General Update

Since I've got a lot of catching up to do on the blog, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a general update.

Despite the sickness this winter, we're moving forward at light speed. Let's start with Allie. This girl is absolutely fearless. She climbs. On everything! If you're a Facebook "friend" you already know this... I posted these two pics a while back:

She loves to climb up the "rock wall" on the fort in the back yard and go down the slide. She also likes to stand on everything. Chairs, bikes....  basically anything that she's not supposed to stand on. Now that I think about it, she pretty much does whatever it is that JD is doing. Including sitting on the potty (more on that later)!

She is starting to talk more. Here is her current list of words:

~Mama
~Dada
~Uh-oh (which was her first word besides mama and dada)
~Up
~Airplane (ah-poe)
~Apple
~Binky (which is more of a sound she makes in the back of her throat without opening her mouth. That counts, right?)
~All Done
~Baba
~Ball
~Flower (ah-wah)

She will also tell you what a dog, duck, sheep and cow say and she'll show you where her nose, ear, belly button, toes and tongue are!

She still loves to dance and EAT. The last time I took her to the doctor (last week) she weighed 19 pounds, 8 ounces, which puts her in the 9th percentile. I don't know where she puts all her food but the girl shovels it in. She eats like a horse! Dave and I were both skinny minnies as kids so I guess that's where she gets it, but I sure do wish I still had her metabolism!

Now for JD's progress. JD amazes me every day. He talks quite a bit and very clearly. Rarely do people have trouble understanding what he's saying. He does talk very quietly a lot of the time so I frequently have to ask him to speak up but it's mostly around new people. He says new things all the time. Pretty much every day he surprises me with something new.  He sings his ABC's all the time. He counts to 11 and then says 14, 14, 14, 14. He's still having trouble with his colors but they'll come with time. He's pretty good at shapes and VERY good at navigating his way through my iPhone to play with his (mostly educational) apps.

He continues to enjoy gymnastics two days a week and LOVES to go to school 3 days a week. He even has his first girlfriend at school. Her name is Coral and JD will tell you that she's a "naughty boy".  ;-)

Now for the really big stuff. JD is now pretty much POTTY TRAINED! He's been out of diapers for a full three weeks! I do put a pull up on him at night (but not during nap). He's having trouble kicking the nighttime sippy of milk habit and still wakes up wet, but stays dry through his nap. The first couple of days I sent him to school in big boy underwear I came home with a pair of wet pants or two but for the most part he stays dry all day... unless he's really engrossed in something very fun. Then he forgets to go potty but those incidents are becoming few and far between.

So here's how we did it: Nanny and Poppy came to visit from PA, Grandma and Papaw came over and we threw a Big Boy Party complete with cake and balloons. After dinner we had cake, said Bye Bye Diapers and JD threw a stack of his diapers in the trash. That's the last time he's worn a diaper. The kids loves a party so I figured we would make a big deal of it. It was a lot of fun. At first there were a lot of rewards in the form of stickers, hand stamps, Dollar Store toys and yes, even chocolate. Now I only give him a reward if he asks for it and he usually doesn't even think about it. I can't tell you how great it is. I had two in diapers for over a year and some days it felt like all I did was change diapers. Not to mention, JD is now 30 pounds and that's a lot of weight to be lifting onto and off of the changing table!

The other big event in JD's life...... a big boy bed! He was rolling out of this toddler bed a good bit so we gave the crib mattress to Kent and Sarah for their baby (they find out tomorrow if it's a girl or a boy.... I cannot wait!) and they gave us a full mattress set (they got a new king sized bed and needed to get rid of the extra mattress and box spring - thanks guys!). JD and I went to Target and picked out sheets with cars and he's now sleeping like a champ. I did put a bed rail on but the bed is so big he doesn't even get close to the edge. He does look very tiny sleeping in a big bed, though!

Playdate at the Park with Peyton

Hi everybody! I finally have my head above all the sickness that we've been experiencing. Poor Allie had a 104.7 fever for a few nights, rendering me a useless, nervous wreck.... doctors aren't quite sure what caused such a high fever but apparently, that's not unusual! I don't want to jinx it but everybody in the house is well right now and just in time for some B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L weather!

Yesterday was 82 degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny! My good friend Abby took the day off work and invited us to hang out with them at the park. Oh my did we have a good time! Allie climbed on the playground equipment and enjoyed a stroller ride, thanks to Granny and Pop (Abby's in-laws who were in town). JD and Peyton had so much fun running and throwing rocks into the river. We even packed lunch and had a picnic! The kids were flat worn out when we got home. Allie fell asleep in the car and slept over 3 hours when we got home. JD slept for 2.5 hours, which is highly unusual for him. I guess that's what 3 hours in the fresh air and sunshine will do to a kid!

Here are a few pictures of our day:

The following pics were taken by Abby... thanks for getting such great shots of the kiddos!

It was such a great day. The only thing that could have made it perfect is if Brooke had off work too and she could have joined us with Walker... we missed you, Brooke and Walker!

Still sick!

Man we've had a lot of sickness in this house this winter! And it continues...

Last week Allie got a stomach virus and spent the whole day on Friday getting sick. JD joined in on Saturday and got the worst of it, I believe. It was my turn on Sunday and it was no fun! Thankfully, Dave didn't get it at all and was able to take care of us!

Fast forward a week to this past Saturday and I spent the morning at the doctor with JD who has his 4th ear infection. More antibiotics and Advil for the next 10 days and they want to recheck his ears to make sure the fluid goes away.

Aside from being sick, we're really enjoying having Nanny and Poppy in town. JD and Allie are having so much fun playing with them and we get to enjoy their company for another 2 weeks! I'll have pics of their visit to show you later... I have to upload them from my camera.