Catching up from my catching up

I wrote the previous post a few weeks ago...things have changed...as always.

Ryan has only had the one accident that random morning except for ONE COMPLETE DAY where he had 7 accidents. All because he plain, refused to go potty. The day started off crazy - it was exactly 2 weeks after he (suddenly) potty-trained himself and we were headed to Ryan's school to meet with Santa. (This was a day he normally didn't go) Anyway, he had refused to potty all morning and wouldn't go when we got to school either. I brought an extra change of clothes because I could just tell that today was going to be "a day". You know, the day where the children just won't "do right", where things definitely don't go your way and by nap time you are physically and mentally exhausted. Well, I (unfortunately) was right in my assumption of the day.

We got to school and Ryan was CRAZY. He was all over the place and jumped into 3 other children's picture with Santa. I finally got him out of the pic and then he "said" he had to potty. Beth took him and Jake upstairs to go, but when I got finished putting Kait in her seat and got upstairs he hadn't actually gone. We then had the idea to take the boys to Chick-fil-a to get some energy out because it was freezing cold and we hadn't been outside in a while. Anyway, we get to CFA (after corralling Ryan from running around the church/school) and the boys immediately go into the play place. Ryan heads up the contraption inside and comes out very quickly saying that he has had an accident. (accident #1) We go to the potty and change clothes. He goes back in the play place....10 minutes later he comes out...you guessed it...another accident. (accident #2) We again, head to the potty and again he tells me that he doesn't have to go at all. I change him and back in the play place he goes. Now, 5 minutes later...again here comes my child...and yes, he is wet again. This time he is SOAKED. All the way down his pants. I am now out of clothes and totally frustrated. I put him back in the original red cords and off to home we go. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to know that your child "can" go, but chooses not to. AAHH, makes you want to scream!!!

(it is now after January and I am just finishing up this post and he has not had any more accidents since this day. This really was a day that God was saying... "how much can she take...let's see..." I don't think I did so well on this little lesson/test.

As usual

As usual, I am behind in posting. Life just seems to be getting in the way of writing these days. Let me regroup, life seems to be getting in the way of everything these days!!

Since Halloween...let's see, we have started rolling front to back with Kaitlyn - Nov. 18 to be exact, we started sleeping through the night - no more 3am nights the week of Thanksgiving, and now we have started sitting up as of last week - 26 weeks exactly.

Ryan basically potty-trained himself beginning last Tuesday. He has only had 1 accident and I think that was because he had just woken up and forgot he had on big-boy underwear. Unreal, he just tells me when he has to go and then I take him and he goes. Last Thursday he looked at me and said, "I have to pee, but Mommy, you stay here with Kait. I go all. by. myself." I couldn't believe it. So, of course I snuck in there to watch and there he was, going all by himself. I heard him talking to himself...flush, close the seat, pull up the pants, and....wash my hands.

He ran out saying..."Mommy, I went all by myself. I even washed my hands. BUT, I didn't use soap. Too funny. I couldn't believe that my little boy who had FOUGHT big boy underwear for months was all of a sudden potty-trained and (at that point) still hadn't even had an accident. Guess there is something to say for just letting them do it in their own time. Who knew??!!

The Fam

Climbing up the REALLY HIGH slide

After he was finished and getting ready to beeline around the side and go again!

Up again

Down,

Down we go...

This pumpkin looks perfect!

Ryan freaking out that a pumpkin was smashed. Wish you could see his whole face here...

Me and the little ones

Me and Kaitlyn

Little late in getting these up here, but here goes...

We headed to the pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween. It was so fun this year. Ryan went into the bouncy houses and had a blast. He especially loved the gigantic slides. Mike and I really couldn't believe that we were letting him go up them. There were tons of older kids that were afraid...not Ryan. He just marched his little self right up there and went down with a shout of glee. It really was so cute to watch his excitement!

After the bouncy houses we rode the covered wagons out to the patch to pick a pumpkin for Ryan and Kaitlyn - he insisted that she have her own. (ever the fair and generous older brother)

Ryan is so peculiar about things...he could hardly enjoy the pumpkin patch for fear that the wagon wasn't going to come back to get us. I can definitely say that Ryan likes a certain order to things. He loves a schedule and knowing what comes next. So, after some convincing that the wagon was indeed coming back for us, Ryan got into the action of picking out some fun pumpkins. It was a great day all in all. Kaitlyn did good and seemed to enjoy being out there and Ryan just ran from thing to thing trying to take it all in. Holidays this year are so fun. For the first time I think Ryan will really "get" everything that we do. I can't wait for the season to begin!

Is it chilly or what??

Wow...where is this cold weather coming from? You should have seen Kaitlyn all bundled up in this snow suit. She could barely bend anything. Too cute!!

Beautiful dress

They just don't come from the store the same way that they do by hand...

This dress is one from my aunt that my cousins wore. It is just so sweet and so pretty. Kaitlyn wore it to church on Sunday and I had to get a picture of it.

My mom's (and aunt's) 1st cousin, Nancy, made it. Sure do wish I was close enough to Rock Hill to either learn or persuade Nancy to make a few for me. I love it!!

just some cute pictures

Had a good time with the camera earlier this week.

Here are some pictures...

My sweet husband - wish this one had been in focus for Kait

My Adorable little ones

Ryan's "purse" full of cars

He told me, "I'm off to Gigi and Pop's" He really says the funniest things

This is standard Kaitlyn pose these days. She found those toes and just hasn't let go!!

Laughing at Daddy - he is SO WRAPPED!!

Sweet Girl

18 weeks and 19 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

Not too much going on around here. Mike has been super busy with the Holiday Season gearing up. I have been trying to get some things done around the house. I feel like everything in my life right now is in a perpetual state of chaos. Nothing seems to get completed and I am not really sure how to change this. Any suggestions on this too would be appreciated... (see below post -- I am in need of lots of suggestions these days!)

Kaitlyn had her 4 month checkup on Sept. 27. (at 16 weeks old)

• She was 15.3 lbs
• 24 in tall

That was about 75-80% for both. Kaitlyn is meeting ALL of her milestones brilliantly. She is trying to sit up like crazy. Any time she can, she is pulling herself to a sitting position. (then she promptly falls over face first!) She is loving toys -- cannot get enough of them and gets really frustrated when she repeatedly drops them. She is spending a lot of time in her bumbo. She seems to really like this - way more than Ryan did. Of course, he was only able to fit into the thing for about 3 weeks. Then his legs were just entirely TOO BIG to fit. She is doing a little better in that category.

She still has the acid reflux. Though, I am thinking that this is fading a bit. I weighed her this week at 19 weeks and she is right at 16 lbs. She is looking at herself in the mirror and just giggling. It is so cute. Within the last week she has started to get somewhat consistent with her naps. She sleeps about 30 min (maybe twice) in the morning -- and then I put her down at 1:30ish when Ryan goes down and she has been sleeping between 2-3 hours. AWESOME!! Then, around 5ish she goes down again for 45min-1 hour. She has stretched out her feeding also. She usually has about 5 feedings every 24 hours. They are 4 hours apart during the day and she is still waking up once at night about 3am. I don't know why she is doing this because she has slept through the night before. She just doesn't seem to want to. She woke up numerous times last night, but I just kept giving her her pacifier and she ended up lasting until 6:30am this morning before eating. That is 10.5 hours. (not bad)

She is really happy and loves to be in the middle of things. Ryan seems to be a constant source of entertainment for her. Very cute to watch.

Quebec City

The Happy Couple

Caci, Andrea, Me, Kylie, Amanda

Green top is the castle we stayed in the first 2 nights

View from our room the last 2 nights

My first trip to Canada...woohoo. Went up for Kylie's wedding and it was beautiful...the wedding and the city. Mike and I flew up on Thursday and came back on Monday. Quite a long time to be away from your kiddos. We definitely enjoyed some relaxation, but were quite ready to get home and assume the roles of Mom and Dad. :)

We had the wedding Friday night and a dinner on Saturday. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from the wedding. I can't believe I didn't. What was a I thinking? I can't wait to see the photographers pics. Everything was so amazing that I know the pictures will be unreal. Here are some pics from Saturday night and our trips around the town. Quebec is a walking city. We stayed at a castle for 2 nights and a hotel outside of the city walls for 2 nights. Very cool!!

Before we left for Quebec, I got the stomach bug. I was sick for at least a week and then couldn't eat for about three more days after that. It was a rough couple of days here in Birmingham caring for the munchkins while BOTH of us were handling stomach bug symptoms. Mike's immune system must be WAY better than mine(not saying that much there) because he only had it for about 24-36 hours. I got it the Wednesday (a week) before we left and was still feeling under the weather when our plane departed. Unfortunately, the kids(who never exhibited symptoms) took the bug home to my parents while they were keeping them. Mom came down with the bug on Saturday night and still had to keep them all day Sunday. Priscilla came in for some reinforcements on Sunday night and kept them Monday and then came down with the bug herself. This is one tough virus. I just hope we don't see it again anytime soon!!

I seem to catch EVERYTHING. Any other moms out there have any suggestions. I don't think I have ever been this slow to recover from things as I have since getting pregnant with Kaitlyn. I am now taking a multivitamin and fish oil. Any other suggestions on how you stay well with little "carrier monkeys" running around.

32 years, 32 months, and 15 weeks

Happy Birthday to me!!

I got a new picture of my children for my birthday!! YEA!!

Love my Tigers...even if they didn't win...

We played the Auburn Tigers...was really hoping for a win. Unfortunately, it just didn't happen. Oh well...we looked cute while trying to win!

Friday, September 17 -- 14 weeks and 4 days

Guess who rolled over today!!! WOW!!! Time is flying by and my baby is growing so quickly!!

Chillin' in Ryan's crib

These 2 are so cute together. Ryan wanted "Kait" to chill in his crib. That would be "so cooool" as he is saying these days. Really, just too funny the things that come out of his mouth!

Just thought I would add this b/c I just love the outfit!! (thank you Jamie, Brooks, & Girls) I would have gotten more pictures, but (note to self) baby needs to be strapped in the swing from here on out. While I was taking her picture she slipped right out -- and no, she didn't get hurt, but it sure startled us both.

Birmingham friends

There really is something in the water here. Not only do I have my 2 neighbors that have children close (by a few weeks) to both of my children, but I am in a supper club with the same situation!!

There are 6 couples in the group - 4 of us had babies between May 26 and June 23/24. Crazy, huh?

These are 2 of the babies - May 26 and June 18, I think.

We had a really good time the other night grilling out and just hanging with all of the kids in the backyard. Can't wait to do it again!!

The Beach

Our first beach trip with the B's and my parents. Wow...we had a blast. Ryan KEEPS asking where are Bo, Betsy, and Ben??? He just doesn't seem to understand that we won't see them everyday. He loves his cousins...especially Bo. Our little one follows Bo everywhere!!

We got down to the beach ahead of everyone else - on Wednesday. (just in time for that wonderful little hurricane to pass by) We got lucky though, all the hurricane brought was a nice cool wind. We made it down to the beach Wednesday evening with both children to walk around and show Ryan what it was all about. The rest of the week was spent with someone constantly taking turns on keeping Kaitlyn inside. It was so much fun to spend uninterrupted time with ALL of the B's. That is something we have never done and I really hope we get to do it again one day very soon. The kids were awesome together. I hardly ever had to wonder what Ryan was up to. He was with "the big kids" somewhere playing and we just didn't have to worry about them. That was really cool. Very different than normal where one of us usually has to be watching out or helping entertain. These kids can all play forever and entertain themselves....ahhh, Bliss!!!

I actually got some time away - went to Carter's outlet with my Mom and bought out the store...hahaha and went shopping a little with Beth. Very fun and nice to have a little break from my little ones. :)

All in all, I just can't say enough about how much fun we had. Ryan loved the beach and I can't wait to take BOTH of our children next year. Ryan had NO FEAR and was constantly trying to go deeper in the water. Oh, something that hasn't ever happened to me before.... The police/lifeguard patrol came zooming up the beach one late morning. All of us were out there except Mike because he was at the house waiting for Kaitlyn to wake up. Anyway, we all wondered what the urgency was and we saw groups of people rushing out of the water in waves. Soon the lifeguard made his way to us and said that some sharks had been spotted. We looked out in the ocean and could see a school of fish swimming and circling their way up the coastline. After watching a few minutes the school of fish were flying out of the water. Then it looked like the circled up and WHOA - out jump 4 SHARKS at once. It was insane!! These were small sharks...only a few feet, but they were RIGHT IN FRONT OF US...and I mean right in front of us. We would have been eaten. The patrol said that they were bull sharks. Yea, great...a very aggressive shark in the water right at my hips...OMG! He also said that a 7 foot shark had been feeding on that school of fish down the coast a little bit. We didn't see that one, but I hope it had already had it's fill.

We did go back in the water, but not very deep. :)

My aunt and cousins came over one night and kept our brood of 5....God bless them. That was a huge treat for the 6 of us to go out. We haven't done that since before Bo was born. So fun!! I think our little munchkins wore everyone out that night!

Unfortunately, we had to leave on Sunday late afternoon to get ready to make the 6 hour drive back on Labor Day...it was so awesome being home for so long and getting to do so much, but I guess now we are ready to head back to reality...back to our house...

The fam, minus Kaitlyn
Brian and Kaitlyn

Gigi and Kaitlyn. Can you believe she LIKES sleeping like this?? Don't get it, just don't get it!

Ben and Bo with Ryan's new blower (courtesy of Doc)

Ben taking his turn

ryan sure does love Bo!

Ben and his trucks

The Cousins

Ben, Ryan, Betsy, Bo, and Kaitlyn