Rough Day....

Wow, Jaed had no school today and I cancelled Josie's school because she seemed pretty sick the day before. Well she was fine today and Jaed was...well...I found a cartoon that described how he was. It's probably a little inappropriate but it made me laugh when I saw it so here it is:

(I'd like to say that the girls were the Dr. and nurse but they
were heading down the same naughty rode Jaed was. His briefcase
would say "The Little stinker who never stopped"!)


















We've been telling Jaed since he turned five that he needs to do more things on his own such as (put his shoes on, put his clothes on, pull up his underwear after he goes to the bathroom, etc.). These are things we know he can do by himself but he LOVES to be helped and served. He really thinks it's a punishment when we ask him to do these things. He stomps off and says he's not going to do it and that he doesn't know how. It's a daily routine for us. I found this cartoon that reminds me of these little arguments we've been having with him:




















Will this be Jaed when he's finally decided to do things on his own?


















Running on to these cartoons made me laugh which was a great medication for a rough day. I do love my kids and especially Jaed, but today was a little rougher than normal. It was raining so going outside wasn't really an option and he had TONS of energy to burn.

New house, old house

Jaed asked me today that when our "new house" gets old, will we move to another new house? I did tell him that when Thayne is done with school we'll move to a new town and new house. He wanted to know who would help us and if they would forget his bed. I assured him that those that help us will make sure to remember his bed. He then wanted to know if the the new baby would be moving with us. I had to chuckle. Does he really think we would leave anyone in our family behind? I guess he just can't imagine a baby being apart of our family. Right now it's just an idea to him, maybe. I told him that the new baby will be apart of our family and will go wherever we go. He said, "Oh good!". He is fun to have a conversation with. His innocence is refreshing and I always get a big smile on face when he asks questions.

I had my six month check up last week. Can you believe I only have three months left? Wow, time is going by so quickly. I feel less prepared for this baby than I have in the past. I think it's because we don't have the money to go buy a bunch of stuff that we need like I did with the others. By this time with the others, I had stacks of newborn diapers and wipes, every piece of clothing you could think of for a newborn to six months, and much more. You could say that I was OVER prepared with the others. It's a wierd feeling not to be like that with this one. Oh well, we'll manage and I know things will work out okay.

Girls vs. Boys

Why is it so hard for some people (mostly guys) to understand the differences between boys and girls? It seems like in the last couple if days I’ve had to remind Thayne that the girls are GIRLS and he has to treat them as such. It’s like he forgets that we’ve had two girls in our family and not three boys. I know that they are extra sensitive and more emotional than normal while they are sick, so I should give him some slack, but I haven’t. When Jaed gets hurt you pat him on the head or even give him a quick hug and he’s ready to play again. With the girls, well…it’s a little more than that. You have to hug them, hold them, kiss the spot that hurts (which I did with Jaed until he was 2 ½ then he didn’t want it anymore) and wait until the are ready to go play again which could be a.s.a.p. or 5 or more minutes. If you don’t do it that way the girls will keep crying and then the small things turn into big things and they’re crying about 10 different things instead of just that one thing. I think I’ve shared this lesson with Thayne TONS of times since we started having girls and he normally does really well but this weekend he’s slack a little. He did make some comment about wanting his girls to be tough (and if you know my girls you know that they are tougher than Jaed in most circumstances) but being tough physically and being tough emotionally are two very different things.

I know it’s a little more extra work to calm the girls down than Jaed but in the long run it saves time and energy. Thayne has learned that lesson the hard way again this weekend. At one point he said, "Raising girls is a lot of work and exhausting!". HEHEHEHE!!! I would think he would have known that being married to a girl. AND we're having another girl in three months. There's no hope for him and his ideas that girls need to be tough. He'll be surrounded by girls and their emotions for the rest of his life. Wait...does that mean I'll have to keep reminding him about the differences between girls and boys are? Probably.

I do have to say that I have to remind myself to hug Jaed, kiss his cheeks and tell him I love him more. The girls come to me for it but now that Jaed is getting older he doesn't come for those things as often. The same situation happens to me with regards to Jaed. Even though he is a boy and seems to be tough emotionally he needs the hugs, kisses and "I love you's" that I constantly give the girls and sometimes I forget to do it as much as I do it with the girls. I want my kids to grow up feeling very comfortable hugging and saying "I love you" to family members and to help this along I need to work harder on saying it constantly to Jaed.

What type of sick person are you?

We have a house full of sick kids right now. That dang cold hit our house hard this weekend. Although, I do like to have all of them sick at the same, that way they get done around the same time too. It's funny how different they all are when they are sick. Jaed wants to be cuddled, hugged, mauled, and waited on. Josie wants to be left alone and checked on every once in a while and Indi....well...she's just a mean emotional sick person. She cries about everything, screams if you try to help her and hits and if you're not doing it right. WOW! I hope she doesn't get sick a lot in her life. Her poor future husband! Anyway, Jaed is a lot like me. I like to be cuddled, mauled and waited on constantly. It makes me feel like someone cares that I feel so sick. Josie is like Thayne. He just wants to be left alone and if I try to take care of him too much he feels bothered. He doesn't like to be touched or talked to when he is sick. Who knows where Indi gets her behavior from. It might be the worst of both me and Thayne put together.

It's hard to treat someone how they want to be treated and not how you would want to be treated. Even after nine years of being married we have to remind each other how we want to be treated sometimes. I always miss my mom when I'm sick because she knew exactly what I needed when I was sick. I love having a warm washcloth over my forehead, warm blankets, and I love to be asked about a million times if I need anything else. I could say "I don't feel good" as many times as I wanted and she would always respond in a very calm and caring way, "I know you are, Sis, what can I do for you?". Now I have to fight my kids for attention from my husband when I'm sick and I have to act like I'm dying to get the kind of sympathy that I want. It's pathetic. Oh well, that's life as a grown up, I guess. Maybe that's why I have my mom in the delivery room when I have my kids. She steps in and does the things that Thayne forgets (ie, washcloth on forehead, rubbing my arms, etc.) and when Thayne steps up to do it she backs off so he can feel like he's important. They make a great team and I feel well taken care of the whole time I'm in labor. What would I ever do without my mom? Not something I want to think about.


(Jaed, Josie and Indi laying on the couches watching a movie while they have a fever, runny noises and coughs. Poor guys!)

BIrthdays....blaww!

Today is my birthday. I've been trying to avoid it but it's not possible when Thayne has been counting the days down with the kids. My birthday use to be one of my favorite holidays. I think it was because I'm the youngest of six kids and was always so spoiled on my birthday by gifts and attention. It was great! Well, now that I'm a mom....it's just another ordinary day. I still have to cook, clean, referee, discipline, changed poopy diapers and wipe poopy bums. It stinks (literally, too). I think it's almost more of a depressing day...... of course, by my own choice. I miss having those birthday parties and inviting a tons of friends over to chat and gossip. But now with my party phobia, I don't think I would attempt that :).

Thayne really wants to take the kids to the store and let them pick out a gift for me. But I think I"m going to take them to the store and let them choose a toy for themselves. I really can't think of anything I want (that is within our budget) so I'd like to see my kids thrilled and excited. When my kids are excited and happy, it warms my heart. Thayne tried to argue with me about it but I reminded him that it's my birthday!

On a side note, Jaed has his first loose tooth. He's so excited about wiggling it. I get to wear another hat as a mom, the tooth fairy.

Pretend or not pretend...

Well I came home tonight from my craft club and Thayne and Jaed were watching star wars. This isn't the first time Jaed has seen star wars so he was familiar with the movie and knew what was going to happen. In the very last part of the movie one of the main guys is in a light saber fight and he ends up dying. I look over at Jaed and tears are streaming down his face. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I hate this part, Mommy!". It broke my heart. (I know most of your are saying to yourself, "He's too young for those movies!", well....try telling his dad that. I tried for months and lost the battle.) I looked at Thayne and I could see in his face he was just as concerned as I was. So for the next half hour Thayne and Jaed had a huge discussion on pretend, acting, and movies. I really think Jaed got it and understood that it wasn't real. Thayne has a great way of communicating with Jaed and doesn't stop until Thayne is convinced that Jaed understands.

After Jaed went to sleep I said to Thayne, "What do you think about what happened?" and Thayne mumbled something about Jaed being a little to young for that movie. I could have responded with "I told you so" but I've matured a little and decided that he knew I was right. I don't know if I'm mature enough not to bring it up in the future, though!

Candy for everyone!!

Wow, what a Halloween. I forget what it's like to go trick or treating in a neighborhood where people give out more than bubble gum and suckers. As soon as it was dark the kids were ready to put those costumes on and get out the door. Before we left the house we had a big discussion on saying "trick or treat" and then saying "thank you". We practiced it a couple of different times to make sure they each knew what was expected of them. We even talked about only knocking on doors that had a light, which Jaed made it his job to look for.

The first couple of doors were pretty successful. Great chocolate candy and happy kids (and parents!). Then Jaed started to get lazy with the "trick or treat" and "thank you" part and Indi started saying it before she even got to the door so the person couldn't hear her. We started to fall apart as a team. SO we re-grouped and went over the expectations again which seemed to take care of it for the most part. One thing we didn't go over is that you only knock, not knock and then open the door. Jaed did it the first time. He knocked, turned the door knob and opened the door. Thank goodness the man was almost to the door. I was so embarrassed. We apologized about ten times and then had to have another huddle about that one forgotten rule. Indi did it the second time, but she just knocked and pushed the door which happened to not be closed all the way. Again, there were several "I'm sorry" 's and another huddle. Finally about half way around the block we had things under control.

There were two houses that gave out normal size candy bars. Thayne and I were shocked. A lot of other houses just put handfuls of candy in our kids bags. I was a prepared mom and had brought extra bags in case the kid's bags got to full. I had to empty their bags twice in to mine because they got sooo much candy. The best part was it was all GREAT candy. Does it seem like I'm a little obsessed with the candy part? Well, I guess I am. The priviledge of being a parent was in my mind as I thought about how I couldn't wait to get home and go through their bags with them and pick out the ones I wanted. When I told Thayne that he just rollled his eyes but guess who was right beside me digging in their candy too. THAYNE!!! Yep, he was picking out his favorites and putting them aside. I know, it sounds so childish and ridiculous but it was soooo much fun.

We gave the kids 15 minutes to eat as much candy as they could (we didn't tell them that though, we do have some parenting skills) and then we put the candy away for the next day. I got the girls ready for bed and we stayed in their room singing TONS of songs since they were both on a sugar high and Jaed got to stay up with Thayne and pass our candy out to the trick or treaters. Jaed had so much fun doing that. I hear him say to some kids that came to the door, "Do you want two pieces or seven pieces". One boy responded, "Two" and the other one took the offer and responded, "I'll take seven".

Halloween was super fun and WE all are enjoying our trick or treat candy!!!

(Indi as a beautiful princess!)



















(Jaed as a ninja)




















(Josie as a unicorn)

Halloween fun...

Well here we are again, another Halloween and our kids no nothing about carving pumpkins. Both Thayne and I HATE carving pumpkins so we decided before we even had kids that we would not do that as a tradition in our home and so far we have had no complaints or from our kids. I do think we'll probably draw faces on pumpkins or I've actually seen fake pumpkins you can buy at craft stores that are carve-able, which I wouldn't be against. But right now, Halloween is all about costumes and candy, not pumpkins, for our family.

Jaed is a ninja this year, Josie is a unicorn, and Indi is a princess. I actually bought cheerleading outfits for the girls to wear for Halloween several months ago, but yesterday we went to a store that was having a HUGE Halloween sale (BIG MISTAKE). Indi saw this beautiful purple princess dress that she grabbed and wouldn't let go of. She threw the biggest fit and was crying hysterically when I took it away. My heart was breaking....and ....well...I GAVE IN. I know, I shouldn't have but I did. I confessed to Thayne and he just laughed at me. He knows that my girls can pull my heart strings faster than anyone can.

The Law School had a big halloween bash last night for law students and their families which the kids loved. They gave the kids "evidence" bags and the kids went trick or treating at the professor's office doors. Everyone commented on how dang cute Indi was in her purple dress. A couple of times Indi would do a little twirl for them if they told her how pretty she was. Our kids left the party with very full bags of candy. Indi was even dragging her bag because it was so heavy. I asked if I could help her with it and she said, "No mommy, I help it.". So I just let her drag it along beside her. Josie was our double dipper last night. Almost at every door she would say the routine "trick or treat" and try to grab as many hand fulls as possible before she was told to stop. At first I was so embarrassed but the professors would just laugh and say, "Oh she's a hungry unicorn, it's ok!". We tried to lecture her about it but nothing worked. Jaed even reminded her several times that she better only take one this time, but she was in her own world as usual.

I'll be posting pictures of their costumes tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have great stories to tell after Trick or Treating tonight!

Like Mother like son

I need to start off telling you a little story from my past so that you can understand the gene that I have passed on to my son.

When I was in 5th grade my parents let me get a neighborhood paper route. The first couple of weeks deliverying papers was fun but then it started to get old. My neighborhood friends started tagging along on my paper route and keeping me company which was nice. Then I slowly started letting them throw the papers to the door, and even roll the papers and put the rubber bands on. Within the next couple of weeks I had several neighborhood kids rolling ALL the papers, and deliverying them for me while I played at home and waited for them to finish and report how they did. I remember giving them each a dollar for the month for helping me. This went on for sometime until my parents found out. Boy, did I get into trouble. I had to give up my paper route and got a huge lecture about doing my own job.

Well yesterday we had a "cleaning party" here at our house and I sent Jaed to his own room to pick up his toys while Thayne and I cleaned the kitchen. I heard Jaed calling for Josie and Indi and then saw the girls running up the stairs to Jaed's room. When Thayne and I finished the kitchen, I decided to check on how Jaed was doing. When I got close to Jaed's door, I heard him say, "Ok Josie, now put all my legos in this bucket here. And Indi, you pick up my dragons and put them over there." I quietly peeked inside the room and saw Jaed seating on the bed with a book in his lap and the girls where crawling all over the floor picking up the toys. I guess Jaed thought they needed a bit more motivation because he said, "If you pick up all the toys girls, I'll let you play with three legos." Indi eagerly responded, "OK!". I decided to break up the slave labor scene and walked in the room. Jaed's eyes got huge and jumped off the bed and started picking up toys. I told the girls to go see dad and Jaed and I had a little talk about doing his own job.

Settling in

We've been in the house almost one week now and it feels so comfortable. My dishwasher is a huge time-saver and joy! The kids are enjoying the space as well. They have caught on to the rule that food stays in the kitchen rather quickly. I was sure this was going to bea constant fight but to my amazement they have done well. I even make them go to their rooms for an hour of "quiet time" and they are doing great with that. I get to relax, blog, and answer emails while they play in their rooms.

Thayne had a second interview with a large national insurance company today. He left yesterday and will be back later tonight. He really would like to get involved with corporate law so this would be a good fit for him. It would be a summer clerkship for him and then if all goes well over the summer they will hire him full time after his final year of law school. The company is based in Illinos so that's where we would be moving if all goes well with the interview. We should know more in about two weeks.

Jaed is having troubles in school again. I am hoping that it's the move that has disruptive his life a bit and that in a couple of weeks he'll settle down and start doing well.

Josie is also having a little trouble in her two schools. The biggest complaint is the lack of interest in participating in activities. The Joy School that she's in is getting a little more formal than I had hoped for, I think. Two moms have opted out of continuing for their own personal reasons and now I'm left to decided what to do with Josie. My in-laws will pay for a preschool for her if that's what I choose but I just think she's two young to have so much structure in one week. She gets the therapy preschool twice a week and that seems to be good for her, and the Joy School was suppose to be more fun and socialization, I thought. I guess I'll have to think about it some more and decided what's best for her and me.

The kids are so excited for Halloween. Jaed is counting down the days until he can put his costume on. It's so great to see them get excited about such a simple holiday. The Law School has a huge Halloween Party for law students and their families the day before Halloween. All the professors use their offices as "trick or treat" doors and the kids go from one office to the other and ask for candy. I think they get more candy doing that then they do in our own nieghborhood on Halloween night!

The big MOVE!

Ok, now to blog about the move to our new house. Thayne had a fall break last week and didn't have to got to school. We took advantage of the free time and made about two or three loads of boxes, to the new house, a day. By the end of week, we had everything but furniture over at the new house. I even unpacked several of the boxes we took over to the house so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed on the weekend. I know the kids were quite confused. We'd take their toys over and then return to the apartment with nothing. Josie, especially, was upset that her toys got to stay at the new house and she didn't.
On Saturday, we rented a Uhaul and waited for church members to come over and help us out. Thank goodness some showed up (Four great guys!!!!) to help Thayne load and unload all our furniture. Two guys even offered to take their shoes off in the new house and be the ones to carry the furniture from the door to whatever room I directed them. I was amazed at how careful they were not to ding the walls. Maybe I shouldn't be, but when we moved in the past furniture got broken, walls got dinged and we just had to throw up our arms and say "Oh well!". I should say that most of those moves were done by family (siblings) volunteers which we appreciate a ton but maybe you are more careful when you don't know the family moving as well. Who knows!
The worst thing to move was my large commercial size treadmill. Thayne has made comments before that the treadmill is a huge pain to move and since I dont' use it we should sell it. I either ignore him or tell him that if he talks about selling it again I'm going to get mad. I do use it.......when I want to. Ok, so it's not everyday, but it's my treadmill that he bought me and it's my business when I use it. I have gotten in a routine and used it everyday or every other day for a while, but then something happens and I miss using it several days in a row and my routine gets all messed up. I don't know why I feel like I have to explain myself about that stupid treadmill. I guess I just need to find the perfect excuse and writing it out always seems to help! :)
After all the furniture was in the new house, Thayne and I started putting together room by room. Of course, we started with the playroom....thinking that we could get that room ready for the kids and then they would play and leave us alone. We must be really dumb. Here we are, parents of three young children, and we actually thought that they would stay in one room of a new big house and not bother us at all. Can you believe we even got frustrated when they didn't do it? They just folllowed us from room to room and tried to help as much as possible.
When we finished the girls room and I put on their new princess comforter set, Josie and Indi were in heaven. They crawled into bed and pulled the comforter up to their chin and stayed still for several minutes. Indi had graduated from a toddler bed to her first twin bed and she was even more excited than Josie, I think.
We had bought Jaed a Star Wars comforter set for his birthday and when we put it on his bed he was thrilled. He jumped around and climbed in and out of his bed several times. He was sleeping on a futon but we got him a twin bed as welll so he was so excited. That night, all three kids slept all through the night without even one little peep. It was a great night for all of us!

Jaed's Birthday!

Well, I'm settled and ready to blog again. I think I'll start with Jaed's birthday party. After stressing about it for a week and driving myself insane, the party day finally came and I was ready as I was going to get. We had 4 kids RSVP, and I was praying that at least those 4 didn't get sick or forget about the party. My sister flew in from Washington state the day before so she was there to make the party fun even if no one showed up. So, we had everything ready by 12:45 p.m., and the party started at 1:30 p.m. at the park right next to our apartment. At about 1:05, the phone rang and it was a father of one of kids invited to the party wondering why no one was at the park yet. I hurry and grabbed an extra invitation that I had and looked at the time I had put on it and he was right! It said "1:00 p.m.". I thought I was going to die. I knew everyone had shown up and left because we weren't there and the party would have been a flop because of me. I apologized several times to the father on the phone and told him we would be there in less than 5 minutes. My sister and I grabbed the stuff and rushed the kids to the car and we drove 200 feet to the park. We set everything up and waited to see if anyone else was going to show up. To my amazement EVERYONE that RSVP'd showed up a few minutes later than we did (except the father that called) and the party was a success. I was thrilled and was able to relax and enjoy watching Jaed have a great time. At the end of the party, Jaed said "this was the best birthday ever, Mom!". Even with my bad luck with parties, this one was a complete success.

Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end after the party. Thayne had to leave half way through the party for an oral argument he had to give at school, so he took his keys (which I grabbed rushing out the door to get to the park) and the car and left. WELL..... as we gathered things up and started towards home, I realized I had no keys to the house and Thayne wasn't going to be home for at least another hour or more. My sister suggested that we just let the kids play at the park and wait for Thayne, which we did. Josie peed her pants three times and we had no extra clothes, Jaed and Indi played in the mud, and my sister and I were starting to get cold. I finally took Josie's shirt off and made her wear it as a skirt so that I could take her wet pants and underwear off. She had a sleeveless undershirt on under her shirt, and that was it. After about an hour we walked home and waited in front of the door for another 25 minutes but no Thayne. We decided to walk to a friend's house to call Thayne and see if he was on his way home or not. We had to walk to three different friend's house to find someone home but Thayne didn't answer his phone. As we were leaving the friend's house, Thayne had called back and my friend chased me down with his cordless phone. Thayne had just finished his oral argument and was on his way home. Ten minutes later we were all in the apartment, trying to get warm and relaxing on the couch.

WOW! What a day! Even after the second half of the adventure, Jaed still thought it was the best day ever.
























































(Jaed and his Aunt, my sister)

Keep checking in

We're in the middle of moving to the new house and my sister was in town visiting last week so I haven't had a minute to sit down and do much blogging. I'll update you all after this weekend. We should be settled in the new house and back to our routine. Keep checking back!!!

Throwing a party...

I absolutely hate throwing parties. I've thrown so many parties where only one person (or even none) show up and I"m completely embarrassed forever afterwards. Some how I seem to jinx any party I throw. I had a small birthday party for Indi and another friend who's child was turning and one person showed up, but my mom was in town so we just called it family party with friends to make me feel better. Now Jaed's birthday is right around the corner and I struggled with whether or not to throw him a party. Finally, I decided to go for it and I made really cute invitations and handed them out to all the boys in his class and a couple of good friends from church. The party is in three days and only two boys have RSVP'd. AHHHHHH!! I should be happy that at least two RSVP'd right? At least that's more than one. Well, Jaed will have fun with two or twenty friends....he doesn't care, so neither should I. I have no idea why it stresses me out so much. I guess I hate to feel "lame" and I do when the party is a flop. Maybe that's why I want several kids...then if no one shows up to a birthday party at least it's still populated with kids (all siblings) :). Maybe I"m getting crazy over nothing. I"m the worst about RSVP'ing and often times just don't do it but I still show up, so maybe there are other moms like me. My sister is coming into town tomorrow so she'll be here to make the party fun no matter who shows up. We'll be just fine....I'll keep telling myself that.
I have a friend who really wants me to throw a make-up party and I've been avoiding the topic with her for months cuz I'm scared to throw it and have NO ONE show up. That just seems so humiliating to me. I know she's gonna ask me again, and I'll probably cave in and have one but I"ll be praying the whole time that people show up. I know, it's ridiculous....but we're all allowed to have ridiculous fears, right? I have "get togethers" or scrapbook nights and am not even worried if my friends show up to those, so what is the difference between those and parties? Who knows. In my funny mind, there's a different. So maybe I should start thinking of parites as "get togethers" instead? Although, I"m horrible at trying to fool myself. It never works. I'll probably fear parties for the rest of my life, but I'll keep attempting them hoping that each one will be a HUGE success. Wish me luck!

Hmmm

I thought I would just post a little update of our family:

Thayne just finished one of his biggest projects for this semester so we may see him a little more until finals. He's had tons of job interviews but no catches yet. I know he's stressed about it but I know something will come around soon. He keeps telling me how much he enjoys his classes this semester and because of the more hours he's putting into studying, he's less stressed.

Jaed has been so good at school. He's gotten a penny everyday for those three skittles that he gets to buy. I can tell that he's very proud of himself as well. His teachers seem to really like him and I've heard them tell Jaed that he's a good example to the other kids. WOW!! I seriously never thought I would hear those words from one of his teachers. His teacher, last year, told us that he will ALWAYS be a difficult child for his teachers throughout his school years. Boy, was she wrong. Maybe I'll email her and brag about him :).

Josie has truly turned into a little girl. She now calls herself a "big girl" and thinks she can do anything that Jaed can do. The other day I asked Jaed and Josie to go get the table ready for dinner and I heard Jaed say, "Move, Josie, I'm the strongest and I can do it by myself!". Well that obviously made Josie mad. She said very loudly, "I'm strong too, Jaed!". Jaed informed her that girls were not strong, just boys. Josie yelled, "I'm strong Jaed, I'm strong!". Everything got quiet after that so I guess they worked it out.
Josie loves school so much. She gets pretty upset on the weekends when there is no school and even pouts about it. I haven't recieved any concerning letters from her teachers so I guess she's doing very well.

Indi has become quite the teaser. She is famous for ripping a toy out of Jaed and/or Josie's hand and running with it. And then when they tackle her to the ground and get the toy back she comes crying to me. I try and tell her that she can't take the toys away from them but within the hour she's doing it again.
I have had to assign jobs to my kids because they were fighting over who was going to do what. For example, when we leave the house, Indi is incharge of making sure the TV is off. If Jaed or Josie move towards the TV she yells, "NO, my job!" and they quickly back off. She loves to help pick up things too. She is really a good helper for only being two. It is a pleasure, not an extra job, to let her help.

Me, well I'm just taking care of my little family and trying to mentally prepare for another baby. Somedays I'm excited about the new baby and other days I'm full of anxiety. I know that as soon as the baby is here, I'll get us on a routine that works for me and things will be okay. It's amazing that even after 3 children I"m shocked when I feel the baby move. You would think that after several kids you would be familiar with the feeling but it's not true. Everytime the baby moves, I say to myself "There really is a baby in there!". Four more months is all that's left and with the holidays coming up, I'm sure it will fly by.

Chuckle

I took the kids to the grocery store with me today and Josie picked up a brochure of some kind and she opened it and started to follow the words with her finger while jabbering. Then all of sudden I heard her say, "Dear Hebenly Pader, tank u por dis day" (Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day..) and then she just started jabbering again. I said to her, "Is that what it says on that paper, Josie?" and she just shook her head yes and kept on repeating it.

Boy or Girl?

Well, well, well.......we went for the ultrasound today and the nurse took forever to get down to the parts we really wanted to see. Then when we got down to the real thing, the babies legs were crossed. So she went back up and showed us the heart, spine, fingers, brain, etc., and then she went down again. This time she saw what she wanted to see and announced, "I think you're having a girl!". Of course, I stop thinking when she said, "I think...". But the more she pointed things out the more she was determined that it was a girl. So, I guess it's official...we will be adding another girl to our family. I was actually relieved. I just think girls are so much easier for me to deal with, but I am basing that decision after only having one boy. I don't want people to think that I don't love Jaed as much or that he was a hard child, I just seem to relate better to girls and I understand them more, I think. I remember being a teenager and saying several times to others and myself, that I wanted to have all girls. I think it will be mostly true :). I am still kind of nervous that I"ll have the baby and the Dr. will say "It's a boy!", so I don't think I"ll go crazy on the clothes shopping.

When we told Jaed, he didn't seem to care a whole lot. He kept saying that he thought the baby was going to be a boy but when we told him it was a girl he said, "Oh" and that was it. I asked him if he was sad that it wasn't a boy but he said "No" so I think he's just excited that it's a baby! Josie gets bugged that we go to the Dr. and don't come home with a baby, she doesn't care what sex it is. And Indi can't even comprehend that I have a baby in my tummy, so the day that this baby is born will be an adventure of each one of them (and us, of course)! Thayne said that he's glad that we have Jaed and if we have only girls from now on he's fine with it. So it's going to be GIRL POWER in our house!

No more poopies!!

I was laughing at Indi today and thought I'd share the chuckle. Indi hates poopy diapers and even more, hates throwing them away. You either have to hand her a little tiny corner of the diaper for her to grab hold of and take to the trash or shove the diaper under her arm like a football and say, "Hurry, run, Indi" and she takes off running towards the trash. This morning after I changed ANOTHER (she has 3-4 a day) dirty diaper, I showed her the diaper and she started to whine. I told her that it's her diaper and she has to throw it away, so she came over to me and lifted up her arm waiting for me to shove it under it. I did as she wanted and said "Hurry, Indi, run!" and she took off, threw it in the trash and looked back at me. I clapped my hands and said, "Yay, you did it." and she smiled and bowed. She's never done that before. I laughed and laughed. She's our little star!

A whole new kid..

Jaed's teachers have caught on to the idea of rewards for good behavior and have implemented a reward system in class. They have all of the children's names on a chart and at the end of the day, if they have been good then they get a penny and a sticker by their name. They, then, use the penny to buy three skittles from the teacher. If they get 5 stickers at the end of the week then they get a toy (cheap one). Last week was the first week using this reward system and Jaed got 5 stickers! They use stop light colors to determine how the kids are doing. They all start on green and if they get a warning they get moved to yellow and if they still aren't behaving they move to red which means they don't receive a penny or sticker. Jaed got one yellow last week but still got his penny and sticker. I was so proud of him. He could still be kinda bad and settle for yellow everyday but he strives to get green! The teacher told me, today, that Jaed is like a whole new child. He listens, behaves and is a huge help. WHAT??? My little Jaed??? It's a MIRACLE!!! No, I'm just kidding. We have always known that he loves rewards (especially candy) and can really behave if he chooses to. The difference here is that his teachers are constantly reminding the kids to stay in "green" and so it's constantly on his mind. We tried rewarding him at the end of the day if he was good but I think he would forget about it and be naughty sometimes. I love his preschool. They really try to find out what works for the kids and what they can do to have an environment where they can teach and the kids can learn the best. It's a true relief to not dread picking him up because I didn't want to here that he was naughty. Now, when I go to pick him up, I just wondering if he just got a warning or not. Life is bliss (at the moment)!

From the Past to the Present

I was looking through some old pictures of the kids and I thought I would share them. It's amazing how fast they grow!

Here's Jaed, before and now:





































































Here's Josie, before and now:













































































Here's Indi, before and now:





























































Here the are together:

Jaed and Josie





















Josie and Indi