Clean House: Kitchen

Clean House: Living & Dining Rooms

Clean House: Kids' Rooms

Clean House: Master Bed & Bath

All Dressed Up

Big Brother

What a sweet big brother!

Well, it seems I may have rejoiced too soon...Will's potty-ing has come to a stand-still. He still goes in it every once in a while, but hasn't done the all day thing since Tuesday or whenever that was. That's okay...he'll get there. And he hasn't completely lost interest in it yet, so that's good too. I am very busy right now trying to get my house ready for Bunko on Tuesday night, so I'd better cut this short. Maybe my house will look nice enough that I can post pics of it, too! :)

I have added a new feature to my blog...a playlist. It is the last thing on the sidebar. It's set up to start automatically and it is supposed to randomly shuffle the songs, so hopefully everytime you open my page you won't hear the same thing. Anyway, if you don't like the song that is playing you can always click on a different one or just pause it all together. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that's there!

The Potty, Shower, and ABCs

Will is doing much better, sleep-wise. He had a rough night the next night, waking up 2 or 3 times, but every night since he has slept all night--yea!

We have been taking a very slow approach to potty-training since the beginning of the summer. My parents got Will a potty for his birthday and we've been using it every once in a while. For the past couple of weeks, he has been using it just about every night before and sometimes after he takes a bath. This morning, not long after Will woke up, we saw a commercial for Pull-Ups. The boy in the commercial was very excited and proud of himself for using the potty. I hadn't changed Will's diaper yet, so I asked him if he would like to go pee in the potty. He said yes, so we went. I decided not to put a diaper back on him and just let him run around naked. I told him to tell me if he needed to go again. We had a very successful morning of going pee and even poo in the potty with NO accidents! He even went in there by himself. I was surprised that he would tell me he needed to go and pee barely anything...I guess he really knows when he needs to go :)

Also, last night, after his bath, he decided he wanted a shower. Now, he's only had a shower one or two other times and it was a while back. And he wasn't very fond of them at that. But last night you would have thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. He loved it and even wanted to close the curtain. He really didn't want to get out and kept asking to get back in after he had his pj's on and even this morning. Too funny! I told him we'd have to wait til tonight :)

And, as for the ABCs, we've been impressed that Will can say about 90% of it correctly. And sometimes if he misses a letter, he'll go back and amend it. We are so proud of our big boy who is learning and progressing so well. Who knows, we may have a completely potty-trained, abecedarian (alphabet-saying), showerer in the near future!

Sleepless Nights

I was wrong, I guess. I was under the impression that it is your newborn baby that is supposed to cause you nights of unrest. In our household, this isn't the case...it's our two year old who seems determined to keep us up all night long. Last night we were awaked around 12:45 by Will who seemed to be content to just get up and stay up. From then until noon today, he slept maybe 2 to 2 1/2 hours off and on. He just would NOT go back to sleep. He must have been running on pure adrenaline. His eyes are so very pink. When he did go down at noon, he only slept for about an hour and a half...just half of his normal naptime. Is this just a phase? Anyone else have this problem with their child/children? This is definitely a new thing...Will ususally sleeps ten to twelve hours a night easily and takes a good 2 to 3 hour nap during the day. Please pray that Scott and I can sleep easy soon!

As for other news, not much else is happening...Claire is doing great. She is a wonderful baby! We are so blessed. We took her to her two month check up on Monday and she now weighs a whopping 11 lbs, 13 ounces! She's grown quite a bit and is now in the 75th percentile of the growth chart.

I'm off to try to get some rest...

Labor Day Weekend

My parents and brother were able to come up to visit us for Labor Day weekend. We enjoyed their stay and I know they enjoyed getting to see their grandkids/nephew & niece. Mom and I had fun dressing Claire up in all her cute clothes...if I had actually copied my mom's pictures to my computer I would be able to show you some really cute ones of her in a pretty dress my mom's best friend sent her and my black patent leather shoes. Hopefully she'll send those to me soon so I can share :) Also, I don't have any of my dad or Kendall with Claire...those were all on Mom's camera, too. So these will have to suffice for now :)

Claire has started smiling and we got some pictures of that, too. Will is very hard to take pictures of these days...he is too fast for me! But he had a great time this weekend playing with his new kitchen that Nana and Grandpa got him and, of course, playing in Grandpa and Kendall's trucks. He was very disappointed when they left and ran over to his carseat which was in the house and said, "Put my car seat in Grandpa's truck!" He wanted to go with them.

In other news, Scott started back to school at ACU last week and I started back to work (just on Wednesdays and Fridays when Will is at Children's Day Out). I think it's going to work out really well.

Smiling Girl

Will, Nana, & Claire

Pretty in purple

Five Things...

Five things I love about Will...

Huh??

1. He smiles at me like he hasn't seen me in a loooong time when I go into his room to get him up in the mornings or from a nap :)





2. He does a big belly laugh when we tickle him.





3. He sounds so cute when he says, "What's that noise, Mama?" and "That's very nice."





4. He amazes me daily at how smart he really is.





5. He has beautiful eyes and a winning smile.

Will snuggled up to Claire all on his own. Notice all his bedtime gear is with him :)

Five things I love about Claire...

Sleeping Beauty

1. She giggles in her sleep.





2. Her head smells so good.





3. She is beginning to smile.





4. Her mouth becomes a perfect "o" shape.





5. She holds her hands together, so prim and proper.

Five things I love about Scott...

Sweet Daddy and daughter

1. He is an awesome father.





2. He is an incredible husband.





3. He knows just what to do or say to make me laugh.





4. He is the Random Fact King.





5. He is passionate about the Bible; studying it, teaching it, and applying it.

Isn't She Lovely...

We took Claire to get her first portraits made today. She did so well! She was awake and (mostly) happy the whole time. Will was a much bigger challenge than she was :) Here are a few of my favorites:

So sweet

So innocent

So Kissable

Her head still fits in Daddy's hand!

Notice the look on Will's face :) Scott wasn't supposed to be in the pictures (that was the plan), but Will would not sit in my lap or cooperate without him, so in he came. Thank goodness he wasn't wearing a t-shirt!

My nursing tank top strap is showing, but everyone looks good, so it's not the end of the world.

And finally, the action shot. Just as the photographer was taking the picture, Claire decided to spit up. Yum! Notice the perfect tear-drop form. This was Scott's favorite picture (all in jest--he's such a guy). He specifically asked the girl to add it to the cd for us--ha!

Inspirations

The flower shop I have worked at off and on for 5 years has changed it's name and location. Instead of being in an old 7-Eleven building way off the main street in town (not even close, actually), we are now in a century-old red brick house with an excellent location. This move has been more than a year in the making and is super-exciting. The "new" shop looks fantastic. This weekend is the Grand Opening of the store and I went back to work a little. In a few weeks, I am planning on going back to work on Wednesdays and Fridays while Will is at Children's Day Out. The current plan is to take Claire to work with me; I took her with me yesterday and she did really well. Below are a few pictures of the shop that I took today.

The sign

My boss and her husband in front of the shop (this was after we closed for the day).

A view from across the street

One of the many rooms inside

Ratatouille

We took Will to see his first movie (Ratatouille) in the actual theater last night. It went okay...the movie was pretty long and wasn't as "exciting" as say, Cars or Nemo, but I think he enjoyed himself. There were only a few people in the theater and we had a whole row to ourselves, so he enjoyed walking up and down the row and pausing every once in a while to watch the screen. He did sit in Scott's lap a lot of the time. Claire did pretty well, too. We had taken her with us a couple of weeks ago when we went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Will stayed behind with a babysitter) and she was awesome...just ate and slept through the whole thing. Since she's not sleeping as much as she was and will only progress to be more awake, we knew we needed to take Will to see this movie sooner rather than later. She didn't sleep through the entire movie as I'd hoped, but at least she didn't scream or anything :)

The movie itself was entertaining; I think Pixar did a good job, but I didn't like it as much as some of their other movies. Toy Story, Nemo, The Incredibles...those are all just really fantastic. I wouldn't say this one ranks with those. It's good, though, don't get me wrong. I'd like to see it again at home where I can pause it when I need to do things like change an explosive diaper :)

50 odd things...

I got this interesting survey on MySpace. I thought I'd post it here, too...I haven't posted a survey here in a while. Notice question number two...I thought that was definitely odd!!

1. How tall are you?
5'7"

2. Have you ever done heroin?
Seriously??? Who answers yes to this???

3. Do you own a gun?
not personally, but my husband does

4. Do you recycle?
No :( (wish I did/could).

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
It depends on the kind of doctor appointment or what it's going to be about. Not normally, though.

6. What do you think about hot dogs?
alright every now and then...I do NOT want to know what exactly is in them.

7. What's your favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Coffee and OJ

9. Can you do push ups?
I'll be honest on this one...no.

10. Is your bathroom clean?
Honestly, no. It could use a good scrubbing (it's not horrificly dirty, though).

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
My wedding ring

12. Do you like painkillers?
When I'm in pain, yes :)

13. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
That's a good question for Scott. I have no idea :)

16. Middle Name?
Patrice &/or Reed

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
I should be getting ready for bed.
I'm tired.
I hope Claire lets me sleep tonight :)

18. Name the last 3 things you have bought:
Diaper bag.
Birthday card for my brother.
Pajamas for Will.

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:
Water, Diet Coke, tea

20. Who is your hero?
Scott

21. Last person you called?
Mom

22. Current worry?
I'm a mom. This almost requires me to constantly worry about my children. Currently I worry that Claire is getting enough to eat, and that Will might be getting sick.

23. Current hate?
being tired

24. Favorite place to be?
With friends and family.

25. How did you bring in the new year?
We traveled from Florida to Houston. Then we sat in the hot tub at my parents' house.

26. Where would you like to go?
The UK, most of Europe, Australia

27. Do you own slippers?
yep

28. What shirt are you wearing?
a green one

29. Do you burn or tan?
burn then tan

30. Favorite color(s)?
Red, purple, green, coral

32. Are you wearing socks right now?
nope

33. What songs do you sing in the shower?
depends what is stuck in my head

34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
the Boogey-man

35. What's in your pockets right now?
nada

36. Last thing/person that made you laugh?
Either Scott or Will

37. Best bed sheets as a child?
I had Strawberry Shortcake sheets, but what was even better was my Smuf sleeping bag!

38. Worst injury you've ever had?
I've never really been horribly injured. I've given birth twice, though.

39. Are you doing anything else right now?
nope

40. How many TVs do you have in your house?
Two, but only one works.

41. Who is your loudest friend?
Chelsey

42. Who is your most silent friend?
Beth P.

43. Does someone have a crush on you?
Scott

44. Do you wish on shooting stars?
I haven't seen one in years!

45. What is your favorite book?
How could I ever choose??? I'll list a few of my favorites: Gone With the Wind, the Outlander series, Harry Potter series, The Poisonwood Bible, A Painted House...I could go on and on.

46. What is your favorite candy?
Snickers. It really satisfies.

47. What song do/did you want played at your wedding?
Acapella's version of Canon in D

48. What song do you want played at your funeral?
Never thought about it.

49. What were you doing @ 12 AM last night?
I was about to go to bed.

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?
I have to feed that baby!

Random Thoughts & Requesting Feedback

A few random thoughts for you:

1. It's super-HOT outside!

2. We are seriously considering getting ourselves a mini-van. I know, I know, I said I would NEVER get one, but never say never, right? We just don't have enough space as it is right now. So, friends that have them, what do you like/dislike? What kinds do you have/wish you had instead of what you have? I need opinions!

3. Since I have had Claire and started nursing again, I have read almost 4 books. One of them was almost 800 pages long (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--totally awesome, by the way!). Since she's 4 weeks old, that averages out to be about one book a week. I'm getting low on books I have at my house that I haven't read yet. Any suggestions?

4. I changed some stuff on my blog. It's probably so little of a difference that you can't even tell, but I think I like it better.

5. I'm considering getting a swing for Claire. I have one of those "Take Along" portable swings that was a hand-me-down from someone at church, but you can't really put a tiny baby in it because it props them up too much. For those friends that have swings for their little ones, do think they're worth it and what type do you have/what type do you like?

I hope everyone's having a blessed week! Love to all~