Austin is Mobile!

Over Christmas Austin became mobile. Here are a couple of videos that I hope you enjoy.

Austin scooting...
(Sidenotes: There is a stuffed pig oinking in the background; I have no idea what Andrew is doing at the end of the video)



Austin crawling...

Our visit to Santa + Andrew was on the news!

It took 2 trips to the outdoor mall on Friday.  The first time we were told, "Santa is at the North Pole checking on his elves and he will return at 4:00."  That was at about 1:30.  We were promised a free picture for the inconvenience.  So after both boys napped, we went back at 4:00 in hopes that Santa actually returned.  And he did, about 15 minutes into our wait (apparently Santa was a new Santa, who was a school teacher, and got lost in Carmel).  By that time we committed.  We weren't budging from that line!  The people in front of us were nice, Austin was content in the stroller, Andrew was behaving and stayed right by me.  We were cold, but committed.  About halfway into our wait the local news station showed up.  A man asked people questions about Christmas shopping, etc. and eventually shoved a microphone in front of Andrew.  Andrew wasn't shy at all!  We were also there so long that Loren was able meet us after work, just before it was our turn.  This is the first year we took Andrew to see Santa, so it was kind of a big deal, and we wound up on the news!

Click on the link below.  There should be a video in the upper right hand corner.  We are about 50 seconds into the video.  It's brief, but cute!  I had trouble opening the video with Internet Explorer and was able to see it using Google Chrome (FYI). 

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=11703204

This is a picture of a very eager Andrew on our first trip, just before being told that Santa wasn't there.

The free picture we received was better than the one I took below, but you get the idea.  Andrew very willingly sat on Santa's lap and had a nice chat with him.  Austin was a deer in headlights, but he didn't cry at all.  It was worth the one hour wait in line!

Mr. Mom

This couldn't go without mentioning, even though it's a little late.  Last Saturday, we all spent a good portion of the morning and early afternoon running errands.  One of which was getting the oil changed in the Pilot.  We took both cars, dropped off the Pilot, and piled into the Avalon.  I think that was the first time we all 4 rode in the Avalon.  No wonder if felt a little strange!  We ate lunch and continuted running our errands.  When we picked up the Pilot Loren told me I could do the rest of my shopping while he took the boys home.  "Take your time; enjoy yourself."  Woo-hoo!!!  I did enjoy myself and I took my time, but not necessarily on purpose.  I tend to have a hard time making decisions when I'm shopping for other people.  When I finally returned home, both boys were napping, Loren had picked up the house, changed light bulbs, vacuumed the basement, made some garland for our front porch (using scraps from the Christmas trees at Lowes), and there are probably some things I'm forgetting.  It was wonderful! 

Potty Trained!

One week after we began, things really started to click.  It hasn't been completely issue free, and there were a couple of days where I thought Oh, dear...what is going on?, but potty training has gone SO much better than I ever imagined it would.  I never wanted to push it with Andrew, but I was really starting to wonder if he would ever, ever have an interest in it.  It's so bizarre how one day Andrew decided it was THE day.  And here we are!  Andrew has stayed dry at preschool the past 2 days (Tuesday and last Thursday), he has stayed dry while running errands ever since this process began, he went to the potty at McCalister's Deli last Saturday, we spent all day at a friend's house on Monday and Andrew stayed dry and used their potty all day (it certainly helped that every time Andrew used the potty, 4 1/2 year old Mason gave Andrew a handful of skittles!)  I have been using pull-ups most of the time.  Most days they weren't really necessary, but it made me feel better and it was easy to ask Andrew if his flags or cars were still there.  I love that the pictures fade when the pull-up is wet.  Pretty genius!  Andrew wore underwear all day today and stayed dry.  We said goodbye to the little potty yesterday and now Andrew reprimands me every time I take his Cars potty seat off when I use the bathroom and forget to put it back on.  "I told you to stop doing that!"

After 3 years and 1 month of changing his diaper, I am very proud and thankful that this day has come.  I will still be a little nervous for awhile, and I'm kind of holding my breath right now, but I'm feeling pretty good about his success.

Congratulations, Andrew!!!

Wish us luck with all of the traveling we will be doing over the holidays!

"I want to be the baseball player!"

So, Andrew went to bed tonight with his friend Mason's hand-me-down baseball pjs.  Andrew doesn't know much, if anything, about baseball.  He is way more into football and soccer and even basketball.  Baseball, not so much.  Blame his parents.  However, tonight he went to bed wearing baseball pjs, and he also took up a big squishy baseball to cuddle with.  Fine by me.  He went up to bed shortly after 7:00.  At about 8:45, I heard at the top of the stairs, "Hey, Heather!  I want to be the baseball player!" 

Our First Snow

I have lived in Indiana my entire life, and I probably never would have counted this as my first snow.  However, after seeing Andrew's reaction when he sat down to breakfast, looked out the window, and literally stood up in his chair and shouted, "It's snowing!  It's snowing!" (okay, it wasn't actually snowing at the time - there's snow on the ground...it's snowing - it's all the same to a 3-year old) this snow totally counted as the FIRST snow.  Andrew wanted to go out and play in the snow right then and there.  Luckily, Loren took a half day and was home.  Shortly after breakfast (after digging up Andrew's boots from last year and squeezing his feet into them), he and Loren had a little fun outside in the snow, while I took pictures and Austin watched from his prime window seat inside.

Hello, Potty

We have officially entered the fun-filled world of potty-training.  No sarcasm intended.  Stickers and hugs and happy-dances and woo-hoo!s...what can be more fun than that?  My 'plan' was to wait until after Christmas when all of our traveling was done, Loren will be home for a week and Andrew will be out of preschool for another 2 weeks or so.  However, Andrew had his own plan.  He decided on Friday that he was ready.  I was very hesitant, mostly because this wasn't on my agenda for Friday (and because I thought Andrew was just messing with me), but here we are...1 full roll of toilet paper sacrificed in the toilet and 32 stickers on the fridge later.  Andrew is doing a great job.  We still aren't completely there yet, and I have no idea how long it will take, but I am so very proud of the progress Andrew has made with the potty.  Woo-hoo!!  So, in the meantime, if you're wondering what I'm doing, I will be clening up pee in the bathroom.

November pics

I have felt a little A-D-D since December hit.  I just finished uploading pictures to the Picasa web album from November, and I also put some on there from December. 

Oh, Christmas Card

What does a mom have to do to get a good Christmas card photo?

Kentucky

The day after Thanksgiving we drove to Kentucky to spend time with Gpaw, Grandma Cynthia and Uncle Evan (who drove from Virginia).  It was a funfilled, packed weekend.  We met up at the Children's Museum in Lexington on Friday.  It was a lot smaller than ours here, but it was really cool.  My favorite part was the giant bubble maker. 

On Saturday we shopped, played at a park that had the biggest, coolest jungle gym I have ever seen, went out to dinner to celebrate Evan's birthday, and then went to Southern Lights at Kentucky Horse Park.  Andrew stayed up way past his bedtime (and loved every minute of it) while Austin slept in the stroller.  I think the highlight at Southern Lights was seeing Andrew's excitement when he took a ride in a train.  He had to wait in line a long time - it was cold, but it was worth every minute.  Andrew was so giddy during the train ride, he ws shaking! 

We five adults also had a lot of fun playing Last Word at night when the boys were sleeping. 

And speaking of sleeping, both Andrew and Austin slept so well!  Andrew slept on an air mattress and Austin slept in the pack 'n play for the first time in about 5 months.  They didn't mind at all.  I was incredibly impressed with both of them. 

(a little glimpse into our time spent in KY)

It was a great time!

If you're wondering what Loren is doing in the bottom right picture, he's sitting on a space toilet and apparenly enjoying it. :)

Thanksgiving 2009

This was the 3rd year in a row we held Thanksgiving at our house with my family.  Everyone was here except for my brother's wife who had a lot of her own family visiting.  It was fast and crazy, but fun.  It was definitely great for the cousins to get together again.

...until next year!