NO MORE DIAPERS!!

My daughter, Marin, is officially potty trained. People -- it all happened BEFORE she turned 2. Who does that??? Well, kids of award-winning, trophy-bearing, mothers of the year. Obviously.

An actual post. Woh.

I don't know how long this will last -- as in, I probably will take another year off after this post, but I was in the mood to blog and so here it goes.

It's been since Marin turned 1 that I posted last and now she's almost 2 (in a couple weeks). Everything for us is going fantastically and we are just truly blessed.

I am back in school going for a second bachelor's degree in Nursing. I am finishing up my last prerequisite right now and will (hopefully, if I get in) start Nursing School at TWU next year. I am eventually interested in pursuing a career as a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist), which is a long and confusing way of saying that I would give epidurals and put people "under" during surgeries. An anesthesiologist without the $$, basically. But the path to become a CRNA is a grueling one and I am just focusing on getting my B.S.N. (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) right now. Then I'll work as a nurse for a couple years... then I will apply and hopefully get into a Nurse Anesthetist program. That lasts full-time for 2.5 years and then you get a fancy pants Master's Degree and go to work again. But we'll see... Sorry, ACU. That first bachelor's degree didn't really help me so much...

Cade is 4 now. He turned 4 back in March. He is the best thing in the universe. He is so sweet and good to his friends. I am consistently proud of him.

Marin is awesome. She is a bit of a walking disaster. We've done stitches on her mouth and then yesterday she decided to sit down in a fire ant bed and has about 75 fire ant bites all over her back and feet and side. It was a mini-nightmare for me. We were at the park so I didn't even have a water hose or a bathtub or anything to quickly get them off of her. After she started screaming, I ran over to see what the deal was and she was already COVERED in ants. I ripped off her clothes and her diaper and basically beat the ants off of her. Then I discovered they were still all in her hair and scalp and so I had to pull her ponytail down and get them outta there. She has bites all over her poor scalp!! I got bit a few times by them and they HURT! I don't know that I've ever really gotten into fire ants before. Not your average ant.

So I called the doctor and he said I should probably bring her in due to the # of bites. They put her on a 5 day course of steroids and I am doing cortisone cream and benadryl. GEEZ!!! She is just gonna be "that" kid of the family. Cade is so cautious he never ventures anywhere that could have potential harm.

Enjoy the photos and maybe I'll post before Cade goes off to kindergarten. :)

Cade at his 4th birthday party



Marin, Cade and Aubrey. Aubrey is the daughter of one of my best friends, Tiffany. I am keeping her for the month of April while Tiffany is at work. It's been so fun having her! She just joins us on all our daily adventures.



Easter morning right before church

One Year Down.

Marin turned a year old April 30. She is a CRAZY one year old!!! We had a very informal family get together with just a few special people. It was a wonderful time. Marin hated her cake, which is weird because she eats EVERYTHING we put in front of her. I mean, everything. She eats meat, cheese, potatoes, fruit, every vegetable, every cracker. She probably out-eats Cade by at least 3x. She is a literal human garbage disposal. But she is kinda skinny. I wish I had that problem! So, as of one, she is TALL and thin. Maybe that'll last for her. :) She is 32" (100 percentile), 19.5 lbs (25 percentile) and a big ole head (95 percentile, which just means she's BRILLIANT). She is really fun. A great girl -- kinda fiesty, but sweet, too. Honestly, I love her personality. I don't even mind when she's "spirited." I think it's just a good sign that she has a passionate side. Anyway, enjoy the pictures of her big day!

I am total crap.

Okay. I haven't blogged since Halloween and declare myself a super duper piece of crap. I don't know why and I have no excuses. But lots has been going on! Here's a quick rundown.

Me and David: We're still married and have officially gotten a new kick butt computer, which was NOT approved by Dave Ramsey (If you know who Dave Ramsey is, you'll understand why he doesn't approve of big computer purchases). But we just did it. It's the new MacBook Pro that JUST came out this week... HELLO! Anyway, it's exciting and a pretty sweet little machine. BTW, David and I weren't ever not going to still be married... that info was just part of the update. David goes to Japan in 2 weeks for 10 days over Spring Break. Yes, he's a teacher, so he still gets spring breaks. I am excited for him, but a little nervous to have him so far away for so long. I'm praying for his safe return. It is helpful to have him alive. What's going on with me? Hmm... I am currently training for the half marathon I am running in November. Today, I had to run 2.25 miles, which may not seem like much to some -- but it literally almost kills me. I am running it in my neighborhood, which is like scaling mountains it is so hilly. I told David that next time, I am going to run around a track or something and I can probably increase my time MAJORLY. Hopefully this running I am doing will continue to aid in the loss of all the baby weight that has continued to accumulate for the last 3 years. 19 pounds down... SO many to go, it's honestly embarrassing.

Cade: He is probably the cutest, sweetest, most loving, adorable kid I have ever seen. Sorry, I'm bragging. But give him five minutes, and he's getting under my skin so bad I could just kick him to the curb. It's so weird. I think all toddlers are just naturally bipolar. All the highs are high and all the lows are low. But not so much any middle... But he's great overall. He is so sweet to Marin and likes to "help" her walk by holding onto her hands and letting her step a few times. More often than not, he lets her go a bit too early and she goes tumbling to the floor and then screams, so it's a bit unnerving for her, but he's enjoying being a big, strong, helpful brother. He turns 3 in 4 days. I cannot believe it. Somehow, with all my faults and shortcomings, I have managed to raise a pretty cool kid that poops in a potty. I am just in love with Cade right now. He's my little buddy. I'll post pictures in my next entry -- so, in a few months. :)

Marin: She's a force to be reckoned with. The sweet little baby that was my "easy" one has found her personality and character. It's fun, though. She's smack dab in the middle of a separation anxiety crisis. Every time I sit her down on the floor even if it's just to go to the restroom, she FLIPS OUT. Cade did the same thing and it stressed me out... but with her, I'm just like, "Whatever, girl. I'll be back." I guess with your second kid, you just are a little more laid back because you've been around the block before and know that everything will just be okay. She's changed a lot lately, too. She had a bit of a rough start in life... not the cutest baby I've seen... but her features are just beautiful (to me) and she's looking like a little girl and less like a baby blob and I like that. She is TALL TALL TALL. As of her 9 month visit, she's in the 100th percentile for height at a whopping 30.5 inches. WOW. But the poor thing is only 17.5 pounds, which is only in the 30th percentile. So the fact that she's so freakishly tall and a bit low on the weight side, it makes her look even skinnier b/c of the height factor. I don't know a lot of 9 month olds (almost 10 months old) that have their rib cages poking out when they lay down. But the doctor said she's healthy and everything looks good and it's just b/c she's so long, it's like her weight can't catch up to her height right now. I try to shove everything into her mouth I can to fatten her up. :) She is crawling like a BEAST. She is fast, that one. She also is pulling up on everything and stuff. I hope she waits a bit to walk... I am not quite ready for that yet. She is just growing up so fast. I can't believe almost a year has gone by since her birth. It's QUICK QUICK QUICK. I'll post pictures of her, too, sometime before next year.

Anyway, sorry it's been so long. My 2 readers out there will be so excited for the updates! :)

Happy HALLOWEEN!!!

YIPPEE! Another rocking Halloween has come and passed. We had so so much fun, as always, spending the evening at my cousin Nicki's house in Plano. It is always so great to see her two beautiful boys, Brennan and Breckan. And I love catching up with my other cousin, Wendy, and seeing her twins, Kamryn and Cullum (who, by the way, started kindergarten this year... wow.) So Cade was a Zebra and Marin was a pumpkin. There you have it. Oh, and Marin HATED the trick or treating part. She screamed the WHOLE time. I would've totally bailed on the whole thing if I didn't have to stand there and make necessary Cade memories. So she just bawled and we trick or treated as if nothing strange was happening. PSYCHO chick. So here's some Halloween photos for all to enjoy... except note that Marin is NOT so very photogenic in her pumpkin costume, so ignore the not-so-cuteness of that child. But Cade is still cute... so at least there's one. :)

Okay. She looks kind of cute in this picture because she's posing a bit. And she isn't screaming... yet.



Cade is smiling good here for the camera strutting his zebra self. Oh, and this was funny: that night when I tucked him in bed, I said, "Night, night, little zebra." And Cade goes, "No, Momma. Big Zebra Pants!" "Okay. Night, night, big zebra pants." I have no idea where that came from. David said he was declaring his indian tribal name... I am Big Zebra Pants. Whatever.



Here is Cade with Aunt Saucey (a.k.a. Kelsey). This is his special camera smile that I'm trying to extinguish. Usually, if I just tell him to say "cheese", he gives a pretty natural smile like the photo above. However, when I say, "Hey Cade, smile at the camera," he does this grimace/constipated look. NOT as cute. We have got to get him out of this photo phase.




And here is David and Cade having a moment together during our trick or treat walk. Cade is doing his sullen, model pose. At least it isn't the constipated grimace. And his zebra costume made for cute black and white photos. I don't have any clever story to go with this one... so just look at it.

My Mom's Dress

I took a photo of Marin today in a baby dress that was my mother's. Pretty cool!!! So this dress is way back from ... 1954!!! Sorry, Mom.... but it's cool that it's a dress that old. Anyway, just wanted to share.

The Potty

Ladies and gentlemen -- as of this week, my son, Cade, is potty-trained!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and can't believe that he trained as easily as he did. Typically, boys are harder than girls and I was ready for a battle, but he basically "got it" in half a day. AMAZING. Here's the rundown --

My friend, Amber, and I decided to potty train both our kids this week. She has a little girl, Abbie, who is exactly Cade's age. At 2 1/2, we knew they were ready. It was just a matter of us deciding to be consistent and do it. So this was the week.

The first day, I literally stripped Cade down naked all day. That way, he could see when he went and there was no diaper/pull-up to allow him to be lazy and not see the consequences of not going in the potty. And I thought underwear would just be one more step to deal with when he had to go. He peed in the house, he peed outside, he peed in the garage. Everywhere except the potty. Then, I loaded him up on juice and we sat on his little potty in front of the TV watching Dora and I basically didn't let him get up. I knew he had to go b/c he had so much liquid in him. He went in the potty and just got it. From then on, no accidents! And that was 3 days ago.

But then there's the poop issue. Well, Cade thinks it's fun to go poo poo in the garage, apparently. The first day, he pooped in the garage and came into the house and handed it to me!!!! GROSS! So goes the glories of being a mom. Funny thing is, I have had Cade's poop on me too many times to count since he was born, so it really wasn't even that big of a deal. I don't know if that's a good or a bad place to be as a mom.... hmmmm... Anyway, then the next day, he did it in there again. Then the next day -- AGAIN. But today, I dead bolted the doors and forbid him to go in the garage. It is like it was his hiding place to do it and avoid the potty. So he went in the potty! I am so proud of him.

I have even been brave enough to venture out beyond the four walls of my home. We've gone out to eat, to the grocery store, to the doctor (he has a cold), out to eat again... anyway... he has had no accidents and has even asked us to use the "store potty" or the "restraurant potty" and he goes in it! I am just so excited.

So as of today, we are officially diaper-free (except for bedtime and naptime... we'll see when that comes). So now I only have to change Marin's diapers. What a great, great week. But I was so lucky, Cade just caught on and basically trained himself.