevin's "Ranger" Blanket





Best gift this year came from my bestie who announced after a long time of trying - she is having a baby!!!!!!!!!  This is how she told me  : )  God is so good!