My Poor Neglected Blog... here's an update!

So, it's been 4 months since I last updated our blog! WOW! Where has the time gone? Things are great. :) The boys are growing up right before our eyes. There are some mornings when they wake up and I'm just amazed because they grew overnight! Literally. Josh is walking but still tends to be lazy at times and reverts back to crawling. It's VERY irritating to me when he does this. lol! He's just a sweet and easy going baby, and quite a 'hambone' these days. ;-) He is also able to say several little words now such as; cup, nite nite, bye bye, hello, hi, what, kitty kitty, dog, mama, dada, bubba, bottle, up, get down, bath, arms up, arms down, no no (and shakes his finger while saying it), num-eh-num (which he says when he's hungry or he likes what he's eatting) and a slured version of 'here you go'. We are so proud of our little Joshy Washy. :-)
James is such a little man already. I can't even begin to tell you what all he can do and say, but I can assure you that he is a healthy, almost 3 year old, little chatter box. LOL!!
He is so happy (most of the time), loves to be called a big boy, and will NOT accept being called a nick name. I have always called him 'Jamesiepoo' or 'Jimbo'... I know, names that only a mother would love. He absolutely HATES me calling him 'Jamesiepoo' and immediatly informs me 'NOOOOOOO, I noooooooottt POOOOOO!' (drags it way out). I still tend to call him nicknames out of habit, but am trying to stop since he hates it so much. We taught him to say his entire name, which is Robert James Boettcher, and he will tell you exactly what his name is if you ask him. ..or even if you didn't ask him. lol! ;-) If you want to see James smile, just call him by his full name, say that he is 'such a big boy', or tell him how handsome he is.
He is also really into pretending!! It's so much fun! Seriously, I never knew just how much fun it is to pretend! We pretend about all kinds of stuff.
Even though James can be quite a turkey at times, he is a very compasionate child. He understands when someone is sick or isn't feeling well. I had a headache tonight while visiting Robby at work. Robby hands James a bottle of Mortin and asks him to 'take this to Mommy because she has a headache'. James runs over to me and says 'Mommy, you have a headache? Here is some Motrin.' Then I respond back to him ' Yes, Mommy has a headache, can Mommy have a kiss to make it better? and he just cracks a huge smile and lays the biggest, sloppiest, wet kiss on me! It was too sweet.
Don't you DARE draw attention to him if he falls down or hurts himself. It's a MAJOR catastrophe and highly offensive to him, if you do this. I don't know why he is so sensitive about this, but he will surly let you know to shut up about it... usually a mother's instinct is to craddle her child or display a form of sympathy when the child is hurt... but I have had to suppress this type of behavior when dealing with James and it's so difficult. I honestly hate having to turn my head and act as though nothing happened... totally not my nature and certainly confusing in many ways.
I've been reading books about raising boys, strong-willed children, and also about understanding your child's ''love language'' (written by the same author as 'The Five Love Languages'). I'm learning A LOT... :) oh, and I'm also reading this other book about mothers. I'm beginning to understand why knitting, cleaning, cooking, basket weaving, and driving slow were never my forte'. lol!! ...and why it's okay to be this way!! I'm just a differnt kind of woman, wife, and mommy. No more self-sabatage or trying to be something that I'm not... so refreshing.
My loving man works so much, therefore doesn't get much time at home. He is holding up okay, but is hoping to take a few days off work very soon. We are finally getting ahead financially and have a goal of building a house in the next few years. YAY! We are actually saving money by me not working...that sounds odd, but it's true.
I'll post pics later... going to bed now.

Fun In The Sun!

We have had some really great weather lately, so we've gotten to play outside quite a bit! Here are some pics of the boys playing outside...well, of James more so than Josh since Josh can't walk quite yet...lol! Also, some pics of Josh enjoying some Mac 'n Cheese. Yummy!

My Boys

Sorry for being gone soooo long! I decided that I've neglected blogging for far too long...so, here's a quick update!
Josh has been crawling, pulling up, and walking along the furniture for a while now. He is actually trying to take steps without holding onto the couch. He holds on to the couch with one hand and then tries to step out away from the couch. He ends up catching himself with the other free hand, so it's not so bad when he falls. lol! He is eatting quite a bit of 'real' food these days! Eggs, meat, pancakes, mashed potatoes, cereal, mac n' cheese, and I can't thing of anything else right now. He has 4 teeth! The teeth seem to have their own pattern to their arrival. One bottom, one top, one bottom, then another on top. He just got over having a case of the Roseola (a viral infection followed by a rash over the entire body...) He is much better now.

James' vocabulary is still ever expanding. We are able to have 'conversations' about things. I started pre-school with him, but we don't do it everyday, just because I don't want to 'burn him out'. He can count to 15, knows 10 colors, can recognize 5 different shapes (and can draw them too!), he can also recognize money coins...quarter, dime, nickle, penny, we are working on pattern, and the alphebet (he can recognize to 'D')...there's more but I think you got the point...

Robby took on another full time job as a Paramedic for the local EMS service. So, now he has 2 full time jobs and a part time job. It's sucks. He is gone ALL THE TIME, but we are determined to be debt free, built our dream house (and pay cash for it), and put as much money in retirement as we can.

I am 'hanging in there' I guess you could say. I'm still trying to loose the baby weight. 8 weeks on bed rest didn't do me ANY favors, that's for sure! I've lost 7 more pounds...honestly, I don't really care about the pounds, I would rather loose the inches... We did a tremendous amount of yard work yesterday, so I'm looking kinda lobsterish today! lol!

I guess that's about all for now. OH!! P.S.. Robby is taking 5 days off and we are going to Hot Springs, Arkansas! I can't wait to get away. The kids will be staying with the Grandparents... I'm sure they will fight over who gets the kids while were gone! lol!! Here are a few pics.

Found a few spare minutes...

This time of the year is such a love/hate relationship for us. We are tired of being cooped up in the house, but then when we go outside, we become sick from all the allergies! The kids are dealing with some sinus and allergy issues, which is making us all very miserable. I am looking forward to being able to take the kids swimming and to play outside in the sunshine without the annoyance of snot, headaches, sneezing, coughing, and fever!

Anyway, so a couple of days ago I planted some Bermuda grass in the back yard, then it rained, and now the sun is out! So we are expecting a plush, green, and fun yard very soon.

Josh is crawling! He's still slow about it, but I think that's because he hasn't been feeling well. Josh is different than I remeber James being. James was never very vocal and he breezed through the different milestones and stages more quickly than most babies. He was almost always serious and didn't have time to 'play'. He studied his toys to figure out how they worked instead of just having fun and playing with them. Josh is quite different. He is VERY vocal and is such a ham! Josh is a cuddle bug and loves to play, laugh, and chill. Don't get me wrong, there are times when he knows what he wants and is diffucult to please...but for the most part, he is very content and happy. Josh really hates for his diaper to be anything else but dry. He's seven months old now and seems to be getting better with the issue. James was exactly opposite! He couldn't care less if his diaper was wet or dirty!! It's so funny yet interesting how the two could be the same but different in so many ways. James' vocabulary is still ever expanding and we are actually able to have 'conversations', instead of just having to read each other's minds! lol! I have pictures to upload, but will have to do that later.

Robby and I are doing well and enjoying watching our children grow. Our 6 year wedding anniversary is coming up in June! I'm so excited an can't wait wait to get away for a couple of days. I guess that's all for now. I'll post pictures later!

Never a Dull Moment

There is never a dull moment in this house! Tonight, I had just put Josh down to sleep for the night and then gotten James ready for bed. I needed to step outside for a few minutes to check on one of our horses. She was favoring a foot, so I need to make sure that she was okay. I was only outside for just a few short minutes. I had gotten James started playing in his room with some of his tools, so I thought it would be safe to step out. Well, when I went to open the door to come back inside, IT WAS LOCKED!!! James had locked the dead bolt! I didn't think that he was tall enough to do such a thing! I just so happened to have my cellphone in my pocket, so I called Robby to ask him which window was best for me to try and open. He said that I wouldn't be able to get any of them opened without first having to break them. The front door was locked as well, because I keep the doors locked when I'm home alone with the kids, so I couldn't go in that way either! Robby said to go ahead and break the window in the backdoor and unlock the dead bolt. We keep our shed locked, and the key to it was in the house, so I couldn't get any tools out of it. Keep in mind that it's getting dark outside, and I'm having to conversate with a 2 year old through a small window in the back door. :-) I kept trying to get him to unlock the door, but all he would do is repeat everything that I said. I would say 'open the door', and he would say 'open it', I would say 'Mommy wants James to open the door', and then he would try to turn the door knob, but since the deadbolt was locked, the door would never open. So, after many attempts to get James to open the door, I decided to just go ahead and break the window. Since I couldn't get tools out of the shed, I had to be resourceful. There just so happened to be a cinder block laying on the gound by the back porch, and I thought "that would perfect to chunk through the window!" I proceeded to break the window, but there was some kind of protective film over the glass which would not allow the glass to break!!! I was not very happy because I was chunking this stupid thing as hard as I could!!! James was getting scared from the all the VERY loud booms. I had to keep reassuring him that everything was okay, and then send him on a mission of some sort so that he wouldn't be in the 'line of fire'. The cinder block ended up not working, but thank goodness there was a shovel leaning on the outside of the shed! I was determind to break this window, even if I had to kick it down! I got the shovel and pounded on that darn window with the blade end of the shovel, until the window shattered into a million billion pieces! I unlocked the dead bolt, then scooped up my crying baby James. He was terrified and didn't understand what had just happened. He was so upset that the window was broken and that there was glass all over the floor. I called Robby back and told him that I was back inside the house. James got to talk to his daddy and finally stopped crying. Robby told James "Daddy will fix the door when he comes home", James was ok after that. Thankfully I had put Josh to bed before going outside, otherwise I might have had TWO very uphappy babies!

Our Precious Boys!

Thank the Lord for the rain! Finally, we have an end to this drought! Too bad I didn't get my veggies planted yet... I am home alone with the kids until Sunday. Robby had a mandatory Fire training to attend tonight in Fortworth. The Fire Department that he works for is 130 miles from where we live, and since his normal scheduled shift doesn't actually start until tomorrow morning at 7, he is going to just stay the night tonight at the Station. His shifts are 24 hours( 7am-7am), so he will not be home until Sunday morning. ~ sigh~ I sure miss him when he's gone. James, being the adventurous boy that he is, decided to experiment with another way to climb up on the desk. He fell, busted his lip, bumped his head, bled, cried, and then told me about how he fell down, and that he was hungry and also wanted some chocolate milk. lol. My goodness children can be so resilient! He only cried for a matter of maybe 2 minutes, and then was ready for the next challenge. Yes, the joys of Motherhood. I have a bumpersticker posted to my Myspace that says " Motherhood, the only place where you can experiene Heaven and Hell at the same time." LOL! So very true. Josh has been having kind of a hard day today as well. He is such a trooper though! He is still perfecting the art of teething, which from what I understand is quite painful and for the most part can make you feel just absolutely miserable. He is still such a happy baby boy! He does his best to always be happy, smile, laugh, jump, and gab. Tonight I once again sucessfully completed another bedtime routine all by my self. I had both kids fed, bathed, Josh in bed by 7 and James in bed by 8. I am up late tonight because I can't seem to sleep well when Robby isn't home. Anyway, I really should 'hit the hay'. Here's couple of pics for you!

Our very busy life...

Last week we lost my Memiere (Grandma) to Cancer. She was an amazing woman and we will greatly miss her..... On a more positive note, we are enjoying the lovely weather! Spring is right around the corner and I can't wait! I was looking forward to planting my veggie garden, but don't know if it will happen this year. I love taking the kids outside to play in the sunshine. I lie Josh on a blanket and James runs around all over the place. Josh is eating 3 solid meals a day now, with snacks of juice, formula, and teething biscuits in between meals.... Breakfast- 5 ounces of formula followed by Oatmeal mixed with Bannannas, and 4 ounces of juice. Lunch- 5 ounces of formula followed by 1 veggie and 1 fruit and 4 ounces of juice. I have to alternate each spoonful between the veggie and the fruit, that way Josh eats all of his food and doesn't spit out the veggies (they can be kinda yucky tasting). Dinner- 5 ounces of formula, Barley cereal mixed with pears, applesause, or prunes, and 4 ounces of juice. Then after his bath I give him a warm bottle of Chamomile tea (as much as he'll drink). Josh is now able to sit up unassisted and also can 'scootch' across the floor. I don't consider it to be crawling yet because he's still kinda on his belly when he scootches...but he's almost there!! He is a very happy baby and usually only cries when he needs something. We still don't have teeth, but I can feel about 8 of them ready to poke through at anytime. For some reason his top ' I' teeth (the one's that don't usually come in until 1 year) are coming in first. His two bottom teeth are there, ready to poke through as well, but seem to have stopped moving. I don't know.....don't ask me....it's all kinda confusing... Oh, and Josh is also able to hold his own bottle without any help! It's great! I can sit him in his highchair, the Boppy, or on the couch... give him his bottle and he will feed himself! This allows me to have a little more freedom to tend to James or anything else that needs to be done. He can also feed himself teething biscuts and such things. I still help him when he's eating with the spoon, but it's really fun to let him try it by himself. He makes such a mess!!!! LOL!! James says sooooo many words and sentences, and is saying something new everyday! When Robby is not home, James always asks me ' Is Daddy home?' and then I answer him saying that 'Daddy is at work', then he repeats after me saying 'Daddy's at work'. He gets really upset when Robby's gone, but he's beginning to understand that Daddy always comes home. James is such an independent child. He isn't shy about letting you know that he doesn't need your help, or even that he doesn't need you....PERIOD...for that matter! LOL! It's very challenging for me, as the Mommy, to let him be so independent and not to 'mommy' him I guess you could say. But, I was the same way as a child and am still that way as an adult, so that makes it a little easier for me to understand him. The potty training is still going well! I have MANY pictures to upload, but will have to do that later....kinda busy right now and need to be going! Be back later!

The Things We Teach Our Children...

I have officially moved Josh's bedtime to 7pm and James' to 8pm. They are both needing more sleep, so I have decided to limit naps durning the day which encourages an earlier bedtime! Therefore, the evening routine has changed a bit...supper is at 5:30, bathes from 6-6:30, Josh in bed by 7:00, James has bedtime snack, story time, prayers, then in the bed by 8:00. I am kind of a stickler when it comes to the boys' schedule. Kids need structure in their lives, and believe it or not, they are much more pleasent to be around, when they have security in knowing what is likely to happen next. That goes for all kids in general, not just mine. Robby and I have been trying to decide when would be best to start Pre-school with James. He pretty much already knows his basic colors, can count to 5, and can say the first few letters of the ABC's in proper order. We started him on a reading program several months ago and he is doing wonderfully with it. He can READ several words already! Such as: elephant, dog, cat, clap, hi, eyes, tiger, arms up, arms down, toes, baby, nose... and I'm sure I've left something else out. His newest thing to say is "what are you doing", " what's going on", and Robby taught him to say the word "dork" (he doesn't know what it means, but I still don't like it) ahhh, the things we teach out children. lol! ok... I have to go now, James is throwing up!

Mommy and Daddy Time...

Yesterday, Robby and I spent the entire day with each other!! Robby's parents babysat the kids, and we went to Dallas. He had a dentist appointment, we ate lunch (and actually had adult conversation), and then we went to the Sears Outlet store in Grapevine to buy our fridge! After that, we bought Starbucks and drove home, stopping at Walmart in Ennis to buy diapers, formula, baby food, dog food, and cat food. We thouroughly enjoyed ourselves! Robby was on call the night before, and ended up getting called in for a transfer to tyler..so he had been up since midnight that night..he went in at midnight, drove to Tyler, got home at 5:00am, helped me get a few things ready for the boys, got the boys out of bed and loaded them in the car, drove over to his parents house to drop the boys off, and then we headed to Dallas and fnally arrived back home at 6:30pm. We finally got to sleep at about 10:00 and then Robby had to get back up at 3:30 this morning and drive to work..which is in Fortworth..so needless to say he is very tired. I got to sleep in until 5:30! lol!

Something New Everyday...

I know, it's been way too long since my last posting...
So much has happened! We bought a new car, made a trip to Nebraska, gotten sick, rearranged ALL (or almost all) the furniture in the house, James' reading and vocabulary skills are growing by the minute, Josh is rolling over like a wild man, will soon be crawling, has been know to eat up to 13 ounces at a time (not including his meals of cereal and baby food), and is thouroughly enjoying playing with his toys. Whew! I said all of that in one breath! lol! I kid you not, there is something new happening everyday! I would love to continue writting, but time does not allow... neither do my children ...be back later.

We are making progress!

As you probably already know, we have been working on potty training James, and it has been going very well. James has recently developed the attitude of " show me the money". . In other words, "if you want me to stop playing, take the time to walk to the bathroom, pull down my pants, sit on the potty, and wait there until somthing happens, then I need to see how this annoyance is beneficial for me." So..we have begun rewarding with M&M's! Which works wonderfully since he doesn't get chocolate very often. He gets 1 M&M for trying and 2 M&M's for "going". Well...now that you have that tid bit of information, I'll share with you a funny story.
Yesterday morning was somewhat "normal" I guess you could say. I was in the kitchen (no way) tending to some chores and Robby was hanging out with the kids in the living room. Next thing I know, I hear the toilet in the boys' bathroom flush and James saying "eww yuck". I ask Robby to check and see what James was up to. Come to find out, James had gone into the bathroom, completely stripped off his clothes and diaper, climbed on the toilet, went poop, and flushed!!! Without even telling us that he had to go! We absolutely could not believe this! So..after that, we cleaned him up, washed his hands, gave him M&M's and dressed him in clean clothes. He is a very independent child, no doubt about that. We are definantly making progress here!

Josh is continuing to sleep through the night...up to 12 hours straight!...that is if you don't count the occassionaly waking up at 3am fussing a little..He's learning a bit of tough love right I guess you could say. We are determined to stick to the schedule as much as possible, that way his body learns a routine. So we don't caiter to his early morning rises..he falls back to sleep after just a couple of minutes, and sleeps another 4-5 more hours. He speaks to us in his own little language, which is VERY cute. It consists of "bbuuuaaa", "gggooooo", " and "ehhhoooo" :-) We try to imitate his "words" back to him to courage his vocal skills...and he LOVES banannas, cereal, and apple juice! We will be trying sweet peas tomorrow. Stay tuned. dundundun...

Pictures: James and Daddy built a castle, Josh smiling for the camera, Daddy and James helping Mommy make a cake, the finished cake,

and the last one is a piture of my pantry after we left the door opened.. not too sure how it got that way..lol!!

No plans for today...

So....for the past couple of days we have had great weather! We played outside a lot, washed/waxed cars, cleaned house, and gave my plants some much needed TLC. Occasionally my patience were stretched to the limit...I just had to put my "big girl" britches on and tell myself "you just have to get through today, tomorrow will be better." Robby was able to stay home for his entire 48 hours off! I always love it when he's home. He is the best husband and daddy ever! We have a date night planned for Friday the 23rd. yay! For some reason I found it very difficult to sleep well last night...I kept getting up to check on the kids. James always gets back out of bed after we have tucked him in. He likes to take his toys to bed, so when I went in his room last night to check on him (the first time), I found him completely uncovered, asleep, and holding one of his bulldozers ever so closely to himself. So..after carefully removing the dozer from his arms, rearranging him, and tucking him back in without him waking up, I went and check on Josh. Josh was fine, sleeping ever so soundly, and was still covered up.
Robby left for work this morning at 4 :00 and made the 2 hour drive into work. So, it's just me and the boys today and tonight. I'm not too sure what we will do today...didn't make any plans. Maybe we'll just stay inside since it's turning cold again. There is a mountainous pile of laundry just begging to be folded. I really need to go grocery shopping...

Kids are so funny...

I made oatmeal muffins for breakfast this morning. Well, James being the picky eater he is, decided that he didn't want to eat his muffin. In the mean time, Robby was having a bowl of cheerios. So, Robby decided to offer James a bite of his cheerios thinking that he might eat cheerios instead. Well... instead of there being cheerios on the spoon, Robby snuck a piece of muffin onto the spoon! James wasn't even paying attention, so he ended up eating the bite of muffin! After that, James decided he would finally eat the one that I had already provided for him, and enjoyed it very much! If a food feels funny in his mouth or to his fingers, then he won't eat it, even if it tastes wonderful. Kids are so funny!
Josh woke up this morning in such a GREAT mood. He was just lieing in his bed laughing, cooing, and squeeling. I went to get him, and when he saw me, he just busted out with the biggest smile ever! He is such a happy baby boy. :-)

Today...

This morning while preparing "His Majesty's" (James') breakfast, he asked me for a cup of coffee... lol! I honestly didn't know what to say to him except "coffee is for mommy". Then I turned my head so that he couldn't see me, and silently giggled to myself. He hasn't been feeling very well today. He has thus far refused eating breakfast and lunch , so I have had to just give him protein shakes so that he would be able to keep up his strength and halfway function. He seems to be overly emotional today as well. He also continues to ask to go "owside" (outside). I let him play on the pourch for about an hour, before lying him down for a nap, which he also strongly objected to, but I had to just tell myself "don't give in, do what's best for him, even if he cries". I ended up having to get the spoon out and walk around with it, so that he could see I was serious, and nap time wasn't open for discussion today. Somedays we don't make him take a nap. He's at that stage now... ugghh. So... all the while tending to James, I was also feeding Josh, and doing my best to equally distribute my attention. Which I find to be very difficult these days, especially when Robby working his 24 hour shifts. It seems as though the only thing I have time to eat is a boring tunafish sandwhich or a protein shake, with a side order of guilt for taking the time to eat. Josh is getting so strong!! He's pretty advanced for his age, so that makes it a little easier to entertain him, but on the other hand, more difficult to convince him that it's ok to not be able to do somethings just yet. He tries so hard to crawl. Today I stood him up on the floor and placed his hands on the couch in front of him. He just stood there looking around, smiling ever so proudly. He has really taken to his stuffed animals. Just about any of them will satisfy him. He loves to lie on the floor and pull the animal as close to his chest as he can poosibly get it. He then begins to "wrestle" with it, and shreek ever so loudly! He has turned over 1 time, which was a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't seen him do it since then. It was back to tummy, and happened during a round of wrestling. Since Josh is eatting so much, we have had to switch bottles. We LOVE Dr. Brown's bottles, which is what we used with James as well, but they only go up to 8 ounces, so we had to switch to Avent, which are great bottles as well...honestly they are so much easier to clean and fill. He didn't like the Avent at first because the nipple felt very different than the Dr. Brown's, but has adjusted well and is eating like a champ. Josh is great at letting you know when he's full...he just pushes the bottle away from himself and spews out any milk left in his mouth that he's not interested in eating. Simple as that! He has been able to hold his own bottle for several weeks now, but I still help him. He is now in 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers! I know... such a big boy!! We saved everything from when James was a baby, but when James wore 6-9 month clothes it was during the summer, so Josh can't wear any of them right now since it's cold weather right now. Josh likes to be warm, especially when he's sleeping, which is exactly opposite of what James was. James HATES to wear clothes. Josh has NEVER liked the Passie...unfortunantly... but tends to satisfy himself with whatever he can put in his mouth. James never liked the passie either until he was 6 months old. I thought, well since it's been several months since he's tried one, maybe we'll see if he's interested yet. So, one day I placed one on the floor where he could see it, he crawled over, picked it up, played with it for a few minutes, then ended up with it in his mouth; he loved it after that! Of course he is no longer on the passie, but I'm sure if I gave him one he would enjoy it just as much as he used to!

James' vocabulary skills are improving more and more each day. Every morning when he gets out of bed, the first thing he does is walk into the kitchen, tug on the refridgerator door and asks for milk or juice and eggs, and sometimes a waffle. He is a very picky eater, always has been, so when he asks for food, I am overjoyed and try to get him what he asks for, unless it's one of those foods that are just completely unacceptable...like a cookie or cake. Yes...he has asked for cookies for breakfast before. I find it strange though, because we are very paticular about what we feed the kids. I have always been a stickler about having too much sugar and junk. I also prefer to eat as organically as our budget will allow. As for Josh's baby food...we have a great food processor, so we are able to make our own baby food. We do buy some, but for some reason I like to make the veggies myself. James NEVER liked the jarred veggies or meats, so we just made it, and froze it in ice cube trays. He would eat that! We are still slowly working Josh onto foods, so we will see what becomes of his great food adventure! These pictues were taken today... James didn't want to get dressed this morning after breakfast, so after we took his P.J.'s off, I just let him run around in his pull up. Josh is lounging on the couch being cute as a bug. The picture of his legs and feet is to show you just how big he is getting. I dressed him in a 3-6 months outfit...as you can see, it's considerably too small!

Well, I think that's about it for today.

I guess I'll start here...

So... we survived the holidays. Whew. Now that's over and we can focus on other things....such as: potty traning, teething, and sleeping. lol!

James has just turned 2 years old!!! Oh my gosh! We still can't believe it! Since his actual birthday fell on a Monday (January 5 ), we decided to celebrate this wonderous occasion on Saturday January 3, since it was the weekend and most people are off work. James had a fantastic birthday! He very much enjoyed being the center of attention and playing with all his little friends. Seems like yesterday that we were all gathered around trying to figure out how to assemble James' bike that his Uncle Seanie and Auntie Lu bought him for his 1 year birthday! How time flies! His birthday this year was "Handy Manny" themed. Of course I made his birthday cake...and it turned out so great. I'm honestly very proud of myself. The presents were endless!...clothes, blocks, educational videos (such as Baby Einstein), play-doh (what were we thinking!), an electric guitar for kids, every car, fire truck, and ambulance that Fisher Price created, pretend medical equipment ( stethiscope, bloodpressure cuff, thermometer,etc...), every obnoxious, noise making toy and trinket imaginable, and so much other stuff that I can't even remember.
We have James on a reading program call "Your Baby Can Read"..it's great! He is able to READ the word "hi" and he can also READ his name! James can also draw circles, trace his hand on a piece of paper, count to 5, and is speaking in complete sentences. For some reason he has started calling me "Amber", I'm guessing because he hears other people calling me by my first name, he thought he would give it a try, so I don't respond to him until he calls me "Mommy".

As for our little Josh... He has just turned 4 months old! Seems like yesterday that I was pregnant and on bed rest. Josh is sleeping completely through the night! Yay! We pretty much have him into a routine now... I won't go into every detail of the schedule, but we start the bedtime routine at about 6:30pm. We eat supper, take baths, we dim all the lights in the house, have quite time (such as read a book), then listen to soft music and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", then in the bed by 9:00 (on occassion 8:30) This schedule goes for both boys. Josh is eating 8- 10 ounces a feeding. We have started him on juice and cereal along with an occassional bite of apple or bannana. He LOVES to eat! Josh is weighing in at 16 pounds now! WOW! What a chunker! lol! We will be taking the boys in to see the Pediatrician very soon, because it's time for Josh's 4 month shots/check-up and James' 2 year shots/check-up. I always dread these visits... it's very sad and breaks my heart when the shots are administered...those of you who have kids can relate to my sadness. I guess I'm getting better though because I don't have to leave the room anymore, although, I do still get teary-eyed. Josh is beginning to make sounds like "ba" & "ma". He is also becoming very animated with his facial expressions. We like to lie on the floor with him and play. He loves for us to "get his ribs", and "gobble his tummy"..he laughs, squeeles, and shreeks out of enjoyment! He is such a happy baby. Josh is sitting up very well. We have to keep a hand close by just to catch him when he starts to lean or fall. Standing is still his favorite past time of all. He loves to stand on our laps while we hold his hands in front of him. We do "arms up arms down" and that makes him laugh as well. His two bottom teeth are still working their way through the gums, but you can see and feel them very well. He drools like a fountain!

Robby and I are doing well. We get to see each other occasionally...lol! No, I can't complain, we are just very busy with life, carrer, and kids. I need to be going but will write more later. 'Til next time people!