My boy

Yesterday Andrew and I spent some time looking at pictures of when he was a baby. It brought back so many memories, things you forget about in your day to day. So here are a few pics of my baby boy. I am such a lucky mama.

Tae Kwon Do & Lolo

Andrew started Tae Kwon Do this week, and let's just say it's super cute.
He probably understood about 10% of what he was supposed to do...but still so cute. I think I like the uniform best of all. He did get to break a board though (he was super excited). I got the pics in the wrong order...but you get it.
The pic is of his individual lesson; and now he's in his Tiny Tigers class. It's great.

On another note: Lauren is officially potty trained. She's done so well. I look back and read my post and think, "Why was I so worried?" She has grown up so much in the last two months. She gave her binky to the babies and is potty trained. I think my house is officially empty of babies and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

PS-I'm not happy about how the pics are in this order and not where I want them to be but I don't have time to deal.

Yes, I'm updating.

I know.
I know.
I know.
Get over it, I'm finally posting again. (At this point no one may be reading because it's been so long they don't check to see if I've posted...but whatever I'm moving on)

As I sit and type I'm in Sunriver Oregon. It's beautiful outside, warm and lovely. And yet I'm inside with my daughter, who I am ATTEMPTING to potty train. Now don't get me wrong we've been outside on the deck and inside but I HAVEN'T LEFT THE HOUSE. My husband is out and about. I am not. And you may ask how is it going? Well let me tell you; not well. I'm 1 for 4. Right. The one success we had today was actually number 2. (I know a lot of details) The other 4 fails have all been pee. I'm pondering the should I give it up question. Not so sure at this point. What I do know is that come September she needs to be potty trained because I've paid for pre-school and she HAS to be potty trained. I'm trying not to freak out. My new mantra is who cares if she pees or poops her pants? I don't. Then the minute she does I seem to care.

On to other topics that I don't "care" about. My son Andrew. Oh my how he's getting so big. This morning he had his first tennis lesson, he'll be doing swimming lessons on his own this summer, VBS at church, and starting on a soccer team in the fall. What's happening? It's like he's reached the age where he can do things on his own. In some ways I'm so thankful and in some ways it makes me sad. To be honest at this point though I'm pretty thankful, because he seems to need my attention all the time. When he's at camps, playing, swimming, etc someone else can give him their attention for a minute and give me a break. We've started a new rest time system and it's worked for the last 7 days (yes I'm counting). He spends 1/2 hour in the play room quietly playing, the next 1/2 hour he can have a video of some kind. He gets one pass to get up and talk to me. He can use the pass whenever he wants, but once he uses it that's it. If he's able to do this he earns a sticker. After 5 stickers he gets some kind of special treat, the first success was ice cream with him and I. (Special treat for mommy too). We happened to be in Sunriver so we went to Goodies. Oh so yummy. This seems to be working well, and I get one hour of time to myself. One whole hour. Hold your applause.

As for Nick, he's busy busy at work. He's still working even though we're on vacation. That's why I have this computer right now. Thanks BCI. He's been working out pretty hard, thinking about a bike race in August and one in October. We're celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary this Friday the 9th. It's my year to plan it (I have even years he has odd). Not sure what we'll do yet, I have a few ideas but am open to suggestions. I think we're going to have the whole day/evening because he'll still be on vacation. We'll have the kids for the morning and then my mother-in-law will be taking them. (Thank you Kathy) Suggestions?

Lastly, I've been running quite a bit with a friend. I'm contemplating a 1/2 marathon at the end of July and one in October. Not too sure. Today I ran and thought I might die after 4 miles so that's not a good sign for a 1/2. We'll see. It's good for me to have a goal to look forward to. In other random news I'm thinking about going to my natural hair color; with a few highlights. For those that know me well (and I'm hoping that's anyone that reads my blog) I haven't had my natural hair color since I was 13. Yes, I did type that correctly. I'm not quite sure what I want to do. Right now my hair is looking fairly crappy because it's been forever since I colored it (trying to save money) and thought I could stretch it out. WRONG. So now the question is, what to do. I've seriously thought about emailing my hair dresser all my thoughts so that when I go in next week we don't have to spend too much time talking. Obsessed much Lindsey? And as I've been at church lately I've realized I have a very controlling personality and am trying to work on not always having a system. Not sure how it's going considering all the controlling things within this one post.

Well for those of you that wanted it, there it is. An update. Aren't you glad you spent time reading this. Oh and I think I have an addiction to Facebook. With that, goodnight all.

Our new house!

So I'm finally getting around to posting a picture of our new house. We love it. We are finally beginning to feel like it's our home. We feel very blessed and thankful to have a house. One of these days we may get around to having a house warming party...but stop on by if you're in the neighborhood. By the way our neighborhood is Deer Creek in Camas.

This is for the moms out there.

Happy Holidays. This will be my Christmas Card this year...you can probably figure out why. I'll plan on sending out a we've moved card when we finally get our new house. For now, sit back and enjoy the story.

Here's a little background for you before the story I believe it will help you feel sorry for me so I want you to know before the story begins. Yesterday Lauren had a doctor appointment for her ears at 4pm in Vancouver near our old house. Now I've been to this doctor several times, so I knew that when the appointment was at 4, that really meant more like 4:30pm if we were lucky. It's two parts; hearing test and then see the doctor to discuss results. I had worked all day. (yes it's Christmas break...teachers still work because we have too much to do!) The kids had been at daycare, and it was a decent day. Did I mention I live in Gresham with my in-laws? That will be important for the story.

When I picked Andrew up I could tell he was tired, it was 3:40pm and he had no nap. Lauren had just had a big poopie diaper according to our daycare provider and was ready to go. I'm thinking okay we're set. As I was putting Lauren in the car he was playing in the side gravel drive (he's never done that before). When it was time for him to get in the car he came running and I thought no big deal. We headed off. Things were going well, we were on time and all was good.

About 7 minutes before getting to the doctor Andrew informs me he has poop on his hand and his shoe...hmmm how is this possible? I was driving on the highway so as he's FREAKING out I say, we'll take care of it when we get to the doctor, just hang on. We sing a few songs and he manages to calm down. When we get to the doctor I pull a wipe out and sure enough there's poop on Andrew's hand and ALL over the bottom of his shoe. Awesome. I calmly clean it up and tell him not to touch anything until I say it's okay. We get Lauren out and head into the doctor.

After we check in we promptly go into the bathroom where I make Andrew scrub his hands for 5 minutes. At this point I'm thinking okay, this isn't the end of the world. I'm just sweating a little...I'm handling it. I pick up Lauren and carry her back to the waiting room and as I do I feel her do a big pooh in her diaper. Okay. I can handle it.
She's been having a little trouble lately so I give her about 10 more minutes to make sure she's done. Sure enough she has a few more moments to fill her diaper. I think okay, I'll wait to change it when we get back to our private room.

I grab the diaper bag and go through it to find a diaper and the wipes. And then I realize...NO DIAPERS. That's right, none. Fantastic. I'm now sweating copious amounts. I have no diapers, it's 4:15pm and we haven't even been seen by the hearing test doctor, and we live in GRESHAM. Did I mention that? That means that it's going to take me about 40 minutes to get home. Okay what am I going to do? I'm beginning to smell Lauren in the waiting room as I'm sure everyone else is.

Quickly I think I'll call Krathbu because her mom's in town and I know she has diapers. So I give her a call, her mom is out running errands. Of course she is. However...Krathbu told me she had been gone awhile so she expected her soon. She told me she would call as soon as she got home. Okay, I tell the receptionist that a friend will be bringing me a diaper and could she please bring it to me ASAP if I'm back with the doctor. She smiles and says sure...I'm sure she was thinking good grief lady what is wrong with you?

We get called back for the hearing test. As we're getting ready for it, my phone rings. There's krathbu. We do the test, and I go back out to the waiting room call katie and she's on her way. Thank you Lord! Seriously. Luckily she came while I was still waiting to see the doctor. So then I was able to change Lolo as soon as we got back to our private room. She only had to sit in it for about 40 minutes. Nice.

During the visit with the doctor the kids were eating gold fish because it's 5pm and they haven't had a snack since lunch. I'm eating them as well. :) The bad news about 3 fell on the ground. One which Andrew ate off the ground after I told him not to in front of the doctor. The other two made it into the trash, where my daughter proceeded to take one out of the garbage and eat it as I'm trying to talk to the doctor. Seriously. Seriously. The man probably thought oh lady good luck to you.

That's about where the evening ended. To be totally honest I stayed very calm, did not get angry, did not yell, did not cry, did not freak out. Pretty good for me I would say. I owe a HUGE thanks to Katie for rescuing me and bringing me diapers in the mist of your own chaos. Oh my. Good times. Happy Holidays to you all. Love ya!

Changes are here

It's been awhile. I check my blog everyday to see if people have posted. I realized that the toilet is probably getting old to look at. I thought it might be time for an update. I don't have pictures to post...need to get better at that. If you're interested in what's new with us, keep reading. If not well...pics to come soon...for now enjoy.
Well we're moving...in with my in-laws. Our house has sold and we have to be out by the end of the month. Today we began the momentous task of packing. I can't say we got to far, considering we got about 2 boxes done. We did some really good talking about it though. I think somewhere down the road we'll be close to putting this whole thing into action.
We've got an offer on a house but it's a short sale. If you're familiar with this you'll know that it can be quite a long process. We're not exactly sure what to expect, but we're hoping that we'll know some answers sooner rather than later. The house is down the street from where we live now. It would be really great to get the extra space. It needs new flooring throughout and paint. I would love to do the counter tops, landscape, and built in bookshelves all at the same time-but we're not made of money. And it doesn't grow on trees.
The kids are doing great. Andrew is in Montessori school here in Vancouver, and it's so wonderful. We went to a parent night last week and learned about his day, and the philosophy behind the education. We are so happy with his teacher and he seems to be adapting to his new surroundings. He still cries everyday that I drop him off, but his teacher has assured me he stops crying quickly. He's been invited to a birthday for a boy in his class next week and he's quite excited about going.
When asked what he wants to be for Halloween he's decided Sammy Stroughter. For those of you who don't know anything about this-my son thinks he is Sammy Stroughter. Sammy is currently in his first season as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. He graduated from Oregon State last year. So we're in the market for a football helmet. He pretty much has the other gear necessary. His papa has supplied him with quite a few OSU football jerseys.
Lauren is getting quite big. She's grown up so much it makes me sad. She loves to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She'll tell you which one she wants and if you sing the wrong one she yells at you until you stop. She's a complete reader. She'll read alone or with you, I don't really think she has a preference. The other day we noticed she shut herself in her bedroom. We finally opened the door about 15 minutes later and we found her in her tent, with her head on her pillow reading a book quietly to herself. She's quite independent like that. (And I love her for it.) As I'm typing now she's thumbing through a dinosaur book (and Andrew is playing football of course).
Lauren has her doctor appointment for her 18 month check next week. It's late due to some miscommunication between me and the Dr. office ( I blame them). She is very sure of what she wants. She will tell you with her words if she can. She's trying very hard to talk with us...but many things sound alike. She loves to sing her ABCs. Not too many of the letters sound right, but she has the rthym and tone correct for the whole song. Our daycare provider likes to call her Bossy Bessy (in the most loving way), Lolo likes to have control over things and people everywhere she goes. I blame Nick.
I'm excited fall is here, but a little sad because I can't decorate my house the way I usually do. I'm also feeling a little sad because I don't know if I'll have Thanksgiving and Christmas in my own house...but I feel very lucky that we have a place to live and that we'll hopefully be getting into a great home.
I hope to post some pictures soon. For now that is the latest and greatest. I hope you all enjoy the season with your family and loved ones.

Two posts in one

AWESOME! This is what I found when I walked into my bathroom last night before bed.


After showing Nick this lovely present, we could only deduce that our precious little GIRL had been having some fun earlier in the day.


Apparently while on daddy duty Lauren was left unattended in the back of our house, near our bathroom. This is what we've learned from leaving her unattended. I think next time daddy duty rolls around he'll make sure and close the bathroom doors, because it wasn't a tone of fun for him to clean up.

Side note: Andrew did not ever do anything like this...hmmm...not sure what to think of our little girl.