Potty Training

Thought I would post a picture first...

I think this one is funny. Plus its a good tummy shot for those of you who havent seen me in a while!

Luke and I spent the better part of this week at home potty training. I think I gave up at least once a day and then quickly decided to stick it out and keep at it! We started on Tuesday using what I like to call the "Jump Right In" method. I had been telling him for days that he was going to stop using diapers and only wear big boy underwear which meant he would need to go on the potty like other big boys. He seemed pretty excited about this. So thats what we did and he went through 8 pair of underwear that first day and only used the potty once! I did put a diaper on him at nap time which he kept dry, so there was some hope!

On Wednesday morning he woke up dry and I think he only went through 3 pair of underwear and used the potty twice. A little improvement. Thursday was a great day! He used one pair of underwear all day and only had 2 accidents. Friday was about the same and he actually looked down with surprise twice when he needed to go but before he actually did go so that I knew to take him. So far today we have had no accidents and he is napping right now. Though I know we have a ways to go before I can feel really comfortable with him, Im very proud of the progress he has made. He seems proud of himself too. Every once in a while he gets upset and doesnt want to go sit on the potty and one day he was so fed up he kept asking me to put a diaper on him! But when he does go he gets very excited, especially when he gets some M&Ms afterward!

We leave tomorrow for our last family trip for a while. We are going to a lake cabin with the other side of Will's family until Thursday. It should be fun and relaxing. After that Luke is going home with Will's parents for about a week. Im looking forward to all the free time I will have to myself and I have lots of plans for getting things ready for Cole. Im a little nervous about being away from him for that long though. I know I will be missing him like crazy! He of course, will have a great time with Mammie and Jagen and probably wont even want to come home:-)

Oh Boy!

Well, can you guess from the title what we are going to have? That's right another Boy! I'll admit I was sort of hoping for a girl but the thought of Luke having a little brother to play with is pretty exciting and I just can't wait to meet this little guy!

I think he looks a lot like Luke. In fact she showed us this picture before we knew it was a boy and I said to my mom "It looks like a boy to me".

We have decided on the name Cole Vincent. Cole we just like and Vincent is my dad's name and actually has been passed down for several generations.

The doctor said everything looks good. Im now 24 1/2 weeks but she said that Cole is actually measuring more like 27 weeks. She thinks he may end up being bigger than Luke was. Since Luke was 8 lbs 12 oz (right on time) Im hoping not too much bigger!

Busy Busy

Well, I knew this month would be busy with all of our traveling but I think it has turned out to be even more so than I thought. Though, I have to say that our trips have all gone smoothly and have been very relaxing and fun. And the fun is not over yet!
After being home from San Francisco for about a week we left for Waltonia where we stay in some cabins with Will's family down on the Guadalupe River. On the way, we stopped in at his cousin Alex's Eagle Scout ceremony which Will had a part in and turned out very nice. Luke and I spent Sunday through Friday at Waltonia while Will went home on Thursday. We did lots of visiting and eating but Luke's favorite parts were the swimming in the river and playing with all the animals they have there. On the property were donkeys, chickens, 2 baby pigs, and a mama goat with 3 baby goats that just wander around by all the cabins. Luke and his cousin Layne had so much fun with them.
When we went swimming Luke wore his water wings and decided that he was very independent in the water then. He got very annoyed if anyone tried to help him or hold on to him! He would climb the ladder of the floating dock all by himself and then jump in with everything he had, many times going under and coming back up saying "again!"
On Friday we hitched a ride with Aunt Ye-ya and Layne to San Angelo. From there my sister Kara and her boyfriend Michael picked us up and brought us to my parents house to spend the week with them. That is where we are now and we are having a great time with NaNa and Grandpa. We are planning to be home Friday or Saturday and then leave again the next Sunday for Inks Lake with more of Will's family.
Oh, and some great news... I find out what this baby is on Monday the 23rd, when we get back!! Expect a post!

Still Alive

I know its been a while but I promise Im still alive! I have been waiting until I could post some pictures along with this but for various reasons that is not working out so they will have to come later. We got back in town on Friday evening after a long but exciting week away. Last Saturday we met Will's parents in Dallas to hand Luke off to them. They took him home to San Angelo with them. Then, Will and I flew out Sunday morning for San Francisco. Will needed to go for work and decided it would be a nice surprise to take me along as well for our anniversary. He had saved up frequent flyer miles and hotel points so we didnt have to pay a lot extra for me to come. It was only 10:30 am when we got there(they are 2 hours behind us here) so we had lots of time that day for exploring the downtown area where our hotel was. We went to Fisherman's Wharf and walked along all the touristy piers. We could see Alcatraz from there. There was one pier where all these sea lions come and sleep on the docks and just pile on top of each other making all kinds of noise! We were so tired that night from all the walking we did that we just ordered pizza in our hotel room.

On Monday, we got up early after going to bed at 8:00 the night before (which really felt like 10 to us), and headed to Muir Woods National Monument. Its part of the Redwood Forrest. We roamed around there for probably 2 1/2 hours and took lots of pictures. It was very pretty. Then we drove up the coast and got out at one of the beaches to walk around. I took my shoes off and walked in the water-it was freezing. That afternoon we went for several rides around town on the cable cars and historic street cars which are electric. We also went to the Cable Car Museum which was probably Will's favorite thing. They let you see the big wheels that run the cables that are underground all over downtown. This is what the cable cars grab onto to carry them around.

On Tuesday we drove down the coastal highway to Monterrey. The highway runs right along the coastline and was really beautiful. We saw a couple lighthouses and some people surfing (in wet suits of course). We went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium which was probably my favorite thing. They had huge tanks with severaly kinds of sharks, and other kinds of big fish. I never knew tuna fish were like 200-250 lbs.

On Wednesday Will dropped me off at the airport and I flew back to Dallas by myself with a lay-over in Denver. Will had to stay to get his work done. My sister had driven with Luke to my Grandma's house in Bedford so I met them there. I was so excited to see Luke and he seemed at least semi-happy to see me. He had a great time with Mammie and Jagen and playing with his cousin Layne! We went to a small water park on Thursday that we all really enjoyed and then picked Will up at the airport on Friday and headed home.
Whew, what a long week (and post, sorry) but it was lots of fun.

This Is Getting Ridiculous

At least twice a day I get asked the question "So, do you know if its a boy or a girl yet?". If you are one of these people asking, please know that this is NOT what is annoying me. I am just as anxious to know as the rest of you...no, probably more so. My doctor waits until 24 weeks to do the second sonogram. Dont get me wrong, she has very valid reasons. One is that the insurance will only pay for it if it is medically necessary and since our insurance pays 100% in these cases I wont complain about that. Another reason is that she really doesnt like to do many sonos because they are a little distressing to the baby and she doesnt see any reason to do that if its not necessary. And finally, because she doesnt want to do too many, she wants to make sure that the ones that she does will really count so she wants to wait until she can get a very thorough look at the heart and brain. That, of course means the bigger the baby is, the better. And so, we wait...

But it is so frustrating when all the pregnant people around me get to find out what they are having much earlier in their pregnancies! Some of these are ladies whose doctors do a sonogram much earlier like 16-18 weeks and some of them have friends in high places (aka...the sonogram place) that will sneak them in. I have one such friend that is about 6 weeks behind me in her pregnancy and she was told 3 weeks ago that there was a 90% chance she was having a boy. Now, I would not decorate the nursery based on one done at 11 weeks, but at least she has some idea of what direction to go.

I suppose I will continue to try to be patient, its not like I really have a choice. Unless there is a sonogram tech out there, willing to sneak me into the office: ) I guess its better than back in the "old" days when you really didnt know until the baby came out!

Rubber Boots

Luke loves his new rubber boots and wont hardly wear any other shoes. Even when we are going to church he asks to wear them. He gets up every morning and puts them on, even before he is out of his pj's, and goes outside to walk around in them. Thats what he did this morning when he went out to help Will mow the front yard!

The Kids

Well, this week turned out to be not so interesting. It rained a lot and we were stuck inside for the most part. It finally cleared up today and ended up being gorgeous out. Luke and I went to meet our friends Jenny and Bryson and little Hudson at Chick-fil-a for lunch and to do some playing. We ended up seeing 3 more friends there and got lots of good visiting in.

I thought I would share a picture that I took a few weeks ago of 2 of our kids sitting in the back seat of the car. We took some burgers out to the lake one Sunday evening. It was so nice and there was no one else there so we could let the dogs run as much as they wanted. Ruger spent most of the time swimming in the water. You cant see it but Luke is sitting to the far left. Ruger sat in the middle with Chester on the right side and they stayed that way all the way back from the lake. It really did feel like we had our 3 kids sitting back there, especially when they all fell asleep!