Fun for Nate

Nate has had some fun lately.

PLAY DATES.

Nate and Had are buddies. Or should I say more like siblings with their love/hate relationship. They ask for each other all of the time and sometimes play really well and sometimes they fight the entire time. But in the end, they sure do love each other!



We've had Daisy over to play a few times in the last few weeks while Abbie has been at school. Nate loves having his cousins so close. These two play really well together for the most part!

They both LOVE their blankies.


Playing a little blanky basketball.


Does it get any cuter than these curls? She was adamant about only wearing one shoe that day.


Eating some grapes and watching a little Mickey while I fed Ryan.


A few weeks ago, Nate played dress-up with the girls at their house. He spends a lot of time with girls and loves it!


MOWING THE LAWN. You should have seen how excited Nate was to a). be able to walk on our new grass and b). be able to mow it with his dad.



NEIGHBORHOOD PARTY AT THE PARK. We have a crazy neighbor around the corner who wants to put a 45 foot wind-turbine in his backyard to help save energy. It's a total joke and our neighborhood had a party at the park a few Saturday's ago to join forces to fight this guy. They had a bounce house and it was a HUGE hit for Nate. He loved it. I truly thought the afternoon was going to end in the ER with all of the big kids in there but he had a great time.




EASTER EGGS. Better late than never, right? I cleaned my pantry last week and found the Toy Story Easter Egg Kit Aunt Sam gave us in February. Somehow I forgot to color eggs with Nate this year so we did it today and he loved it!

he pooped in the potty!

Thanks for all of the tips and support! Thanks to Wes getting Nate to sit on the potty and distracting him with a fun hand game - he pooped. And boy was Nate proud of himself.

Fingers are crossed he remembers his excitement next time he needs to go #2!

Good job, Naters.

potty training update & a call for help!

We survived an entire week of Nate in underpants.

He's doing really well with peeing in the potty. We're finally to the point where I can usually trust him if I ask him if he has to pee and he says no. We don't have to just sit on the potty for the sake of sitting there anymore. Hallelujah. He tells us most of the time that he has to pee but we still ask regularly. And yes, we still have a few pee accidents but overall - he's doing great. Oh, and he likes to stand up these days which I was a little unsure of but it's actually a lot easier!

Now, the pooping in the potty is an entirely different story. He pooped on the potty on day 1 (last Monday) but hasn't since then. He's scared, I think. He was constipated for a bit because he was holding it in but now he just poops right in his underpants.

My call for help - has anyone had the pooping problem? Any suggestions as to how to help him understand it's not scary?

Funny {or not-so-funny} potty training story:
Nate kept telling us his bum hurt, which means he needs to poop. We tried over and over to get him to sit on the potty for a little while to work it out. We sat on the potty and then Nate told me he wanted to clean the tub (not an unusual request) so I put him in my dry tub with a spray bottle full of water and a rag and he went to town. I walked a load of clean laundry in to his room and as I was walking back I heard a "moommm". He pulled off his underwear and pooped right in the tub. {talk about disgusting.} I come in and he says, "i took off my underwear so I didn't poop in them." I guess that's progress, right?

Ryan: 2 months old

I can't get over how sweet this little boy of mine is. He's such a good little dude - I love having him around!







Here's a bit about Ryan @ 2 months old:

- loves his hands. He puts them in his mouth whenever he can.
- loves his binky.
- overall a very happy baby...
- but when he’s upset, watch out. He has a set of lungs. Luckily he doesn’t cry very often.
- when he does cry, it’s usually because he’s tired.
- he’s got a great little smile that we see often.
- when he’s in a room with the TV on – he figures out a way to watch it.
- he is a chunk.
- you will find me kissing those cheeks all day long.
- he spits up ALOT. Sometimes even projectile vomits. It's pretty gross.
- he farts all day long. He's constantly moving like a worm to get some gas out. And it's stinky!
- his hair color is a big debate. One minute it looks blonde. Then brown. And even sometimes a little red. Time will tell on that one.
- but his eyes are big and blue.
- he loves his nightly bath.
- he goes to bed between 9-10 and is usually only up once {sometimes twice} between then and 7am.
- he already much prefers to take naps in his bed or swing vs. being out and about. But he’s learning to be flexible with a big brother around.
- When a certain 2-year-old is testing my patience . . . cuddling with this little guy for just a few minutes always makes me happy.
- he is such a sweet little boy.

2 month stats:
Weight: 13 pounds, 4 ounces
Height: just about 24 1/2" long

look who is wearing underpants

Adios diapers - Nate's wearing underwear.

{these photos are of him running around upstairs before his bath. He loves his underpants.}




Today was day 1. We had a few accidents this morning which had me worried because he thought peeing and pooping in underwear was COOL. Ask Aunt Sam who stopped by for all of 2 minutes today and got to witness it. He was proud of the pee all over the tile.

But he did great after his nap. He told us repeatedly that he needed to pee and he even pooped in the potty. A major accomplishment for this little guy.

He about lost it when I went to put a pull-up on him tonight for bed. So we compromised with Lightning McQueen underwear over the pull-up.

Very proud of his Mater underwear that he kept dry for the second half of the day!


Wish us luck. This potty training thing is exhausting!

the yard: before and after

It all started when Wes/I were in the yard with my mom, Jose & Jose's crew while our palm trees were being trimmed and shaved.

This palm tree is SOOOO high up in the air - it scared me to death to watch him up there!


We started talking about having the yard be our first big project in this house to give it time to grow. Since my mom loves working in her yard, I asked her if she wanted to be my "landscape architect" for our big project. With a tiny baby and a crazy toddler, it wasn't going to happen without her help. She was thrilled I asked - she loves projects like this. I pretty much let her take charge - she came over a lot with her drawings, etc. We had fun together including many trips to the nursery and hours and hours in the yard. She definitely knows what will grow and what won't in this desert of ours.

This photo was taken during hour 11 in the yard one Saturday. Of course she still has lipstick on!


I don't have any photos of the yard before all of the work began - but here are a few taken during the process.

BEFORE







It went like this . . .

. palm trees were trimmed
. plants, rocks, bushes, vines, etc. were removed.
. raked rocks.
. updated and re-painted entire surrounding wall.
. raked rocks.
. installed a child safe pool fence.
. raked rocks.
. poured landscaping curbing for some planters.
. raked more rocks.
. worked 12 hours one saturday to remove raked rock and plant everything.
. raked remaining rocks.
. put down the sod.
. planted remaining flowers & a few finishing touches

AFTER



Lots of flowers throughout the yard. I am especially excited about the lime tree, lemon tree & pomegranate bush!



view from the master balcony.


I am ready to swim in that pool!


the courtyard by the front door.


back patio table


We couldn't have done it without these two, that's for sure!


I'm excited to watch everything grow!

we've got a new yard . . .

We've been busy.

When we moved into our house we decided to do one big project right away - the yard. We pretty much took everything out except the pool and the trees and started over. The removal included plants/shrubs/flowers/grass and thousands of small, ugly pink rocks. I never knew raking rocks would be such a workout. We raked rocks almost daily for over a month to get rid of all the rock that used to exist in our yard. This all began the day after we brought Ryan home from the hospital and ended on Saturday {although I still have a few finishing touches to do this week}. We hired Jose & his crew, who maintain my parent's yard, to help with the labor and the irrigation. My parents were also a huge help!

I haven't taken pictures of the finished product yet - but I had to write about the kids during this process.

ryan. What a trooper. During one of our 12-hour-workday-Saturdays he was so content in his swing or his chair outside. He moved around the yard with us and didn't make a peep all day. I made sure he was fed with a clean diaper and that was all he needed. He loves being outside.

ryan asleep in the garage.


my dad finally admitted that his knee still hurts post-surgery so he was put on kid duty a few times! One afternoon he took Nate to the park & to ride the carousel at The District.


nate. Give this kid a shovel and some dirt and he's happy. He LOVED having a yard full of dirt and rocks. He always asked to go outside and help. He spent hours and hours and hours outside with his gloves on and a rake in hand. I love that he enjoys working. He's going to be my yardwork buddy, for sure.



wes always makes it fun for nate!


Nate LOVES Jose. He's been "helping" him mow my parent's lawn for a year so he was thrilled when Jose came to our house, too.

We are excited to enjoy our yard this summer. Finished product photos coming soon!