{thankful}

happy thanksgiving everyone! today i am thankful for an endless amount of things...God is so good and we are blessed beyond belief!

a few things i am especially thankful for today:

 

 

• God's love and my faith i have in Him
• my husband, he is my best friend-but drives me crazy at the same time (pregnancy hormones probably don't help!), but keeps me grounded and i love him with all my heart!
• my sweet ian christopher-he keeps me on my toes with how much he is able to learn, his tantrums, his sweetness, his compassionate heart, his love cecilia (& anna), his fiestyness (it's a word), those big blue eyes, and so much more!
• my adorable cecilia jo. she has a spark that i've never seen and a personality that cannot be matched. i love her sense of humor, her love & adoration for her big brother, her anticipation to meet baby anna, her social abilities, her cautiousness, her knowledge, and how much she loves her mommy :)
• baby anna. i am thankful that God gave her to our family and can't wait to meet her, although i will miss her constant kicks and flips!
• my family back home in texas. we are so blessed to have them able and willing to come visit as often as they do. all of my siblings have been able to make a trip here, and that means the world to us! we miss everyone like crazy and would be nowhere without their love and support.
• justin's family. they raised and helped create the amazing person he is today. they are there for us when we need them (like to remind me how to cook the turkey! ;) ) they are a strong support system and we will be forever grateful for everything each of them and brought to our family!
• my friends. here and from back home. i am blessed to have so many friends that i call 'close' although we go way too long without talking sometimes...we have the ability to pick right back up where we left off, and with no hard feelings. for that, i am thankful.
• justin's job-he loves it and i am able to stay at home and have the job of my dreams as well.
• babies and health! i have so many special people in my life who are blessed to be pregnant right now. and so many of my own loved ones and loved ones of others who have had a difficult year with their health and are stable, improving, or healed. thank God for that!
• grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and other 'family' who are always rooting us on no matter what.

and so much more (i only have a small amount of time to do this before the kids realize i'm doing it!!!)

 

oh and happy anniversary to my incredible parents-i love you both so much!!!!!!!!

{all about the baby baking}

well we are getting closer and closer to the day when our 3rd little angel enters our lives. i cannot wait! i was so eager to meet ian and cecilia when they were still in the womb, but this one is a little different. here's why (and don't think that this means i love my little people any more or less than i do this unborn baby girl!)....

 

when we were pregnant with ian-i couldn't wait to hold him-and to see him, but i was also a little terrified (as most first time parents are). we were living with my in-laws at the time, i was still working, and we had a lot of unknowns happening for us... how we were going to be as parents was one of those unknowns! we had a lot of love and help around us, which definitely was needed and appreciated! 

 

when we were pregnant with cecilia-justin was in new mexico most of the pregnancy in training for border patrol. ian and i were living with my parents. i was so eager to meet this little girl. i couldn't wait to name her after my incredibly beautiful and amazing grandmother mawmaw! we were getting some unforgettable one on one time with family that i was able to cherish b/c i knew we would be leaving and moving after cecilia came. we were ready to live together again and be a 'normal' family. but there were still unknowns....i had had a c-section with ian and was trying to go for a vbac with ceci. so that was an unknown (if it would work out...it did, yay!). would justin be able to make it for the delivery? (he did!) although we had figured out a groove in parenting...there were 6 months of ian's life that justin was away- to improve our lives-but it was still away. and we would have to now find a groove for parenting a toddler (when he left-ian was still so little!) and a newborn. i knew we would figure it out, but not without some fears. fears...including moving away from home (texas). our families. our friends. not knowing anyone there. having a family to take care of all by myself (ish). (and of course i didn't have to do it all by myself, but while i was still pregnant-i just pictured justin at work all the time-and i was being dramatic and terrified!) don't get me wrong-justin is a very hands on dad, and i am VERY grateful for that, but i also knew that it was going to be a challenge with his shift changes and long hours. SO all of these things combined, made me a little nervous (to say the least) while i was pregnant with ceci. but that's the cool thing about having faith-God helps you through all of it (and of course i knew that would happen, but it didn't mean i didn't worry still!).

 

so here we are-baby #3 on the way. we have a nice house that we live in. there is space. we aren't planning on moving for at least another year (just to another house-we are renting and didn't think it would be the best idea to try to move right before this baby gets here!), so we are very settled. the only thing missing now is this new little girl. ian and cecilia will transition and i'm sure there will be difficult days with them, but to know how much they already LOVE their baby sister makes me all that more eager to meet her. so i can see them with her!

 

ian loves to talk to her. he tells her stories, sings her songs, he'll shine the flashlight at her (i told him awhile back that she can see the light inside me), kisses her, and his favorite: just laying on my stomach. he loves to feel her move. when he's sitting in my lap-he always just rests his hand on my stomach to feel her. he will lean up against her and lay on her. she almost always kicks him (even early on-now she's running out of room and every movement he feels!) and he'll stop-turn to my stomach-and say "annnnnna....stop kicking me!" and then he'll tell me "anna really loves me, and i really love her, too". he says things like "mommy, when anna comes out of your tummy, i think she will be soooooo cute". my heart about explodes anytime he says something about her. he's a pretty amazing little boy and has a good grasp on love, kindness, and how to be the best big brother around. (fingers crossed and prayers said that this keeps up when she comes!!!) ;)

cecilia doesn't seem to pay much attention to anna's movements when she's sitting by me. she likes to sing her "frosty the snowman", she kisses her all the time, and loves to do the flashlight also. she loves to point at my tummy and say "dat yanna caire"...she loves little babies and this one is no exception. she'll try to grab at my stomach and pull anna out "mommy i hode yanna. i hode her." :) she'll take a blanket and say "i hide wif yanna" and cover both of them up. last night she put both hands on my belly button and told me "i hold yanna's hand. i keep her safe from shark"....i call that a pretty good big sister instinct for a first timer! i can't wait to see this sweet girl of mine love on her new baby sister!

we are very fortunate to have a baby in our lives right now. my friend annika has a little boy who is 3 months old and my kids ADORE him! they talk about him non-stop and how cute he is (ceci says "tevyn so coote" and ian says "mommy, baby trey is sooooo cute!") :) why does this make us lucky you may ask? b/c now my kids are around a baby often-they see that annika is never without him (just like anna will always be with me/us), and that you have to be very gentle and quiet with a new baby. i've also been able to see some of the transitions that her older 2 kids have gone through and that will (hopefully) better prepare me for anything that may happen after anna gets here. i'm so grateful that God brought them into our lives for many reasons....this is just on the top of the list at this time!

 

i cannot wait to meet this little girl! 7 weeks (and a couple days) to go (until my actual due date) who knows exactly how long it will be until she gets here but i have a feeling it will fly by! justin's parents and sister are supposed to come in on monday for a few days-which will be great! then thanksgiving this week! cecilia's birthday is in 2 weeks-my parents and sister are coming for that! then christmas and new years.  then the due date! after decorating, undecorating, washing baby clothes, tending to the other little people's needs-i think we will be set! time will indeed fly by!

 

say a little prayer that my little gymnast cooperates-last week she was breech, but i'm pretty confident she has flipped yet again (she can't make up her mind-every appt has been different lately!). obviously if little miss doesn't go head down-our hopes of another vbac are pretty much out the door! other than that, she is growing perfectly and we are just ready for the homestretch so we can meet our sweet anna claire!!!

 

here is a bonus picture of the 2 little loves we have :) i love them!!!!

{the cecilia update}

i guess i'm not doing too much better at blogging although i sometimes vow to do so. the two little people and the one growing inside of me is just taking it out of me i guess! when they nap, i {try to} nap. after they go to bed, i want to not think. so there's that-it's not that i don't want to share all of their adorableness (it's a word), it's just that i'm lazy. there, i said it! ;)

to follow up with my oh so fabulous {ian edition}, he had an amazing birthday-he was so super excited!!! when it was party time he absolutely LOVED his bounce house, his presents, and cake. he loved his guests being there, but he did NOT love turning 3. in fact, he told me yesterday that he is not three because it is not his birthday anymore. some days he admits it, some days, not so much. we'll get there!!!

and now it's time to gab and brag about my little girl. every mom {and parent} thinks that their kid is the sweetest, cutest, smartest, funniest (etc) little person in the world. i, am no exception to that rule! (for both of my babies, obviously!)

cecilia is the whole package: sweet, sensitive, rough, tough, sassy, sincere, hilarious. she baffles us with how well she keeps up with the rest of us. ian and her are best buds-they can play together so well for a really long time. (trust me, there are issues to go along with this as well, but overall-it's the truth!) i love hearing their little conversations. ian will ask me if we can do something and ceci will chime in "sure. sure you can, ian"....she thinks that he hung the moon. she loves the frills and girliness of purses and bracelets and necklaces (which we still refer to as 'pretties'). but most of the time you will find her playing with ian's rocket ships, animals, trains, and other games. she is absolutely 100% inside his little world....

now i'm not saying that she doesn't have a mind or opinion of her own b/c that would be a ridiculous lie. but she basically loves what he loves. ian loves sharks, ceci sneaks in and learns about sharks, too-surprising us with her knowledge of the different kinds of sharks. ian likes whales...ceci does the same and knows the different kinds of whales. it's pretty adorable if you ask me.

being a walrus :)

 the little girl is a talker, she will talk all day long. i sat down on the couch the other night after bath and had the fingernail clippers (it was ian's night!) and cecilia looked at me and said "no mommy, no cut cia's finger nails tonight".... she thinks about what she says before she says it and adds in a couple 'ummmmms' before she picks the words she wants to use. she knows words to most songs we listen to. she loves to sing...in my car i have an 'action bible' songs cd we play. she told me while in the car one day "cia favite song the whale song. ian's favite song ca-cheus (zaccheus)". {the whale song is about jonah and the whale-and she will let you know all about how the whale ate jonah!} she wants us to clap along, she'll tell you "cap, mommy! cap, ian! cap, daddy!" until everyone is clapping along. same goes for dancing. she knows what she wants and what she doesn't want and she will let you know either way!

 all that being said-i personally don't like to use the term diva for my children. however, my daughter can be quite the diva. she requests these things-usually it's in good fun, so we oblige. other times, when she doesn't get what it is that she wants (for example: snacks. that kid can eat snacks all day long, but when it comes time to eat dinner-and it's something that isn't what she loves-she throws an absolute fit. so now we have to limit her snacks, so she'll actually eat dinner.....more on that subject later). we pick and choose our battles. we want her to be cute and quirky, but not a spoiled little girl-who her unborn sister will most likely look up to the most. nope, not going to let that happen!

going with doing things that she likes-a lot of days (now, have i mentioned that i'm lazy most of the time now? b/c i am....) i'll let the kids pick out what they wear for the day. ceci hasn't really gotten the clothing concept down yet, but ian is more than happy to help in that department. ceci has almost always had an opinion about what shoes to wear. i guess it's a girl thing. i'd like to take credit, but i'm just not that mom who has a shoe obsession-i'm happy wearing flip flops everyday! on days that it matters, she'll happily wear what i tell her to-the other days consist of her picking them out herself and i love it! i guess due to the fact that i love to not only match my children's clothes down to the sock-but i like to coordinate their outfits together most of the time, is why i think they are most adorable when they don't match at all and their true personalities shine through :)

 ceci loves people. she loves attention from people at the store, the park, or wherever we are....unless it's someone we know and want her to talk to. then she becomes little miss shy. otherwise, she'll walk up to them and tell them "hi, i name is cia" and then will answer questions that people ask her. she has a few 'favorites' that she has never had a shy bone with, but those are pretty rare! but people we see pretty frequently, she shuts down and forgets how the smile or talk. little stinker....

 one of my favorite things lately between the two little people is that ceci will say "waf (laugh), ian. waf, mommy. waf, daddy" then do a sort of rasperry sound (like you blow on a baby's belly) and then waits for everyone to laugh. we all oblige. she'll say it, then do it again. we do the same. then ian will chime in "okay ceci, that's enough. no more laughing." she accepts this and moves on.... :)

other favorite things on her list right now: hiding, molly (our cat), little einsteins (she'll sing the entire intro song), singing, dancing, talking, running "duper fast" {"wook, mommy! cia DUPER fast!"}, her friends (people and toys), having 3-yes, 3-blankets on at night/nap, puzzles, sitting in a 'big girl' chair to eat (we took the booster off to clean and just never put it back on-she does surprisingly well!), snacks, stickers, drawing, painting, and of course there's more, but that's all the i got for now ;)

dinner time is usually a battle. justin and i decided that we were going to take the 'you eat what we make for dinner' route, instead of always giving them the option to eat what they like the most. (not saying our way is the best way to do it, it's just what {we hope will} work for us!). we have leftover nights and some nights when we know that they won't eat what we are having, and we always have a similar back up (ie: salmon/rice night. neither like salmon, neither like rice....so it's pretty mean for us to basically just not feed our kids dinner since it's what we are having). we've gotten to the point with cecilia that almost every bite is a battle. she would fight it and fight it. we tried many different tactics, but ultimately remembered that she is 1 and she'll eventually get to that point (hopefully) where she'll figure out that if she doesn't eat what we are having, then she doesn't get anything else! the tension at dinner wore off and she would take bites-but to only keep it in her mouth for a gross amount of time. we have our good days and bad days with this, wish us luck with our picky eater for the future! ;) (breakfast and lunch are usually non-issues b/c they both like our not always so exciting menus and i'll make what i know they will eat...which is why dinner is always the big battle...) 

  this little character is just growing up too fast. she brightens our world and i can't believe she will be 2 soon! if you ask her how old she is, she will already tell you that she's 2. since ian just had his birthday, she knows that it's a big deal and she can't wait! (i can!!!). her randomness {i can look at her a blow a kiss and she'll respond with a solid stare, then a sudden fish face for a couple minutes before even breaking a smile} makes my days that much more enjoyable.

 there's so much more i'd like to gush about, but i think i've reached my focus limit for the evening! if i could record and memorize every cute face, motion, statement, song, dance-i'd do it! but for now, i'll rely on my cruddy crappy memory, pictures, and this blog to remind me how much they are growing and changing!

{the ian edition}

i've been quite lazy when it comes to blogging lately-i apologize to the friends/family who check this! although i'm in my 2nd trimester (almost 3rd now!)-i still have plenty of lazy days when the kids and i stay in our pj's and just stay in all day (we are practicing for when the baby gets here!)

 my boy is getting bigger. sad face. of course i'm happy that he's healthy and growing and all of those things that parents want for their kids...BUT i just want him to stop! he's my first baby and he's going to be THREE on SUNDAY! i am in disbelief.... i haven't been as sad so far about him turning 3, as i was when he turned 1, 2 and when ceci turned 1. maybe it's b/c i have another little one on the way-or maybe it's b/c he is SO super excited about his birthday! i made a countdown with a rocket ship and clothespins for his bday...every morning we go and take a clothespin off and he is so genuinely excited about it! he picked his party theme (rocket ships!!!!...not to be mistaken for space shuttles or space ships-he will correct you in a heartbeat) ;) we are actually going to be able to have his party on his birthday day-we decided to have it at the same park as we did his party last year, but are adding a bounce house-so he's pretty pumped about that!

 this boy is hilarious-he is very practical about so many things, but has an absolute silly side to him. somewhere along the way (in the past 2 months or so)-he decided it would be hilarious to start his own language. he makes up his own words and thinks he's the funniest thing! :) justin and i have realized that sometimes ian must think that he is 'above' silly. (example: driving home the other night, we drove through some construction and there were red lights flashing. justin tells ian "hey ian, look at those purple lights" ian-"no daddy, those are red" justin-"oh, you're right, those are yellow lights" ian-"daddy, no. the lights are red" and this continued on for a few more times, until ian was practically begging justin to admit that the light were red. the minute justin said 'okay the lights are red' ian thanked him for finally saying it). he pulls these things some days-when he just won't settle for our 'wrong' answers and needs us to admit the right one...then the next day, he'll do anything to avoid answering a question correctly-all with a smug grin on his face-knowing that he's saying the wrong thing. he keeps us on our toes, that's for sure!

so ian loves rocket ships. a lot. he also has an extreme love for snakes. (bleh). for several months, he wanted his story at night to be about snakes (only nice snakes, mind you-he doesn't like mean ones). he prefers the squeezey snakes to the snakes that bite. he wanted books about snakes from the library. he wanted to watch shows on tv about snakes. he wanted to look at pictures of snakes online. he was obsessed!!! i'd have to say that he still likes snakes a lot, but now he has switched over to sharks and whales. specifically the whale shark-it's his favorite. he can tell you all about how they suck up the little fish, they don't want to eat big animals/people, they are as big as a school bus, etc. our stash from the library for the past several trips have been about sharks and whales. he can identify most whales (beluga, killer/orca, blue, humpback...) and a good amount of sharks-pretty impressive if you ask me! he makes me want to learn about these animals!

 he has also become quite the bug catcher! he loves to go catch grasshoppers-he is very gentle with them (after learning a time or 2 that their legs can be smooshed easily if you grab them...poor grasshoppers....) and loves it when they just sit on his hand. one day-ian, justin, and cecilia were looking for grasshoppers in the park and they found a beetle of some sort and ian had a beetle on his hand for a really long time! (i was out running errands, so i wasn't able to get a picture of this!) he was also able to catch a little butterfly-without his net-the other day, and it just stayed on his hand for a few minutes!!! {i'd love to admit that my little guy is so perfect and handles these bugs with such grace, but he is a kid. not a saint. we did have a caterpillar smashing experience at the park one day-with several kids standing right by him-and all the parents near by. i was pretty devastated! ian ended up in big trouble and is now very sad any time we ask him what happened to that caterpillar...his response "he will never get to be a butterfly b/c i smooshed him". i think he learned his lesson-hence why is now so crazy gentle with God's little creatures!}

 he has gone through a growth spurt here lately. he still has a thin little waist, so a lot of his shorts are still a smaller size-even wearing some 24 month-3T shorts. sadly though, i pulled out his stash of pants/jeans the other day and all of his 3T pants are pretty short on him. i can't bring myself to buying 4T pants-they just seems so HUGE! i know he needs the extra length now, but it's just so sad! his long sleeved 3T shirts are even short. sigh. the saddest part of it all is that it's starting to get harder to hold him for long periods of time-b/c of his growth and b/c of mine/the baby's growth. i'm not ready to give up him being my baby boy!

we were very fortunate when it came to ian's transition to his big boy bed (which he's had for awhile now). as soon as his big boy bed came, we stopped putting him in a diaper at night (if you recall, we had to forbid pullups in our house b/c he thought they were cool and wanted to wear them and would have accidents in them) and at nap. it's been nearly 2 months now and he has not had an accident yet-we are pretty happy about that!!! since we kept him in a crib as long as we did-he would wake up and had to stay in his bed until we came and got him....well, justin and i thought we would try the same thing with his big boy bed. he has the toddler rail up to keep him from falling down and when he first got his bed, we told him that if he had a bad dream, needed to go potty, or needed us-to just call for us (i still keep the baby monitor by my bed) and to not get up. {our main hope for this: that he wouldn't just get out of bed and 'say' he needed one thing or another and find a reason to be out of his bed} and so far-this has worked for us! he is very good about it-some days he won't nap and he'll just stay in his bed talking, singing, telling stories until he A.) has to go to the bathroom so he calls for me or B.) i finally go get him {don't judge me, i LOVE nap time and being able to either gets things done, or to not get a single thing done and just sit!}

so there's the wrap-up for our fun, funny, smart, sensitive, handsome*, helpful, incredible, {and the list goes on} almost 3 year old! he keeps us on our toes-being a typical toddler/preschooler and testing all of his limits, then being incredibly sweet and kind to us, his baby sister, and telling stories to his unborn baby sister :) i am going to enjoy this last week of having my boy be 2 years old, that's for sure!


*ian would ask you to not call him cute-he is only handsome ;). also, rainbows are not pretty, they are handsome. one day we were swinging outside and i told him it was a beautiful day-he corrected me and said that it was a handsome day. (one of many scenarios where he finds 'handsome' to be more appropriate!)

{a baby girl it is!}

as many of you may already know, we found out on monday that we are going to have another baby girl!!!! we are so excited to have a new best friend for cecilia! ian is a little in denial about it-he has said for a long time now that it's a baby boy in mommy's tummy. while we were at the ultrasound-the sonographer told us that it was a girl, and i looked over at ian and told him he was going to have another baby sister and his response: "is it a baby dinosaur?"


he is getting better at accepting that it's a girl-he'll actually acknowledge that it's "baby anna" in mommy's tummy now, but when we say our prayers at night-after we say "and God bless baby anna", then he chimes in "and God bless baby luke" (which is obviously our choice of boy name if it had been a boy)....it's pretty amusing seeing how he can turn the tables and very quickly add in "luke" to any statement about the new baby. we know he's still thrilled and so are we! she is going to be one loved little baby, that's for sure!!!!

on another note: our little social butterfly-who continues to baffle us with her speech, comprehension, personality, and singing/dancing skills ;) has entertained us more and more. specifically, anytime we go somewhere and someone shows her the slightest attention (or even before they have a chance) she will point to herself and say "hi! i cya" (she never calls herself ceci or cecilia...it's c-ya)....then when the person (either needs translation or knows what she said) acknowledges her, she'll move on and point to ian "iaa", then point to justin (if we have him with us!) "daddy", then to me "mommy". she basically wants to know no stranger. haha-it's too funny. she'll have a 'conversation' with the people then give them a big ole wave goodbye "byebye!" as we leave. she did that to 3 people at target today alone. and while we were in the drive through. pretty funny if you ask me :)

justin and i tend to call both the kids 'angels' all the time. ceci: "daddy?" justin: "yes, angel?" (you get the point). now most of the time-ian says "i'm not an angel, i'm a boy". however, he lets us get away with it sometimes. (sometimes it's this:    me: "night angel, have sweet dreams"  ian: forced/fake laugh then "mommy, i'm not an angel!"     -or- it's this:    me/justin: " come here angel"  ian: stomps foot and yells "i not an angel!!!!") okay, you get the picture..... now we've explained to him lots of times and in different ways what angels are. but the other day we were headed to tucson and out of the blue, ian asks "mommy, are you an angel?" holy canoly. my heart about jumped out of me! so sweet-then he gets embarassed when justin and i reacted, then continued to ask if he, ceci, daddy and mommy were angels. such a sweet moment!

cecilia unfortunately had a UTI a couple weeks ago and when she woke up (on a sunday of course) she was crying hysterically and holding her crotch every time she tried to pee. i knew that that was no bueno, so had to take her to the ER. justin carpools to work and didn't drive that day, so he wasn't able to come help out....so off i go to the ER with both my little people (yes, i know i'm not the first person to ever have to do this....but it was a first for me!)-we were there a few hours and both kids did great-ian helped the nurses bring juice, crackers, and popsicles for the 2 of them. they had about as good of a time at the emergency room as a 1 and 2 year old can have! i was so proud of them and am grateful that the little girl is all the way better now!


ian has been potty trained for over a month now. he's only had less than a handful of accidents and although we still put a diaper on him at night/nap-he has never once peed while he slept. tonight we are trying the big boy underwear! also-he has been sleeping in his crib until tonight as well....we were waiting to find out what the new baby was before we bought new furniture for the boy! but yes, you read that correctly....ian has a big boy bed now! awoohoo!!!! it was delivered/set up today (conveniently right during nap time, so neither kid got a nap). AAAAAAND his new big boy bed just so happens to be bunk beds!!!!! justin and i are doing everything in us to not go in there with him right now! he was so excited to go to sleep-we went and picked out new sheets for his bed (he chose some spaceship sheets) and he took all of his "friends" in there with him. when we said it was time for bed-he seriously sprinted into his room and laid in his bed. it was pretty adorable! he is super pumped and that helps a lot (i seriously boo-hooed yesterday when it was his last nap/night in his crib) knowing that he loves it so much! ....(oh and that he didn't nap today so he's crazy exhausted and ready to sleep!)

so that's the latest here for now-stay tuned though-who knows what will change next!!!!

oh and blogger is giving me grief about uploading pictures, so those will have to come another time :)

{kids say the darndest things}

so my loving and sweet 2 year old continues to keep my world a little brighter. i've said before that i wish i could capture every moment, every expression, every everything of these little people's lives....but alas, i cannot.

i am cursed with a horrible memory (thank you, colquest genes!) which is why i (try to) write things down, take a gazillion pictures, and take many videos. of course i'm like most parents and am crazy about my children, but i never want to forget these times (even thought i know it is inevitable unfortunately!)....

anyways, here a few 'funnies' that my boy has shared with us recently:

-ian finds a receipt on the floor by my bag and stuffs it in his pocket. then, a little while later, pulls it out and says "hmmm, according to the list we need to go to the tore (store) and buy tuff (stuff) for my birthday"
    haha, according to the list? really?

-as some of you know, we are renting a house. the previous renters thought they would make the backyard (which like most arizona yards are covered completely in rocks) a little more appealing and have a patch of grass. they built a {very unsturdy} arbor over this patch of grass (i'm horrible at determining size and distance of things, so i can't tell you how big it is-and it's dark, so i'm not going to go outside and figure it out!). as you can guess, no-we do not have a lawnmower, nor do we have a weed eater. so, now that it is monsoon season, the grass/weeds are growing like crazy. today i had the urge to just go pull the weeds around the yard and some of the grass on the patch of grass. ceci wanted to wear my second glove, so i let her use it for awhile, then it was ian's turn. he worked really hard, pulling up grass with me ;)    here is our converstaion while we were pulling grass/weeds: "mommy, you are pulling BIG grass, and i am pulling little grass." "mommy, you are working a little hard and i am working super duper hard" "mommy, please don't pull the grass right there, that's where i am working"

-as we sit down for dinner (basically every single night when we sit down for dinner, ian realizes he has to go to the bathroom), so tonight he just says "actually guys, i have to go to the potty"....

-"but most of all i like to play in ceci's room (pause), but most of all i like to play in my room"


and those are just some current ones....more to come at another time!!!! (assuming i remember them...)

{meet baby trevyn}

as i have mentioned before-ian is pretty crazy about/obsessed with all things 'baby'. every morning he asks if my baby is still in my tummy ;) and still talks to it every day.

he also knows that his best buddies' mommy was going to have a baby. and it was a boy (so he is now convinced that he will have a baby boy also!) my kids just so happen to love ms. annika and their little family....well today, today ms. annika had her baby!

talk about exciting news for the thomas family! but my family was pretty excited as well!!!!

meet trevyn james thomas!
 9lbs. 1 oz. & 21 inches

we got to go meet this sweet boy after his brother and sister left, so my little people actually ate up all the attention they were able to give him. we all walked into the room and i held treyvin for about 30 seconds before ian asked if he could hold him. we sat him on the couch with the boppy pillow and justin sat next to him, and as soon as i put treyvin down (with annika's permission of course!) ian's eyes lit up immediately and just kept talking to him so softly and saying sweet things to him. after awhile, ceci was really ready for it to be her turn to "hold baby". ian was not ready to give up holding this sweet boy, but we convinced him and ceci got a turn. she just repeatedly said "hi baby hi baby" over and over (and over)-it was too cute. she was very fascinated with him! even after justin and i had our turns holding him again-they were both ready to hold him again. so they both got a chance to hold treyvin again with annika's help. (and i love these pictures, but feel kind of funny having such sweet pictures of MY kids with my friend and her new baby when her two other kids were at home already for the day!) they are too sweet not to share!

what on earth could possibly make this any sweeter?! (coming from the parental perspective)....knowing that in roughly 22 weeks we will be experiencing this with our own baby. pretty awesome feeling knowing that is what is to come!!!

anyways, congrats again to the thomas family! thanks for letting us come crash your nap time and love on that sweet boy!

{my not favorite thing}

the dentist.

i found a great place and due to my lack of going regularly, i had to/will have to get some fun things done with my teeth. one thing includes my first root canal. had that done today. i'm not going to put it on my list of favorite things to do-that's for sure!

oh well-that's what i get for slacking on my dental care! shame. shame. and lesson learned!

on another note:

never a dull moment at our house!

one of my new favorite things: ian's love for babies. our new baby especially. he talks to the baby all the time-gives it kisses (well, obviously-my tummy). an example of an ian conversation with the baby: "hi baby. do you hear me baby? this is my mommy. that's my daddy. i am ian. and that's ceci. and you are the baby. i love you baby" {insert super sweet kisses on my tummy here}...it is amazingly cute. he'll tell the baby about things that he is/isn't supposed to do, what he did that day, etc...every day he asks if it's time for the baby come out. and he tells stories like "and when the baby gets bigger and comes out of your tummy we will go to the park and plash (splash) in the puddles"....it's possible that his love for babies has gone too far though-he now will find fuzz, crumbs, rocks (don't judge me-i never claimed to be the mom who vacuums every day) on the floor and calls them his 'baby'. he'll come up to me and say "mommy, do you want to look at my new baby? do you want to pet the baby? i'm going to put the baby in my freight car and be very careful to make sure the baby stays safe" it's hilarious and adorable at the same time :)

ceci is as random and hilarious as usual. she surprises us with the things she says-and the amount of animation she says them with! she's quite the character. she loves to sing along to songs in the car (yes we listen to kid music-not always, but some days-we jam!). i wish i record every minute of their lives so i can remember it all.

if only.... ;)

{this happened}

{and another makes 3}

new baby at 9 weeks. 6/4/12

we will have another little angel coming in january 2013 and we couldn't be happier!

{and going strong}

i've been putting off saying it (on the off chance that i would completely and totally jinx it), but i do believe that we officially and finally have a potty trained boy in our house! he does it completely by himself and has had pretty much 1 accident since the 'mastered' it. we were at a 4th of july party and he just couldn't make it in time! (we are going on 9-10 days now). also, in that time, he has yet to wake up from his nap or in the morning wet. he's been dry every time. i'm still putting diapers on him at night {yes, diapers. we had to use all of the pullups and refused to buy more and that's what helped work for him to start using the potty, so yes, at night-he wears diapers (we have them already for ceci-and they are the same size, so it works!)} we are a little nervous about making the change of him wearing his 'big boy underwear' while he sleeps, but if he keeps it up, then we probably won't wait too much longer.

with all of that, i know it's possible to have set backs here and there, but right now we are being optimistic! and more daring as to going out and about-he lets us know when he needs to go "mommy/daddy, the peepee is trying to come out, i have to go potty", and has done a brilliant job thus far about holding it.

so there's that exciting news! (i think only parents/people around children a lot will really appreciate the awesomeness of all of this!)....and yes, he still was telling justin and i to not cheer or 'say yay', cecilia didn't get that memo, and after ian would get done with the potty, he would announce that he did it, and she will clap and say "good gob iaaa" ...pretty darn cute if you ask me!

the little girl is as quirky as ever-she and ian have been getting along brilliantly...makes us so proud! (don't get me wrong, they have plenty of moments when they are NOT getting along at all!) but they are doing so wonderful and really playing together well :) ceci is the sneaky little thing that comes in to swipe whatever toy it was that you are playing with, but happened to put down for one second and before you can pick it up again, it's gone. she thinks that this is a really fun and hilarious game. sometimes ian thinks so, too. sometimes, not so much. they'll chase each other until she finally just hands it to him. sometimes she'll be a little stinker and just take it and sneak off. we'll have to watch this girl. she's got the charm and amazing personality to get her out of many things. we are doing our job (although sometimes difficult!) to make sure that-even though she's kind of adorable-she doesn't just get things. (same goes for the boy!)

that is all for now!

{potty training}

justin went back to work on tuesday and we had a pretty laid back week. we've really been working on potty training with ian, so i haven't been wanting to take too many outings. he has given us a good amount of grief when it comes to this subject. i'm at home with him 24/7. there's no REAL reason why i shouldn't be able to have only one kid in diapers right now, right? well. no. potty training is foreign to me, so it's unknown territory. and my kid is smart. and stubborn. we have to try different angles and figure out what works best for him and we've gone through many phases. some things work for awhile, but then he gets bored with it. one thing that has remained fairly consistent: he does NOT like a big deal out of it when he does go potty. he's told me numerous times, "mommy, don't say 'yay'", (if you know me at all, this is INCREDIBLY hard!!! ha)....ian even got upset with justin the other day when he started to pee and justin smiled-ian looked up at him and said 'no'. so, it's a work in progress-we had a great morning today. (hopefully i'm not going to jinx anything!). he loves wearing his 'big boy undies' and he knows to not have an accident. he just needs to master it all. (so to all the family who is wondering and possibly getting really excited-please, do not make a big deal out of this for him-he is my goober who doesn't want praise for this really exciting thing that he is working on accomplishing!)

yesterday was justin's birthday and we had fun preparing for this! ian loves to help with everything-so of course, he helped with the cupcakes! we went a little paint crazy working on some posters for the birthday, too. it was so much fun! ian is definitely an abstract artist-splattering with his hands, the brush, using different brushes, using his feet-he loved it all! ceci just kept wanting me to open all of the paint so she could dump it out on her poster! she had fun, too! fortunately, i didn't have to worry about cooking him a birthday dinner b/c one of justin's superiors had a big group of agents over for dinner-and they just happen to live down the street from us, so we went there and had a great time!

here are some pictures from last weekend-we went to the cove here in town. it's an indoor wave pool with some small slides, hot tub, and water slides. you may recall last year when justin and i took the kids and justin took ian on the 'big' water slide (one that's in a tunnel and goes round and round). ian was pretty scarred for awhile. he refused to go on slides for awhile after that (hey, who knew that's how he would react? i thought he would like it!). so the rest of the time we spent there was kind of a bust! it was also in the afternoon and there were a couple daycares there and it was just too crowded for our little people's likings. but now, it was a hit! on weekends, for a couple hours in the mornings, they have the cove open for children 5-under only (plus parents obviously!). they turn off the wave pool and our kids had a blast! it was so much fun! little miss independent LOVED being able to walk around by herself in the water, and got pretty upset when it started to get deeper and we made her turn around (i know, we're so mean)...the only bad part about this little adventure was that i'm pretty positive my waterproof camera died that day. sad, sad day for me.

just a little fun in the sun :)

the loves of my life!