What a difference a couple weeks makes....

Jake went back on track for Kindergarten at the beginning of January. I thought he would be so excited to go back to school. He loved school... he loved his friends, his teacher, being away from home, being the big kid... he loved everything about school. But to my surprise, he wasn't too excited. Every morning was a fight. He would squawk, he would squirm, he would tell me he didn't want to go to school, he wanted to stay home, he didn't have time for school. The list goes on and on.
I started resorting to bribery. Terrible I know, but hey if it works, I am so going to do it! So every morning, I would tell him if he went to school, he could play Lego Star Wars with dad on the PS2 when dad came home from work. This worked for a couple of days, but he still just wanted to stay home. Too bad for him, I am a tough momma and he HAS to go to school, that is unless of course he is ill, then I would let him stay home.
Fast forward to this week... he has been back in school going on a month. I don't know what happened but Tuesday I went in to wake him up for school. He rubs his eyes, lifts his head from his nice warm pillow and asks.... "Is it Kindergarten today?"
I am prepping for a huge fight and I said, "Sure is Jake!"
He jumps up looks at me and says "YESSSSSS!!!!"
Yesterday, he woke up early, I didn't have to go in and wake him. He got up, came and got me and told me he wanted to have Oytmeal for breakfast (that's how he pronounces it, it makes me smile so I don't correct him! BAD MOMMY!) I go to the kitchen, and prepare his breakfast. He comes in a couple minutes later, fully dressed, shoes and socks are on, and ready to go. He sits down, eats his breakfast and asks me to comb his hair.
I don't know what happened to change his mind! But frankly I am happy as ever! He is back to his old self when it comes to school. I hope it lasts! This is by far the hardest part of Year Round school!

Do you see what I see?

Yesterday I had an appointment with my OB. It went really well. My Little Girl's heart was beating strong, and she was swatting at the little tool he uses to hear the heart beat! (Fiesty like her mother!) These past few weeks, I have had some pretty bad anxiety. I worry about just about everything. What if she is born a boy (not that I would love her any less, but I have been preparing for a GIRL!) What if she has a heart defect? What if, What IF, WHAT IF!!! To top it off, I have had a cold that has lingered for the past three weeks or so. With it came congestion and that yucky gooey throat feeling, add Little Missy pushing up on my lungs and I start freaking out that I can't breathe! Needless to say I have been a bit of an emotional mess. (Trust me, I have been, you can ask Turtle or my Mom, I am pretty sure they will back me on this one!)

Back to the appointment, I told my Dr. about this anxiety I am having. It's unreal! I broke into tears in his office, and he told me that the best thing to do would be to let me see this little girl via ultrasound. He got me right in with the Sonographer, and VOILA! I got to see this little princess. She is Healthy! She moves alot (although I don't feel her like I did the boys!) and she is growing... FAST! In fact they estimate she weighs about 4 lbs 12 oz. right now! Ummmm YEAH, I still have 7 weeks til the due date! She is going to take after her brothers!

The sonographer was FANTASTIC! I love this lady! She has done all the ultrasounds for all three of my pregnancies, and honestly, she is great! She lets me ask questions (nothing is too dumb to ask her!) she even took a 3D pic of my little girl! This is what she looked like yesterday!

Breaking News!!!!

Warning!!!! Potty talk is contained in this message!
Yep! That's right Joe is Potty TRAINED! He is doing AWESOME! We started the week of Christmas. (Yes, I had completely lost my mind!) As if all the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready wasn't enough, I decided that was the week to start working on saying goodbye to the diapers. Turtle and I knew Joe was ready... he didn't think he was, but we were pretty certain he was. Something about him going in his room, closing the door, and doing his business then coming out when he was done gave us the hint that it was time.
I decided to do something I didn't do for the Jake man. I decided to buy one of those fancy shmancy musical potties. You know, the one that plays a cheer for you everytime you go potty! Joe had had some bad experiences with the "Big" potty, so I thought this was the only way to go. Luckily it worked. He completely dug it! It would play a cheer and he would just beam with laughter and pride! He learned how to make himself go, he thought that was pretty nifty.
For the next week or so, he would have accidents. Each time he would come to me and say, "It wasn't my fault!" I secretly laughed inside, because I could see myself saying that as a kid too! But he was still trying, and he would go #1. Now for the other half of business. This really scared him. I don't know why he was so frightened, but he was. He would hold it for DAYS! Like three days! I would put a diaper on him just so he would go because I didn't want him to get sick. That worked for a couple of days, but then he was back to holding it in. Finally... he DID IT! It was 12:55am on Tuesday of this week... but he DID IT! I was so excited! I thought! YES!!! We have made a breakthrough! Tuesday he still struggled with it... but Dad came home, and worked some magic and he DID IT AGAIN! Then Yesterday, he became a full fledged, self proclaimed "POOPIN MACHINE!" He has done phenomenal. He wakes up when he has to go to the potty. He does this all on his own! My goodness! I am so proud of him!
A special thanks to big brother Jake.... he would entice and bribe Joe with anything he could to get him to do the business! He would offer his Optimus Prime for an entire FIVE MINUTES if Joe would do his business! Jake would cheer and clap and celebrate Joe's every accomplishment!I am so proud of both my boys!
And to add to all the excitement! I AM DIAPER FREE!!! For another 6-8 weeks!

What do Engineers do for fun?

This weekend we had some friends from Turtle's work over for dinner and fun. It was completely entertaining! We had such a phenomenal time. They brought their wives and their adorable munchkins, and my boys were in H-E-A-V-E-N Heaven! They loved it! Jaker got to hang out with another boy named Jake who happened to be about a foot taller than him, but who's gonna let that stop him from wrestling with him! Jokester met a Sophie.... a very cute little girl that has just about as much spunk as he does. Seeing those two interact was worth the entire evening! I loved it!
The guys and the wives enjoyed the socializing. The kids, well... they entertained themselves doing just about anything from playing the trains, the playground downstairs, blocks, and of course, wrestling! To me, there is no better way to spend an evening than having lots of good food, good conversation and of course...

ROCK BAND!!!!

Building towers...their dads are engineers ya know!

Sophie with the magnet letters, & Jaker and Jake wrestling in the background!

Thank you all for coming out! We enjoyed it and hope you all did too!