An Update on Me

I have a lot on my plate right now, thats why I've been blogging a little less then usual. I've taken up a more practical hobby - cooking. My house is driving me nuts I can't wait to move which DH says will be in about a month. I really hope so, I need a place that is set up more appropriately and has room for all of us. I also look forward to my own back yard and washer and dryer. And most importantly the ability to create more of a yes environment for my children. I'm so excited about this and I know it will help them all to be able to learn and explore their environment more!

An Update on Emma

Man those molars are coming in. Emma has given up naps for the time being, and though she is great with the baby, I realize how jealous she is. She is wanting to sleep in my bed again, or at least she thinks she wants to but then she doesn't sleep and ends up in her bed. She is also being really mean to Joey - hitting him and biting him again. I know whats causing it all and we are working on it. She's still just the sweetest girl ever but I realize between a special needs child and a breastfeeding newborn she has been flying under my radar, so I'm working on balancing things in my home and rebuilding the attachment between her and I. This is hard because with Joey in school when he gets home I want to give him extra attention because he's been gone all day. So I make his time at school as special for Emma and I as I can. She is so much fun and such a bright little girl, I really enjoy her :)

An Update on Joey

Potty training is going well. He does all his pee on the potty when he is diaper-less and is now letting us know when he has to use the potty if he has a pull up on and can get the pull up down to use the potty. He also lets us know when he has already peed, and is sometimes waking up dry from naps and bed. We are going to try under wear this weekend.

School is also going well. He takes the bus to school now. He is doing better naming body parts, and can communicate his needs much better now without needing to be spoken for or prompted. I'm glad of how well he is doing, but at the same time it's sad to realize how delayed he is in speech compared to other delayed children, let alone "average" children his age. We started doing pictures schedules with him recently too, and those seem to really be helping him.

Lincoln's Update

He's doing great! Still 100% breastfed and growing beautifully! (as you've seen in pictures lol) He is rolling over both ways, batting at toys, following objects with his eyes, he smiles and laughs CONSTANTLY, he "sings" and "talks" he has said mama a few times (surely as a fluke, but still cute!) he laughs at his reflection in the mirror. His favorite things are songs, games, and story time. He like pat-a-cake, the wheels on the bus, and the itsy bitsy spider games. The song that puts him to sleep and relaxes him is 'Aint no Sunshine'. Speaking of sleep - he goes to bed fully awake and sleeps 8+ hours this way at night. We are still co-sleeping to prevent SIDS, but he does prefer his space when sleeping so not so much cuddling during that time. It took time to get to this point, but it seemed to happen so fast! I guess because I was just enjoying it :) It's like it just happened.. naturally...

Here is a video of my ticklish little boy!

Lots of Pictures

and a perfectly pinned diaper :

A message from Emma

An Update on Emma

She's averaging about 3-4 pees on the potty each day, and 1 poop. She is learning her colors "bwue" "yewwow" and she says "sorry" and "cheers" and pretty much just repeats everything!

and best of all...


she has...

Another Milestone For Lincoln

Aside from him laughing now when tickled (which I still need a video of!), he has hit a new milestone - he found his hands! He's been sucking on them for a while but today he was really exploring them :)

Cry It Out Method - A Babies Experience

"He awakes in a mindless terror of the silence, the motionlessness. He screams. He is afire from head to foot with want, with desire, with intolerable impatience. He gasps for breath and screams until his head is filled and throbbing with the sound. He screams until his chest aches, until his throat is sore. He can bear the pain no more and his sobs weaken and subside. He listens. He opens and closes his fists. He rolls his head from side to side. Nothing helps. It is unbearable. He begins to cry again, but it is too much for his strained throat; he soon stops. He waves his hands and kicks his feet. He stops, able to suffer, unable to think, unable to hope. He listens. Then he falls asleep again."

This was well written by Jean Liedloff author of the Continuum Concept.

Cutest Moment All Week!

Joey recently moved to the top bunk of his bed. The bottom bunk will be Lincolns, and I've been sleeping with him down there on the nights DH works from home. So last night we were sleeping down there and in the morning Lincoln woke up to eat. When he woke up I saw Joey sitting with us, and he pet my arm and said "shhhhh". Lincoln and I went back to sleep, and when I woke up in the morning Joey was back asleep in his top bunk again.

So I wanted to tell my husband this precious story this morning before I took Joey to school. We were all in the kitchen and I'm trying to talk to Dave and tell him, but Joey kept saying "no daddy" while taking my head in his hands and turning my face towards himself. Smiling so sweetly at me. I guess he didn't want me to pay attention to Dave or didn't want him to hear the story, but he repeated this process about 10 times before finally letting me talk! It was adorable, and everyone in the room was laughing about it.

He is such a love!

A Wonderful Update!

After Joey went swimming today he came inside and I helped him take his swimmies off and he took his swim shorts off. I brushed his teeth and then I was going to put a diaper on. After I brushed his teeth he said "potty" ran to the potty, AND PEED IN IT.

















Since my friend asked to take Emma for the weekend I decided I will let her and we will do some naked potty training this weekend with Joey. I can't believe it. I am just through the roof right now proud of him!!

In other news, the last few days have been great! Bedtimes have been a breeze again, I cooked enough food this afternoon for the weekend so I don't have to cook this weekend, and my house has been clean and staying clean, and my children have been angels! I just really needed things to go good for a while I was losing my mind for a minute there!

Emma has been averaging about 4 pees per day on the potty, and 1 poop.