Wednesday, October 2, 2013

ummm

I really can't think of what to title this blog right now. I guess I will just write it and see what I come up with...maybe. I was informed that my updates on Sydnee are quite funny so I felt I needed to do some more. Sydnee has taken to "watching" movies what she takes a bath. Really, my sister gives her a bath and they play music on her iPhone. She thinks that's movies on the phone. It makes me laugh that the terminology she comes up with we all seem to use. It's not baby talk, it's just how she sees it, if we correct her, we are wrong, so we just use those phrases. But she sings the songs around the house. Recently she has sung "God is bigger than the boogie man" by Veggie Tales. It's hilarious because she will run to her room, sit on her bed and start singing: " When I"m lyin' in my bed, and the furniture starts screamin'". Then she jumps up and runs into the room and then finishes as much as she can remember about the song. She will do this forever. And then she just runs around singing different songs. So funny! I sometimes wonder if that is really my child. I mean I know I was there when I gave birth to her, but her personality just seems so far out. And then I was told today that Sydnee acts just like me...well that they can see where Sydnee gets her craziness from. I don't really run around the house singing Veggie Tale songs...usually. I do see her father in her when it comes to breaking rules. I told her just yesterday, "Sydnee, don't jump from that (the ottoman) to the couch. It will give you owies." She looked right at me, pulled her rocking horse over, stood on it and jumped to the couch. I guess her father can deal with that when she out-maneuvers him...and she will...I can feel it.

She also likes to state facts. For example:

She likes to wake and tell us she is "All done." As if it was a question. In her mind, I imagine she is saying, "I'm all done sleeping. I don't need any more of this. Where is my movie?" But yes, it's the first thing she says, followed by, I want a snack.

She also tells us when RJ poops. It's no longer shooey...It's poop. She asked today if he got it on his butt. I told her we don't use butt in this house but bottom. Her exact words were "Oh sorry, bottom". But when she does say poop it sounds hilarious because one of my co-workers who helps take care of her is from Mexico and so Sydnee mimics how she speaks and Syd says poop with a Spanish accent. It's great fun to be around Syd. (On a side note, Buzz Lightyear flies like Dumbo...she has informed me of that).

Sydnee knows our names. She frequently yells out. "MICHAEL! He spit up!" Or "MICHAEL come here!" She does call me Tabitha sometimes. It sounds like Tabta...I just keep telling her I'm mom. She says...oh sorry Ms. Mom...I guess that is my name now. She calls out Susanna's name at dinner. We will be sitting down and she will yell out: "SUSANNA! Come eat!, Susie, time to eat!" Sadly, most of the time Susanna isn't here. She just likes yelling it I guess.

OH and some updates on RJ. He is a growing boy! I had to take him to the dr. 2 weeks ago because he had some redness in his...well you know and I was worried. So I took him in. They weighed him. 13lbs 10oz. He is only 3 months. That means he has gained 5lbs since birth. Nothing was wrong with him by the way. Just some irritation.  He is currently in a growth spurt. He just eats and sleeps and whines when he is awake. I think he has a latent giant gene. He will be huge! Lol. He has a new nickname thanks to those I work with. He is now called "hit man". He can hit anyone with spit up. It's an art really. I think he is ready for food too. He watches us eat. I have given him a little cereal and he likes it but I think it gives him gas and makes him poop a lot! He also had a new hat. We are trying to prevent the helmet and we bought a tortle. It is a stocking cap that has a ridge so he is forced to keep his head going the other way. We call him tortle-head. It's really cute. I'll try and get a picture.

That's about all I have for now. In the words of Sydnee: "I gotta get out of here!"

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Ryne 2 months

Our baby boy is growing up! I can't believe how fast it has seemed to go this time around. Probably because I am chasing after Sydee on a daily basis and am missing some of his littleness. He had a good visit but we did find out he has a small case of torticollis. His forehead is growing out crooked because of it. However, he has gained his weight back and then some!

Head - 40 1/2 cm - 61%
Weight - 12.5 lbs - 64%
Height - 23.5" - 69%

Yeah R.J.!!

So back to the stuff we found out. He had to have a hip ultrasound because he was breech during most of the pregnancy. Being breech might have also caused his torticollis issue as well. But he had a clean bill of health after the ultrasound!! Go God!! I had called my friend Mel in regards to his torticollis and tried to get some ideas on how to fix it at home. She gave me some stuff to do and it worked wonders! By the time we got to the physical therapist he had already shown much improvement. The PT thought it would have been much worse since she was seeing him at 2 months but she said what we were doing at home was helping. I am so thankful! Our son is in the 20th percentile of babies with torticollis as for how he leans and looks. She also said that his torticollis is most likely caused by this head having a flat spot, not his head having a flat spot because of the torticollis. He had to be backwards in this too. But we have what we need to do and we are hoping and praying that we can avoid the helmet!


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Yep! You drive me crazy!

So this last week I have really seen part of Sydnee's personality come out. Or maybe I just notice when some things she does are just absolutely so funny that I can't help but wonder, whose child is that? I love how she says "love" or any word with an L in it. Her love kind of sounds like "lub" but with more of a long "u" sound and she somehow rolls her L's. So we really like it when she says "I'm going to see Uncle Alan in a little bit." It sounds like "I'm seeing luncle lalan in a lolttle bit." It can be fun having a kid! Sometimes.

Sydnee likes to say, "Yep"

Me: Do you want some orange juice?
Syd: Yep. Blue cup
Me: You want it in a blue cup?
Syd: Yep.

Me: Did you go teetee in the potty?
Syd: Yep. Now I get chocwate (chocolate)

And the conversations never end.

She hasn't figured out the thought process of "why" yet. So we aren't at the stage where I know I will end up saying: BECAUSE I SAID SO! but we are at the discovery stage.

In the garage with her daddy:

S: What's that?
M: A lawn mower
S: What's that?
M: A weed-eater
S: What's that?
M: A lawn mower
S: What's that?
M: A weed-eater

It's a good thing he is patient because they did that for about 5 minutes. She knows what they are now. And she asks what everything is called! At least she is learning and remembers!

Other Sydnee-isms that make us laugh:

Going to the potty.

Syd: Can lion come?
Me: Sure, lion can come
(in the bathroom)
Syd: Ok lion, you watch shower curtain
(lion faces shower curtain while Sydnee goes potty)

At dinner waiting for everyone to finish.

Syd: All done!
Michael: Aunt Susie's not done
(15 second pause)
Syd: All done now?
Me: No, she's not all done
(15 second pause)
Syd: All done now?
Susie: I'm almost done
Syd: All done!
Me: No, she has a few more bites
(Syd peers around the tea and looks at her plate, it's empty.)
Syd: All done
Me: We need to ask Aunt Susie if she is all done
Syd: Please Susie all done? (emphatic use of hand signs as well)

Moral of the story? Sydnee does not like to wait to be done.

But the real kicker is when I realized how much she listens and repeats what is said. It is  very humbling.

Getting in her booster seat. Her brother is crying in his bassinet. I haven't had any coffee yet and she needs to show her independent streak.

Syd: I do it myself
Me: Please Syd, let me help.
Syd: No, I do it!
Me: Oh Syd!
Syd: You drivin me crazy

Obviously I say that last part too much. I keep thinking it's better than telling her how frustrated she is making me, but I guess anything comes across as frustration. So "Yep", my kid know that she "drives me crazy!"

Thursday, August 8, 2013

All before Noon

We have had an exciting day to say the least. I am hoping this afternoon isn't so crazy. To start off, we were up by 7 am. This means my children had 5 hours to make my life crazy. But it wasn't my children who started the crazy off. No, it wasn't even my husband. It was the ANTS! I am really starting to dislike this insect. They are everywhere! We clean, we spray, we clean, we spray and they still show up! Last night Michael sprayed the whole living and kitchen area to kill the ants and I cleaned the floor with enough bleach to make you feel woozy. And then we found them in our bathroom this morning. Right on the other side of the kitchen wall is our bathroom. They were everywhere. Mostly in my wet bathing suit which was on the bathroom counter. I mean, I know Michael said he wanted the bathroom organized so we could use the whole counter, but I mean it didn't have to get to this extreme! He didn't really plant the ants there, but the bathroom is clean. Maybe it was just bad karma because I didn't respect the double sinks. I mean, we have never had two sinks before and I used mine to store all my stuff until I could organize as I see fit. So maybe it's my fault? Well I left the ants until the kids would take a nap. No use poisoning my children.

So back to when they get up. I have to BRIBE my daughter with food and movies just to use the potty. So I said no orange juice until you try to potty. And boy did she potty! She had so much pee because she woke with a dry diaper! I was so proud of that and I feel like we have been pretty successful in the potty training area. Then we had breakfast and she wanted to go outside. So we played outside. Then we came in and she played inside and finally go bored and I turned on her favorite...the lion movie AKA The Lion King. So we watched the movie. RJ was playing and sleeping and just being great. In fact, he is a great baby. He has really taken to sleeping in his bassinet. Another small victory! But Sydnee finished her movie and wanted to have a snack so I let her snack and then I needed at least an hour of activity to keep her focused before lunch and nap time. Swimming wouldn't cut it because my suit had ants all over it and hers was still dirty from yesterday. So I said let's paint! She helped me get out all the paint and the table cover and her cardboard to paint on and I gave her the palette of paints and started to make dinner. We are having twice baked potatoes by the way. Well after I put the potatoes in the oven and got RJ up to feed him, I thought, she can do this by herself. She is doing great. Her hands are covered in paint but that's not a big deal. And then she said, "All done!" I asked her to wait until RJ finished eating (at least finish nursing one side) and then I got up to clean off her "hands"


She got to take a bath in the sink and in the tub. There is still paint in her hair and in her eye lashes. I think she had fun. That's the important part right?

So then she had her lunch and I finished nursing RJ and she went down for her nap. I ate my lunch and put RJ down so I could clean the bathroom. Well I remembered the potatoes in the oven. There is a reason you poke holes in the potatoes. I just didn't realize how important that was until now.


They explode...in case you didn't know. But I had cleaning to do so I will deal with those later. I went into our bathroom and I cleaned and organized and washed all the towels and floor mats. And then I sprayed. I am sure I sprayed too much for such a small space because it smells in there now, but I wanted to kill any and all ants. I have started to feel like a story I read in high school. Leiningen vs. the Ants. Now granted, these ants are not flesh eating, but I feel like they have taken over the whole house. Hopefully we will have killed a lot and my plan is to spray once a week for several weeks to make sure we keep them away.

Well now I'm off to fix my potato mess! Wish me luck!

Friday, August 2, 2013

It's Potty Time with Sydnee!

Well let me start off by saying that I have given potty training a half-hearted effort since she discovered the potty and wanted to try to go on it. I started putting her in pull-ups in November of last year and thought we would eventually work our way to the potty and it would be super easy. Then I started working and it just never came around and I let it get away from us. We did try one weekend and she held her pee in for so long that when she went to bed that night she peed through a diaper, her clothes and had a large puddle on her bed. I didn't even try the next day. Then we had RJ. Well I had to buy diapers for him and her at the same time. I looked at the total and I thought, I have to do something about this! This is so expensive and crazy. And then two weeks ago, I found a blog on Pinterest about potty training and how to go about it. I had heard other ideas and I thought, "I can do this!" And yes, we are potty training with a 5 week old in the house but I was determined to go back to work next week with a fully potty trained kiddo. So here is how our week has progressed in potty training.

At the bottom I will post the site I took my potty training ideas from but here is what we started with on Monday. I had 5 pairs of little girl panties, 1 bag of Pretzel M&M's ( why pretzel? they were on sale), 3 "poop" prizes", 1 package of stickers, 1 kid potty and a lot of prayer. The weekend before, we talked to Sydnee about being potty trained. She has the Elmo Potty Train book and we read that a few times and she told people she was going to be potty trained next week like Elmo. She was very excited. This is an idea I took from the blog I read. So when Monday rolled around I got up and had everything ready. I showed her the prizes and told her when she had to go potty to tell me or just go use her potty.

Monday:
Sydnee wasn't too thrilled about having to go without a diaper. She kept asking to have it put on so she could run around. I told her big kids don't wear diapers and she was going to be potty trained. No more diapers. I tried to keep her in the kitchen because I didn't really want to chase her around the house and worry about pee in a corner or anything like that. And it worked for the most part. Then she had her first accident. She didn't even try to go potty in the potty all morning. Around 9 she peed all over the laundry room floor and cried. She did not like the feeling of pee running down her leg. I mean, who could blame her! I cleaned it up and told her that feeling is when she needs to use the potty. And then we went on with our morning. By now she was tired of all the stuff in the kitchen and wanted to watch a movie in the living room. It is right off the kitchen and I told her, if she goes in there, she has to sit on her potty. So for the next hour or so, she sat on her potty and watched a movie. Then she "accidentally" went potty in the potty. She was so excited! She ran up to me and said "I went potty! I get chocolate!" So I praised her and gave her chocolate and we cleaned her potty out. And that was pretty much all the I had to do for her. She knew the feeling and the whole rest of the day she used the potty when she felt the urge. We had a few problems when Daddy came home because he was distracting, but she would start to go, stop herself, run to the potty and then finish. We were very proud of her. So if she went the whole time without accident she got 2 M&M's and if she started somewhere else and finished in the potty she got 1. She gets 4 if she poops but she didn't want to even try that. So she only wore a diaper for nap and bedtime. She wet a little during both so I am glad we kept those on her.

Tuesday:
We got up and I tried to get her to potty. She didn't want to but I told her she needed to try. So she sat for all of 2 seconds and was done. OH well. I let her put panties on around 10 because I wanted her to get used to taking them off when she went potty. The blog I read said to do naked baby for 3 days because they still have lots of accidents. Well we only had 1 real accident on the first day and I thought, ehh...what's the big deal. I will get back with why I should have followed that plan. But she had a minor accident in her panties the first time she went potty. She started to go and stopped leaving a few little drops in her 'drawers' as her daddy likes to call them. So she went without for a little bit and then I put some new ones on her. I followed the advice on that one. She went all day without any more accidents until her daddy got home. She just didn't get her panties all the way down before she started to go and we were quickly running out of panties! The only downside was that she hadn't pooped in the potty yet. She hadn't gone in 2 days because she didn't want to! I was hoping for a successful poop on Wednesday so I could run some errands and try out our new potty training! I really needed to go to Target!

Wednesday:
With the last of our panties, these are the Gerber training kind, we set out for another successful day. She goes on her own. She doesn't need reminding. She actually says "Uh Oh I need to go potty!" and goes by herself. Then announces she 'needs chocolate', like the she "needs" another whole in her head. But she played and didn't have any issues that I could tell. And then IT happened. Right in her Gerber panties. She had been running around like some Risky Business character (t-shirt, white undies and sunglasses - Thanks Uncle Alan!) and I smelled it. We cleaned her up and I made her go without for a half hour. This is where the naked baby would have played out well if I would have followed that advice but that is in the past now. Oh well.  She still wanted to sit on the furniture. No panties=no furniture for her so she waited it out and then we put some back on. Needless to say, my Target trip was postponed until the evening. She had another poop accident that night and I thought, well she might have to do naked baby all over again. I feel kind of like I messed that whole process up. However, I have talked to several people and read that sometimes that is the hardest part because they are scared to do their business and it will eventually come. I guess I am taking that approach because a crying and kicking and screaming two year old is just not that fun to be around, especially when all you ask them to do is sit on a potty. She just didn't want to be forced. It will be a battle for another day. So 2 accidents today.

Thursday:
Today I had to go to the doctor. I put Sydnee at the YMCA for off-site so I could go with only 1 child. I told them she was going potty. In fact, when we got there, she wanted to go right away and I took her and she went and then I dropped her off. I told them she does really well but will need to be asked to go about every half hour or so. She had 1 accident. She started to go, stopped and finished in the potty. I thought that was pretty good considering it was her first outing away from her little potty. Then she slept all through her nap in just her panties without an accident. I think we are about done with diapers during that time. I will do a few more nap diapers just in case but she hasn't wet at all since Monday. Her bedtime diapers are less and less too. That makes for a happy mommy! We went out last night to the AT&T store, Rosas, and HEB. At the AT&T store she asked to go potty and they let us use the employee potty. She made it the whole time there without messing up even though we had to go a ways to get to the back of the store to use the potty. Then she didn't want to try at the restaurant or at HEB. I think the restrooms that have auto flushes or auto dryers scare her and she doesn't want to stay in there. But she came home and went on her own. The downside was that she held it for so long she didn't quite make it all the way with her shorts coming down. Better luck next time.

Friday:
She woke up with a dry diaper! She went potty on her own and is now playing. I am so  thrilled. I can do this. She can do this! Now just to get the full potty train effect. I know we can get it all squared away and NO MORE DIAPERS!! We also have very little chocolate left. I did go buy her more panties so that when we have accidents we have another pair to put on. By the way, children will go through underwear quickly. I thought have a small supply was ok. It's not. You need a large supply and then you cut back through the years. She hasn't received any of her poop prizes and our stickers are still on the counter. However, I feel confident in what we did to get her potty trained. I am hoping to get the last part down soon but I don't want to stress her in the process and make her regress. We are committed at this point!

And for those of you who want to know how RJ is doing, he is great. Sleeps about 5-6 hours at night. He eats well. He peed on me this morning (oh the irony). I think he has grown some more. He definitely weighs more. He has slept two nights in his bassinet and we are hoping this is going to be his new trend. He actually went to sleep in it last night so that is a plus. Now to get him to sleep longer and to possibly go to bed earlier. I am working on his morning wake time since he likes to sleep late but I have a feeling that will come next week as I start work!

Thanks for reading!
http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/05/how-i-potty-trained-my-daughter-in-3.html

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Crazy June...Crazy July?

Well Baby Hull #2 was set to arrive June 26th. I thought he would come early. I mean, what mom doesn't think their baby will come early? At that point you just want to have the baby. Well I made it to 39 weeks and my doctor decided we could induce on June 25th. I was ok with that. We had planned it, called the family and decided that was a good idea. Then the nurse called, they couldn't get me into the hospital until the 27th. I thought, ok, 2 more days, no biggie. What I was secretly hoping for was the Super Moon to put me into labor and I wouldn't have to be induced at all! The moon had other plans and I was still preggo on Monday. I worked Monday night and had the rest of the week off. My mom was in town and I thought, hey, mom and I can get ready for the baby, do some last minute shopping wit Sydnee and then on Thursday welcome our new little boy.

Surprise! Surprise! The doctor and hospital called Tuesday morning, said we have an opening and to come when we could to have a baby. I called Michael, had him leave work. I took a shower. My mom showed up to hang out with Syd and I called my boss to let her know. Then we packed up and headed to the hospital. They got us all hooked up. I wasn't dilated far enough to break my water so they started the pitocin. YUCK! I was already have contractions, just not regular ones so they tried to help. All this was done by 11AM...so that means I was 3 hours behind our predicted schedule the doctor had originally wanted. I was supposed to be induced at 8AM on Thursday and Michael and I were hoping to have the baby by mid-afternoon and be done with it all. By 3, they finally broke my water. I wasn't interested in an epidural because it hurt so bad the last time and part of it didn't work and I was miserable. However, I went 1 hour with contractions 2 minutes apart because of the pit that I asked for one. The very nice nurse said I had to wait 30 minutes and have a bag of some fluid before I could get my pain killer. Well that was a very not fun half hour and it took longer than the 30 minutes but I finally had my epidural and was good to go. (I forgot to mention in all of this, two of my nurses had lived in Lubbock and it felt kind of like home. One was a huge Tech fan! Oh and Pinterest while in labor is really pretty fun. Michael and I had a pretty relaxing time and chatted about all sorts of stuff...like trying to find a house to live in and my little sister moving in with us. More on that later...) So back to my labor story. Not 45 minutes later, my doctor came in, checked me and I was around a 6. Things were moving faster but she said it would still be closer to 9 before we met our little man. We called the family in and sent them all to dinner! Ha! About 45 minutes after that I told the nurse I felt a lot more pressure and pain - that's when she gave me the magic button to push to give me more pain killers - and she said I was at a 10 and started to prep the room. Michael sent off texts that we would have the baby sooner rather than later and he would keep everyone posted. Then the fun began. 15 minutes after that, a new nurse came in and was helping prep the room and I said I really felt like I should be pushing...I was close to being right. It was about 7PM, she called the doctor. The doctor came, had me do some practice pushes and then said here we go! So a few more pushes later we had a baby boy! Ryne Justus Hull. 7:29PM, June 25, 2013. 8lbs 12oz. and 19in. At this point the doctor asked me why I wasn't begging to be induced earlier. He was happy, healthy and finally here. I didn't think he was that heavy inside, but I was wrong. He was HEAVY! Then we started joking about all the baby movies, like Baby Mama and What to Expect When You Are Expecting. It was surreal. I didn't feel like I had just had a baby. But we are super glad he is here!

So back to my crazy June and July. We had to move out of our apartment and we were struggling to find a place that we could afford, had more room and yet was not in the dumps. Then my sister called a week before the baby was due and said she was thinking of moving to Round Rock. That's when crazy happened. She decided later that week that it was a go and would help pay rent. So we could increase our limit and had a lot more houses to go look at. This is where crazy happens. I got out of the hospital on Thursday, went to the doctor for RJ on Friday, after the hospital, met the realtor that afternoon and put an offer in on a house that evening. We had to wait all weekend and were finally approved. Then we decided to move when he was two weeks old. Thankfully we had friends help! So we are now in a new house. My son is 3 weeks old today and I am taking a break from unpacking and organizing. It is only July 16th and I have a feeling a lot more crazy will happen before the month is over!

An update on RJ: At his 2 week appointment he was given a very clean bill of health! 
Length: 22in (he grew 3 inches in two weeks!) - 90%
Weight: 8lbs 10.5oz (46-47%)
Head Circ: 36% 

So happy to have him in our family. He is so good!!



Sunday, March 24, 2013

Toddlers, Tantrums and Tired Parents

Well Sydnee turned two just a few weeks ago. I guess that means she gets to start her terrible twos. She has been good for the most part, until this last week. She got the "TUMMY BUG" last week and that has set off a whole new personality for our little girl. She started with a fever, then the throw up and a few days later, the "other stuff". After two consecutive days of double digit diapers (high teens) we have become tired. On the bright side, Sydnee is a happy sick baby. She was running around waving clean diapers going "Yucky Diaper!!!" Needless to day she kept the humor in the house.

Other changes for a little girl...her big girl bed. Now the first few weeks she did great in her bed. Didn't faze her at all! She got in bed on her own, stayed in bed until we got her up and it was really nice. Then the horrible tummy bug hit and she figured out how to get out of her bed. She now knocks on the door and asks to get out and plays around her room during nap time. Now we don't really let her but we also want her to learn to stay in her room so we are slowly going to the stage of getting her to stay in bed. However, she keeps us laughing each night as we find her somewhere new in her room. One day we found her with her blanket by the door. Another time she had flipped herself on the bed and ending up falling off in the middle of the night. Last night she was 'super-manning' it on the floor...too bad we didn't have a cape to throw over her. But she did stay in her bed after we put her back in for the rest of the night. So there is a bright side :)

Oh and now her tantrums. Sydnee likes to think that since she got her way while she was sick, she should be indulged all the time. So she has screaming fits. I hear it's normal but I'm not sure it makes for happy parents. In fact, we are tired. We were tired from her sickness and now her tantrums have caused us to stay tired. But time outs are helpful. She cries, then calms down and we go about our business. I guess it's nice to know we have a normal child. Or so I hear is normal. On the bright side, she is obedient to her teachers at the Y and so I guess that makes me feel better. I would rather her be a challenge to us than to those who watch her.

In other news, 14 weeks and counting until Peanut arrives. Syd has figured out there is a baby there and she gives him kisses. It's sweet. The doctor says I look great and everything is going as planned. We have another sonogram in two weeks, along with my GD test. I am hoping I do better this time around.


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Praise the Lord!

Well we have been super blessed this last week! First off, Michael received notice that he got a raise. And not just a simple raise, a raise that is exactly what we needed to finish off the month! GOD IS SO GOOD!!! Then to follow that, I got more hours at the YMCA, which means that any extra that we do gets to go into savings or to pay off debt! Pretty much this just shows me how much God cares about all the little things in our lives. I mean, we knew He would provide, but we didn't know how or when or what we would need to do. And then BAM! He drops something in our lap.

I will say that we are still be cautious with all that has been given to us, but I just wanted to let people know that God has everything in control even when we think we need to control something. He has really ministered into my life and the life of my family in this way.

Baby Peanut is doing well, I go to the doctor for the regular check up this week. I love feeling him kick and move. Sydnee is trying to potty train. I would say we are trying to help, but she mostly does it on her own. They have a time that they take the little ones to the potty at the Y and she tries several times a day. She can hold her bladder forever though. She just hasn't let herself go in the potty...but when she does...well it will be a celebration in our house. My goal is to have her potty trained by the time Peanut arrives!

Well that's about all...hope you are rejoicing with us!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

CHANGES

Well after almost a year, and lots of new experiences, I have decided to update all 10 followers of our lives.

Here is how our lives have changed in just a short amount of time:


1. Michael got a job! In June, Michael was offered a job in state government. We had about 3 weeks until his job started and that included a move! It was an answer to prayer and has been a great experience so far. He really likes his job, and he is working on policy. We moved to Round Rock and he commutes to North Austin every day. When we found out how much daycare would be, we decided that I would stay home with Sydnee. I got my dream of being a stay home mommy!

2. In June, I started a Mary Kay business. It has been slow going but we are still hopeful. I have lots of ideas but I haven't met a whole lot of people. I am not one to ask every person I meet if they want to use Mary Kay, which is probably why the business is slow. However, we are still praying that I can be successful through this endeavor.

3. In October, we found out we are PREGNANT!!! We are so excited to welcome our little bundle of joy in late June. Just this last month we found out we are having a boy! It is super exciting. He will be the first grandson on both sides of our families. And he will be the second great-grandson on both my mom and my dad's side of the family. Please don't ask for a name...we have one picked...we aren't telling :)

4. In November, we signed up to join a church we have been attending. We really connected with the people of Hill Country Bible Church in Round Rock. It has been a great experience for us and we are learning so much about who we are and who God is to us!

5. In January, I finally got hired on at our local YMCA as a nursery/toddler worker. It is a part time job and I can take Sydnee with me! And she is FREE!!! What a huge blessing. Just this last week I was bumped up to working every day. It is so great to help contribute to the family and still get to spend so much time with my baby girl...who isn't a baby anymore.

Those are the major changes in our lives. We have had struggles with the move...as most people have I am sure. We also had to make some major financial decisions but God has been faithful to us through each month. Our friends that we have made are so important to our lives and we absolutely love the fellowship. Sydnee has two best buds, Luke and Caleb (brothers), and they play so well together. It is so fun to watch her develop into a precious little girl. She wins everyone over with her charm...such a scary thought!!

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:

Well we obviously can't wait to meet our little peanut. June will be an exciting month. We are also looking for Michael a part time job. It's expensive to live here! So hopefully we can have an update on that as well. Sydnee will turn 2 in a month!  I can't believe it. I also plan to start an ETSY business, so if you have any ideas on stuff I could make and sell, pass it on! Plus we are also hoping Michael will get approval and will finally be done with his PhD!!! That will be a celebration in our house!!!

I think that's about all! I hope we hit enough highlights for you!