Potty Training

I feel I must post something about our potty training experience. To all my fellow mom friends, I wish someone had properly warned me about this stage! To all my friends without kids- consider this your warning. Potty training is a LONG GRUELING PROCESS! It does not happen quickly or easily in my opinion/experience. Finally, after months of working with Vivi we are getting somewhere but we're still not there yet! However, as of late, she is pretty self-sufficient. I had to post this shot because it cracks me up. Nick didn't even realize how far Vivi had come until he walked down the hall and saw this. I think I'll "remember" this for awhile. This is Vivi reading her Nemo book- her favorite bathroom read.

Chloe's Monkey Party

Happy 2nd Birthday Chloe! We celebrated all weekend as I mentioned before Jillian's brithday was on Friday, then Saturday we joined my niece for her monkey birthday. It turned out so precious with all our little monkeys. Here are some shots from the party. Vivi talked for over a month about getting to wear this monkey t-shirt and heart shaped socks. WOW! I'm glad she got to break them in, now the problem will be getting them off her to wash. She wore them for three straight days! Thank you for a fun time and the continued celebrating for the rest of the day too.

Jillian's Zoo Birthday

Last weekend was a weekend for the parties! We joined some friends at the zoo for Jillian's birthday. What a fun time! We noticed that all the girls had pink or purple on-dressed to impress. I was really glad when the Pfeffer's showed up because poor little Isaac was way outnumbered by the girls! As mentioned before each trip to the zoo brings something special and unique. This trip was unique because it was Jillian's birthday and so we got to be there with many friends but we also got to enjoy the sandbox which we've never done before. Although most the girls enjoyed it, I think Vivi could have passed as she kept complaining about how cold the sand was. Oh well! She was in a mood that day as you can see from the carousel shot. Either way, we had fun and really appreciate the ice cream sandwiches and time to play with friends. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day Jillian!

Happy Valentine's-sorta!

Happy Valentine's friends and family! It seems the holidays are becoming synonmous with sickness in our house. This Valentine's we got the fun stomach bug- we being Vivi and mommy. Wednesday night it hit us like a mack truck and we probably went through 9 loads of laundry that one day! WOW! Fortunately, it was short-lived so we were able to celebrate a little. Isaac and daddy also did not get it-so that's a HUGE praise. Thursday Nick stayed home half day to take care of us. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Friday, I dressed up Isaac in his little onesie as I nursed Vivi back to health. By Saturday, everyone was healthy. Nana came to sit the kids so Nick and I could sneak away for a short daytime date. She brought some sweet books and a My Little Pony for Vivi. We ventured to the Modern to enjoy some lunch and a quick tour through the gallery. It was a nice time. When we returned we let the kids open some small tokens from us-a V-day book for each of them and a pair of heart shoes for Vivi. We ended the night with leftovers and a great renter- "Fireproof". If you haven't seen this one, you can borrow it as my parents got us a copy. I would HIGHLY recommend it for any married couple. It's excellent and provides lots of good conversation.

Double Duty

Here's one of my favorite shots recently taken of Daddy doing double duty on the night time routine. He has been great with me and the kids lately pulling more than his fair share of duties. There's been some adjusting and sleep "issues" in our house-mainly our daughter doesn't want to sleep anymore. I guess this is a stage...at least I hope so! As I type she's knocking on her door and talking to her imaginary friends in her room. Oh boy! Soon Isaac will have his own room and I'm hoping that will help everyone get more sleep. Check out his grin!

Polka Dot babies

Here's a few shots of Vivi and Isaac laying on the ground enjoying a conversation. Vivi really talks with Isaac and now he is cooing back and smiling at her. She comments that his eyes are smiling at her. It's really sweet! This was a polka dot day.

Good news

I wanted to say "Thank you" to all who "remembered" to pray for our family over the last two weeks. We have been thoroughly blessed and I hope you see God's faithfulness to answer each of your prayers! Here are a couple of quick updates.
1. I got my results from my diabetes test- negative. I do not have diabetes! In fact, my blood sugar went the opposite-low. Basically, no cutting out food any time soon for me! He encouraged me to eat, and try best to keep it healthy but to not worry too much. PRAISE GOD!

2. We think we have discovered the culprit for Isaac's face rashes- peanuts. We saw a slight improvement the week I eliminated them. Then we eliminated dairy and brought them back, the worst week yet- last week! This week, in 2 days his face almost completely cleared. It is a HUGE DIFFERENCE! One more item to try and figure out- almonds. Either way, we are peanut free in our house now. I also noticed a little improvement in the feeling of Vivi's skin since she's off peanuts. Probably around Isaac's 1st birthday we'll have him tested for allergies and maybe Vivi too. I'm so grateful it's not dairy!! Peanuts are a lot easier for us to cut out. One sad face, no more Chickfila for awhile but at least I don't have to give up mac-n-cheese!

3. In the midst of a tough economy we have been blessed financially. We are now able to get a piece of furniture for our computer to move out to the living room and give Isaac his own space. This was another big concern laying on my heart. God completely took this one out.

I hope this encourages you to continue to pray fervently friends. We are so blessed. One picture of me and my little bundle of joy from this morning.