A Season of Firsts

We are enjoying this time of year so much! The weather has been tolerable (so far) and stayed in the nineties with the humidity coming and going. It is nice that the kids naps are during the hottest time of the day so we have a good reason to stay indoors with the air on! The kids and I are going to the pool several times a week with some new friends and more on the weekend with Brandon. This has been Ella's first summer - and I finally got some pictures of her in the water. She likes it okay, but squeals with delight watching Brody and the other kids play. There is a tower that has buckets suspended from it and they randomly dump water out into the pool and she really gets a kick out of that. (Despite what all the following pictures look like, she really has grown quite a bit of hair - way more than Brody - it's just almost white in color)

Ella has also started on some solid foods. We've had our ups and downs with that. She loves carrots, sweet potatoes and sometimes peas. The rice cereal wasn't a hit, but she'll eat it when it is mixed with other things. But, she will stop going potty - completely. I gave her prunes hoping to give her some relief...but she ended up throwing them up. I went to check on her after I had put her to bed and I thought she had spit up and pooped, but it was just throw up - everywhere! So, no more prunes. I still give her vegetables and some fruits, but no more rice cereal.

Once we got her room done she moved into her own room! I waited as long as I could because our master bedroom is downstairs and the kids rooms are upstairs. It isn't as bad as I thought, and I have a very comfy bed to sleep in upstairs when they are sick or need me. The picture is of her first night in her crib - she is SO CUTE!

Much like all of Brody's other friends - we started potty training kind of. I didn't push it a whole lot, but I am ready for him to be out of diapers. I decided one day that we'd start and he was doing okay, I think he is probably like every other 2 year old boy. Every once in awhile he'd go #1 on the potty, but I don't think he quite gets the sensation of the urge to go. He was having accidents, but also successes. When it came to going #2 though, he'd tell me and we'd get him on the potty but then he'd get stage fright and not go. Our kids have constipation issues - big time. He woke up screaming from a nap and I knew exactly what was going on. I brought him down and got what I needed to "help" him go (if you get the drift) and he just screamed at me that it hurt. It is awful to watch. He did say he wanted to go on the potty and after being on there awhile and screaming he did it. Someday he'll kill me for posting the picture, but you gotta have a picture of there first poop on the potty (just him though, not the poop). Notice the red eyes. I think the whole experience traumatized the both of us, and since then I thought I am going to back off and try again in a month. He still tells us if he has to go every once in a while and does go, so hopefully he'll have an easier go of it when we try again.

I've also had my first freak out! I got out of my car one day and saw a spider in our garage that was the size of my palm. So gross - gives me chills just thinking about it! I told Brandon if I ever saw one like that in the house that we'd have to get a bug guy. Since then, we've found Big Bertha. She isn't quite as big as the first big spider I saw - but she freaked me out. Its the first time I ever saw one and I think it is pretty big. I sat and stared at it for awhile trying to get a good image in my head and then I went and googled it. Sure enough - it was a black widow just like I thought. I want her to die - but I've heard if you step on them often times hundreds of babies come running out from under their bellies. Don't know if it is true - but just in case, I'm calling a bug guy to come and spray. I can't handle it.

The bug guy is also going to help us with another pest - our first gopher. It has been around for a couple of months now and we've tried and tried to get it. Brandon even had a gun pointed at its head, but the CO2 cartridge was a dud. Our yard backs up to an open field and we can see gopher holes all over on the other side of our fence. So, we'll need to come up with something otherwise our yard is going to get torn up. I guess it is part of living in the country.

Brody & Ella helping pick weeds in the front yard

Sweet sibling picture