Winter Happenings

In spite of the chill in the air, we've been trying to enjoy the glimpses of spring around here. We've also spent quite a lot of time indoors watching movies and trying to stay entertained. The bigger all three of our monkeys get, the more excited I get for all of the fun spring/summer activities ahead (swimming, playing on the back patio, outdoor fun). Here's a little bit of what we've been up to...

My little look-a-likes at the zoo.

Little man trying food for the first time. So far, he's only a fan of sweet potatoes, squash, and peas (not a fan of oatmeal, apple, or peaches). He looks pretty malnourished, huh?

Little brother wanting to sleep with his big sisters.

Swinging in the back yard.

Dumping out all of his toys.

Sophie and Dad at the zoo

Loving Burke so much we have to squeeze him.

Campbell taking selfies on the potty. So proud of how quickly this girl has picked up potty training!

Hey Boo Boo

Donuts with Daddy at school. :)

My little prince

CJ at the park

Looking forward to the month of love and spring around the corner (fingers crossed!)

xoxo

One Out of Two Ain't Bad

Well, today marks the one week anniversary of us beginning and halfway ending potty training.
Here is a top ten re-cap of our week:

1. Girls are off to an optimistic start, having few accidents and going in the potty a lot.
2. Girls have an accident-free day at school Tuesday.
3. Kyle and I clean up poop out of underwear/carpet/our clothes/shoes, etc. approximately 6 times.
4. Girls realize that pooping in underwear is most traumatizing event in their 26 month span of life.
5. Sophie turns this trauma into an general fear and loathing of being within 5 feet of potty.
6. After 2 full days of watching Sophie deliberately pee on carpet/in underwear, potty training ends for her.
7. Campbell continues to do excellent and is in underwear during the day with hardly any accidents.
8. Ongoing battle in regards to the girls' now insane fear of going number two.
9. Kyle questioning my emotional stability as a mom. Burke being somewhat neglected due to re-cap #3.
10. Mom fearing both girls being in intensive therapy someday when they have flashbacks 20 years from now regarding those early days of potty training and mommy going crazy.

I'll end this re-cap by saying this has by far been my most challenging week as a mom. I have literally waded through poop, sweat, and lots of tears (shed by me, not the girls). I've decided that God must have intentionally designed humans to endure the process of potty training in order to teach parents early on that ultimately, we cannot control everything our child does. I feel this will be a valuable lesson in approximately ten years when the girls are on the brink of teenage-dom and screaming how much they hate me and how I've ruined their lives. And I'll be ready for this, because I'll remember a time when they were two and I had to learn, for the first time, to just let it go.

I've learned this week that even if Sophie isn't potty trained until first grade, I love that little girl with my entire heart. Even if she looks at me in the eye, pees on our pretty white rug, and then cackles with laughter. She is mine, and I am hers. And I'll just keep telling myself that her insanely hard head and orneriness will serve her well someday. It sure as hell better.

In the meantime, here are a few pics of our week...

Our Minnie Mouse potties. We had several potties that friends loaned us so we wouldn't have to shell out $50 for two potties, but then Nana bought them these for Christmas and they HAD to have them in the bathroom. 

Bribery

Campbell taking a little potty break at Charlotte's the other day. 

As you can tell, Charlotte was mesmerized, maybe even a little terrified. As you should be, dear child.

So there you have it. One out of two ain't bad. 

xoxo

Burke {6} Months

Happy half birthday to our boo boo bear, or Burkey, or Bubba, or any other name we're in the mood to call you! I remember thinking when the girls turned 6 months that it was really all going too fast. Sure enough, I can definitely say the same the second time around, as well. My sister, Sam (a baby enthusiast and professional nanny), has always said 6 months is her favorite age. I'm definitely a fan of this age, as well. Chubbiness galore, almost sitting up on his own, and happy happy, happy. What's not to love (aside from these dang ear infections)? 

As opposed to almost every month before this, Burke is now starting to "do" fun things, as well. Here are a few fun things he does:

1. Growls. If you make a growling noise at him, he will "growl" back. It's such a funny, boyish thing. 

2. Goes CRAZY in the bath tub. Holy cow. This kid loves baths, I think, maybe more than he loves me. He kicks and smiles like crazy when he takes one. Every few seconds he'll look up at me with this ornery smile to make sure I'm watching him. I can't wait to see him in the pool this summer!

3. Sitting up (with assistance)! He can now somewhat sit up on his own as long as surrounded by the boppy. He still gets a little tired of holding up that big ole noggin after 15 minutes or so and will need a break, but I'm thinking in the next few weeks he will be more independent while sitting. The girls think it's so much fun when I sit him up and lay all of his toys in front of him to play with. 

4. Infrequent rolling. This guy is just not a big fan of rolling over. In his defense, I'm still not great about putting him on his tummy as much as I probably should. However, about 80% of the time he does get put on his tummy, he immediately rolls over to his back. He's still only gone from back to tummy once, though. He also is starting to curl up his legs under him while on his tummy and has even "scooted" several feet off his play mat. Oy. I'm certainly in no hurry to have a crawler. I'd be perfectly happy with a good sitter and player at this point. ;)

5. Good sleeper (except when ears are infected). Since about 7 weeks, Burke has kicked butt in the sleep department, going 8-10 hours consistently. However, around the 5 month mark he got his first ear infection, and we've been battling one ear or the other ever since. I'm thinking he is headed for tubes like his sisters, which at this point would be such a blessing for this poor little guy. He's one tough, cookie though and is still a smiley pants in spite of it. Right now he goes down around 9:30 and wakes around 1 to eat, then goes back to sleep until 8:30. So I guess I can't complain for this being his "bad" schedule.

6. He still absolutely loves his jumperoo and is liking his play mat less and less (not entertaining enough). He loves to watch his sisters do anything and his face totally lights up any time they talk to him. Melts my heart. Mostly because I can only envision how "annoying" they will probably find each other some day... 

I can't get enough of his cuteness.

A Burke photo shoot isn't complete without the girls needing to be a part of it. After I took several pics of the girls in the crib, Campbell informed me I needed to "take more pictures." Her smile cracks me up in this one.

Lovin' those toes

Sophie wants to hold Burke 24/7. While he loves her from a distance, he's not so trusting she won't body slam him at any moment. Smart boy.

Nice Burkey.

My sweet angel, Campbell. She is acting more and more grown up lately. I absolutely adore her sweet spirit and "big sister" qualities. The only name she uses for Burke these days is "Boo boo boo boo." ;)

The girls L-O-V-E their Rumbles that Santa brought them and sleep with them every night. They also love to lay down on the couch with their milk while they watch cartoons in the morning and insist that I cover them both up. Scratch that. Sophie is the only one who demands I do anything. Little stinker.

Could you look any ornier? She is SUCH a red head! 

My little love bunny.

I'm sure there's a lot I'm forgetting, but currently 2 of my 3 monkeys are crawling all over me and losing patience with me not giving them 100% of my attention. ;)

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

Happy 2013, Panties, and Operation Peace Out Pacis

Happy New Year! What a year 2012 has been. We watched our mini-toddlers transform into little girls right before our eyes, welcomed our beautiful son, and lived to tell the tale. It's interesting to me that as I get older (I know, the ripe ole age of 29), I can really start to see the bigger picture. My list of resolutions gets smaller and smaller (how many of these really pan out, anyways?) and have to do more with living in the moment and appreciating the small things as opposed to losing 15 pounds and reading 50 books this year (although Lord knows I should perhaps give both of these a good shot).

So what exactly is on my list of resolutions this year? While I haven't given this much thought yet, I can tell you these are the "Big 3" on Sophie and Campbell's list:

1. Get rid of our pacis
2. Potty Train
3. Move into big girl beds

As I speak, the girls are going on 20 minutes of off and on screaming for their pacis. Sophie has given in and (I think) finally fallen asleep. Campbell will rest every few minutes, then stand in protest and yell for her "yellow paci." Given that Campbell is so agreeable and my sweet little rule follower, I pretty much feel like the meanest mom on the planet right now for taking her beloved paci away. She so looks forward to this little treat during naps/bedtime. However, in the spirit of the new year, I thought I might have more will power than other days to get this task crossed off the resolution list. Stay strong, Stephanie, stay strong.

We kicked off 2013 with our dear friends, the Coys and their triplet daughters: Avery, Camdyn, and Emily. It's always a crazy fun time with this family. And by "kicked off", I mean they left before 8:30, and Kyle and I were in bed by 10...

Sophie and Avery (I think-sorry Steph, I'm still working on telling them apart...) eating their cupcakes. If you ask one of my girls what any one of their names are, they always say "Avery" anyways... 

Sophie kept tickling her. ;)

Girl madness! And Campbell decided she needed to try on one of their cute hoodies.

We are still dabbling with the panties/potty training. Although the past two mornings, Campbell has taken off her diaper and gone to tinkle in the potty by herself, then refused to put a diaper back on, pretty much forcing me to let her wear panties. She has only had one accident both mornings. Sophie tinkles in the potty a great deal less than Campbell, and is 100% OK with diapers. I'm hoping some candy bribery will help her to overcome this since this weekend we plan on "going hard core" with both of them. I've said from the beginning that I would hard core potty train when one or both of the girls pretty much begged for it, so I guess we are at that junction. I can practically smell our sweet future with only one child in diapers (hopefully). And the fact that I cannot get over how stinkin' adorable their little bottoms look in panties should be extra motivation, as well. :)

Hopefully the last time we will ever have to look at these. 

While moving into big girl beds is on our list, I'm quite alright with holding off on these until closer to 2 1/2. They love their cribs, so I'd hate to mess up a good thing. Plus, I'm terrified of the thought of them having free range to play, wrestle, kill each other at any time during the night. While I have never been in a huge hurry to move them into a big bed, I was relieved to recently hear a sleeping expert say that kids aren't cognitively ready to understand the concept of an open bed until 2 1/2-3. I'm sure the fact that on top of actually staying in bed, they also have to understand that they can't have a party with their sister adds to the need for us to wait on this one. 

So there's a few of our resolutions to reach this year. I'm thinking a spa day will be in order for this mom after I successfully rid our house of pink pacis and diapers. 

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2013!

xoxo

Christmas 2012

Christmas is officially going to be a blast from here on out! Although this was the girls' third Christmas, I can safely say that this was the first year they really "got" it. By Christmas day, they could tell you about baby Jesus, baby Jesus's mommy (Mary) and daddy (Joseph) and the angel. They became obsessed with the following (in this order): Christmas lights, Frosty the Snowman, Christmas trees, presents, and talking about Santa Clause (they were very unsure what to think about seeing him in the flesh, but not terrified as I had originally predicted) All in all, it was such a fun Christmas season. I can't wait for the fun things we plan on doing next year (Elf on the Shelf, really getting into the whole Jesus' Birthday, etc.). Here are a few (ok, maybe a lot) fun pics from this year:

Sophie so excited about her "iPad" from Nana and Papa

Me and Burkey. His favorite thing about Christmas this year was playing with wrapping paper.

Papa and Burkey playing with one of his gifts, a mini back hoe.

It's not a trip to Taloga unless we go see all of Papa's horses.

Christmas Eve at my parents. Love these 3 turkeys.

Burkey the Elf. Thanks Aunt Sam for his festive get-up.

My dad bought some hideous colorful yellow crocs this summer, mostly to irritate my mom. He decided to get all of his grandkids (Burke included) some matching ones for this summer. Oh joy. On a more important note, how cute do they all look in their matching jammies?

I can't stop laughing at this pic of C-dog.

Christmas joy

Putting out, er, peanut butter crackers for Santa. While I did manage to remember to get a cute plate with all of our children's names on it, I may or may not have forgotten cookies. I planned on grabbing some from my parents' house that night, but forgot. I wonder if the girls will remember this next year and tell their friends that Santa eats crackers and milk when he comes to your house?

My three little elves. :)

Sorry Santa.

A few gifts from the big man.

Yay for a Dora four wheeler!

Campbell can't contain her excitement.

Burke with one of his gifts from Santa and his stocking which was as big as he is. Makes my heart sad to think next Christmas he will be 18 months old. :(

The girls in their chairs from Nana and Papa. We for sure don't have room in our living room for these, but the girls love them!

Watching it snow on Christmas morning. I'll never forget this moment of my PJ clad little two year olds on Christmas morning. 

Sophie loves Christmas!

Campbell was less than enthusiastic about taking pictures...

We didn't make it to the mall this year to meet Santa, so it was a good thing Bubba he decided to make an appearance at my parents' house the day after Christmas! Campbell was a little unsure what to think. Sophie was unsure at first, but then wanted him to give her Minnie Mouse a kiss. Both girls hugged and kissed him afterwards. Perhaps because their was something familiar about this Santa? ;) 

Aunt Sammi and the kiddos

And a snapped a quick pic of Burkey with cousin Jill

So many fun memories from this year. I'm sure I'm not the first parent to realize how much more fun Christmas is with young children. :)

Hope you all had a great Christmas, as well! 

xoxo