M is really on the move!

So, M has gotten more and more brave! He has been seen now trying to walk all on his own without any cohersion from mommy and daddy. If he wants something badly enough he will go after it...if he falls he crawls on but he attempts walking almost every time now. He was so proud of himself yesterday. The joy on his face was priceless! Oh how I love my babies!

2 full hours....

...and still a dry diaper! Woohoo E!

hmmmm....

This one is political (not written by me) but I just couldn't resist!

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers: a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track: you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating: you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a>voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl (sports caster), 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

...OK, much clearer now.

Hooray for E!!!!

Yippee....my little boy told me today, just before nap, that he had to pee pee on the potty. Turns out he had to go #2 on the potty. Hooray for E! I am so proud of my little boy!

Parents are proud of the weirdest things!

New found friend....

So, M has noticed himself in the mirror before but now he has taken to playing and talking with his little friend in the mirror. Today in the playroom, where we have a tall mirror hung from floor to about 5 feet up, he was shouting and talking to the little boy in the mirror. It is so cute. For a while he was just making out with his little friend but now he plays with him too. I will have to take a picture.

Check out our little soccer star!!!

Here is a video of Eli dribbling his soccer ball. It took him a little while to take interest in something other than just running, but he finally has and I couldn't be happier. He is pretty coordinated for a 2.5 year old.

And the winner is.....(drumroll please)

Well, last night (9-11-2008) Max walked for the first time. He took one step and then later that night he walked 3 steps to me!!! Hooray Max. That makes Uncle Will the winner of the when will Max walk bet, because his date was closest without going over! Hooray Max. Look for walking videos soon.

The demise of potty training

Apparently, E has decided that he is done potty training. He must figured he peed on the potty and pooped on the potty so what else is there to do. I figured this is what would happen. I am not forcing the issue just waiting to see when we should attempt again or maybe he will tell me when he is ready next.

What a week!!!

So, we sold our car and got our overage check from the loan company. Yippee a little extra money to put into savings....or so we thought. Turns out when you get extra money things break! First, our garage door spring broke on labor day. We had just returned from a family outing and were in the house when we heard "boing" from the garage, and sure enough the garage door was broken. Then Saturday night after I had put a large load of laundry into the washer Will went downstairs only to smell that the motor on the washer had burned out. Yep, we killed the washer. I think it was about 13 years old and we were hard on that washer since we moved in and so I guess it was to be expected. Tomorrow E, M and I head to Sears and American to see what they have for washers. What a fun way to spend a morning. Yuck!

A funny, funny potty story!!!

I think just about everyone knows that to get boys to poop on the potty is a rather difficult task. E knows when he needs to poop and up until today was unwilling to sit on the potty when he needs to poop. Today, while I was bridesmaid dress shopping with my mom & sis, E pooped on the potty.

Here's the story. My cell phone rings as we sit in the dressing room of the Priscilla of Boston in Chicago. We are all finished trying on dresses and have picked one out. I answer the phone to have Will tell me that E has something to tell me. E says "I poop on the potty". I shout in great excitement, "You pooped on the potty, I am so excited and proud of you!" I can only imagine what the rest of the brides in the store are thinking. After lots of praise Will returns to the phone to share the rather hilarious story. It was time for E to sit on the potty and try to go pee pee. Well, he was pushing rather hard to get the pee pee out. So hard, in fact, that he sharted on the potty. Yep, I said sharted. Will made a huge deal and despite E not being very excited or acknowledging that he pooped on the potty Dad's excitement got him going. By the time I heard about it E was completely jazzed. Since it was a fluke we figured that it wouldn't happen again. Well about 3 hours later E & Will call me again to tell me that E has pooped on the potty again. Apparently, once it is done it is not so scary. This time E was sitting on the potty and said the poop was in his butt. Will said to push it out and E said it was stuck . Will said, "well why don't you read a book for a little bit and then see if the poop is ready in a little while." As E was reading his book he gave one hard push, his face turned red and plop into the potty it went. E said, "daddy let's check." Yep, for a second time today E pooped on the potty! Hip, hip hooray! Now, let's hope it continues. I think soon I will have to change the rules to earning stickers and special treats or I will be broke. If diapers start to stay dry then we will be able to wear big boy underpants soon....oh how I wish!

Date night!!!

This weekend we got date night....again!!!! It was so nice. My mom was coming a night early to watch the boys so that Will and I could have dinner together. We didn't stay out too late, or late enough if you ask my mom, but we had a great time and I feel like our relationship is less strained since instituting a more regular date night.

Farm Day!!!

Today we went to our CSA farm, Vermont Valley, and it was awesome. We picked 15 pounds of tomatoes, which we will turn into spaghetti sauce, and a huge amount of basil, which we made into pesto. Both E & M loved the goats and fed them. It was so cute. I will add pictures of the farm day later.

Feeling guilty!!!

I am feeling super guilty lately because I haven't been able to keep track of M's milestones as well as I did with E. I feel badly that I haven't been keeping up with my writing down of things. My little journal is full of notes but only has entries through April. I want to get caught up so that both Will and I can write in the journal. Just feeling guilty that I am missing some of M's important moments so that he has that information some day when he is older.

Potty time!

Wow, so today E, M & I made a trek to the $1 store to find prizes for E's potty treats box. E will sit on the potty to earn a sticker but often times won't/can't pee on the potty. I figured I would try a little bribery. For now he gets a sticker every time he sits on the potty and a treat when he pees or poops on the potty, as he progresses so will the expectations. We'll see how we do after a couple of weeks. If there is no progress then we will stop and try potty training again at a later date.

It's time....

...to potty train! Yep, we've decided to give it a go. E has shown all the signs that he is ready and so we are going to try it. We will be trying a potty routine for a couple of weeks. We will have stickers and "special" treats when he goes potty on his own. If stickers don't work, because they don't always work with him then we will try a change jar. We have a ton of pennies and he is motivated by coins, just ask Uncle Will. We started this evening, after watching the potty video a couple of times, he was jazzed to go "wee, wee on the potty". We'll keep you informed of his progress and hopefully soon we will be diaper free!