After those first few nights of endless trips up and down the stairs I’m happy to say the girls have started sleeping through the night! Which isn’t just a first for their new room, it’s a first EVER! For both of them on the same night anyway.. Olivia has woken up a couple times for another bottle around 11pm, which is normal for her and we are usually just settling in for the night anyway.

I love waking up to hearing the girls greeting one another “Good morning baby-eyah” Joy shouts “Hi” Olivia answers. With that their door creaks open and they make their way upstairs, I’m usually still in bed and pretend to be asleep. Soon I feel a cold little hand touch my arm, I open my eyes to see Olivia with her crazy morning hair smiling at me “Hi” she whispers “Good morning Love, did you have a good sleep?” I ask “yup….. poop” she responds pointing to her bum (which doesn’t necessarily mean she’s pooped, just that her diaper is full). Joy waits by the door, “Good morning Joy” I say glancing over at her “Good morning Mommy!” she excitedly answers then starts rambling on and on about whatever. It truly is a great way to wake up

I’m finally getting the itch to get all the baby stuff together and organized. Actually it’s past my bedtime at the moment however I need to wait until the dryer is done before going to bed. I like to sleep with the dishwasher going (soothing) but not the dryer. Once the buzzer goes I will have washed/dried 2 loads of new born baby clothing. Actually it’s all the newborn, 0-3month and 3 month clothing we have. I’ve been very blessed in receiving many items of clothing for a boy (mostly in those 3 sizes). I’m part of a mom group (privately) on facebook with mom’s that are all due in March (or like me and just before March). There have been 5 babies born already! (2 sets of twins). Makes me realize I really don’t have much time left to get organized!! I’m considered ‘full term’ on Tuesday! But this baby has to hold on until mom comes home, she arrives home on Feb 19th (pm)…. that’s just 15sleeps away

Well I think that’s it for this post…. Have a wonderful night!

I haven’t blogged in a while and figured I might as well since I have a chance.

I just thought I’d share about all the wonderful fun I’ve been having running my daycare.
Solomon is potty training. Okay, rewind. Running a dayhome I knew at some point I’d have to come to grips with the fact that I’d be helping someone else’s child learn to use the potty. I don’t like accidents (potty accidents). When Joy was potty training we started with keeping her diaper on and just putting her on when she said she needed to go, or every few hours (she can hold her bladder for longer than I can when not pregnant). Once she got used to actually using the potty we removed the diaper. Sure she had a couple times when she was playing and realized a little too late she had to go, but most the accidents were in the bathroom. If she did have an accident she’d come tell me (or cry).

Solomon has been doing great potty training at home (so I’m told). Day 1 here potty training. He asked to go on the potty but didn’t do anything. After 3 attempts I decided he needed to go just wasn’t able to so I put him in a diaper. Come nap time. I decided to let Sol stay up a bit later, while I put Olivia down (maybe 10 minutes). I heard him go into his diaper bag and figured he was looking for his teddy. I was wrong. After I had Olivia tucked in all nice I received a surprise I just never expected.

I walked into the living room. Sol sat in the middle of the carpet wearing his underwear sitting on a clean diaper (I think he was trying to figure out how to put it on). Next to him sat a poop filled diaper with about half a package of wipes inside. Poop smears encircling him and the diaper. He changed himself. Thank goodness we’d just done a toy cleanup or else it could have been worse. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it’s worse than anything I expected. I stopped and counted in my head so I wouldn’t explode. I picked him up and set him down in the bathroom, I told him not to move a muscle (he didn’t). I told Joy to stay away from the living room and picked up the diaper (tossed it). I then went into the bathroom and cleaned Sol up (poop on shirt, unders and bum). I didn’t exactly know what I should do… I know what I’d do with my own kids, but he’s not mine. So I grabbed out the spot remover and told him he had to sit there and watch me scrub the carpet. He did, and Thank goodness it was ‘fresh’ enough the spot remover worked great!

Day 2 (4days later), again he comes not in a diaper. He has a small pee on the living room carpet. Again I put him in a diaper. He did end up peeing again later on the potty even though he was in a diaper.

I’ve decided he can wear a diaper here. I’ll ask him if he needs to use the potty, and he seems okay at telling me when he needs to. I just don’t enjoy potty training. I think I’ll keep him in a diaper until Christmas (I watch him 2-3 times a week), then after the Christmas break (if I get one) he’ll probably be ready to not need a diaper. He’s my first experience in potty training a child that’s not mine. When  I watched Grace they took 2 weeks off on holidays and she came back potty trained (1 accidental pee when playing), Gabe came already potty trained (although I did have to get used to the ‘standing to pee’ thing ~ eww!). I’m also not used to little boys peeing. I know 100% my son will sit to pee at home, because that’s just gross (especially when I have to sit and clean). I hope I can train Sol to always sit while here….

Well that’s my fun Thinking about running a day home? I could talk you out of it, or into it

I have been (just slightly) stressing over our upcoming holiday. Trying to figure out what to pack, and trying to make it as light of a load as possible! I thought I would wait until Thursday to pack, however strongly feel I need to pack NOW. Don’t know if it’s the pregnancy, or God whispering, but I’m going to listen either way! So tomorrow, I’m going to pack most my clothes that I plan to take (other than the clothes I still need for this week), along with kids toys, movies and some of their clothes. I may have the boys for a few extra hours, or an entire extra day this week that is completely unexpected so perhaps I do need to pack now and stay on top of this just in case!
My belly is growing at a very quick rate! I can’t believe it!! Orlund took some pictures of me standing (ones that were later deleted, so I didn’t stand pretty) and WOW talk about looking pregnant already! I’m hoping Wednesday at my Doctors apt I’ll get to hear the little heart beat! (14weeks!).Well, during all this stressing, We did take some time out to have some fun! Check out Orlund’s latest blog entry for one picture. And here is another (not the best quality, but still fun to take!).

Hovering over Mommy! OH What fun!!

Oh the wonderful questions this 5 year old comes up with during lunch time. Today I answered these questions~
1~ Why are bugs insects?
2~ Why do bees sting?
3~ Why does there have to be a God in heaven?

My answers? haha, he at least figured they were good enough.
1~ Just like there are different kinds of Dogs. There are big, little, medium dogs and they all have their own kinds (insert different breeds here), however they are all called a DOG. So all the different bugs (insert bug names) are all called INSECTS, it’s their ‘scientific’ name.
2~ They only sting to protect themselves. They think you are going to hurt them so they sting you. They don’t do it to be mean, really some bees die after they sting someone. (he then proceeded to ask how bees fight, they sting each other).
3~ If there wasn’t a God we wouldn’t exist (oops, now to explain exist). Finally he kinda got it, I told him we wouldn’t be anywhere. But God created everything from nothing, we can’t do that. He then told me he wanted to be somewhere else….where? Still in him mommy’s tummy…….guess he’s got my pregnancy on his brain too! Earlier somehow I explained that Jesus had God’s blood and Mary’s, but Joseph raised him like he was his own (Gabe kept calling Joseph Jesus’ fake dad!lol). Yeah, well then somehow it got to that Gabe has his daddy and mommy’s blood in him……but then he wanted to know how his daddy’s blood got in him when he’s not in his daddy’s tummy ever…..oops… I told him that Daddy’s have an important role in helping get a baby in the mommy’s tummy ~ He prays for God to put the baby in there….LOL… phew. He dropped it…I sure know how to dig myself into deep holes!! LOL.

I wonder if he asks his mommy and daddy these kinds of questions? I hope so. I explained to him the other week that his new school wont teach him about God. I don’t think he liked that idea, but I told him it would be okay and told him he can help teach his classmates/teacher about Jesus and God

We took Joy in a while ago to have her speech assessed (don’t know if I’ve blogged about that or not?), well either way, she is a bit behind where she should be so we’ve been working with her. The main part is sounding out the first consonant. The other day Joy said “happit” for rabbit. Gabe piped in and said “no Joy it’s not happit, it’s wa wa wabbit” “no Gabe it’s not” “it isn’t?” “No it’s rrr rrr rabbit”. He was very surprised he was saying it wrong. He’s been trying to help Joy with her words as well, however I find often he’s giving the wrong example! LOL

Then yesterday during lunch he said to me “Jenn, tell me if you can hear me when I do this” And lets out a big sigh. “Yes Gabe I can hear you sigh” “WHAT!?!?! You can??” His mouth dropped open in an astonished look “but, but how could you? I was plugging my ears!” LOL  It took a great deal of explaining to get him to understand why I could hear him even though he was plugging his ears….and I still don’t think he fully understands (or perhaps he doesn’t believe me?).

I really should post more pictures… unfortunately I can’t find my camera…I should get on that eh?
Today was a good day. I started off not feeling the brightest, but it turned around quickly with a nice walk. The boys arrived at 8:20am, while I was still wishing my AMAZING mom a happy Birthday on Skype. After we signed off and the girls and I ate breakfast I loaded up the strollers… That’s right strollers. I had promised the kids once summer hit we would take a walk to the local 711 for slurpees. So I got the double stroller (picked it instead of the bike trailer as it has cup holders), then strapped an umbrella stroller to the side of it. So I only had to push 1 stroller but I could have 3 kids riding. Joy doesn’t like to walk when it’s really hot out. Strapped the 3 littles in, made sure Gabe held on and we were off. It is a short walk, about 15/20minutes. I then learned a VALUABLE lesson…. little itty bitty slurpee’s cost only about 10cents less than a gigantic huge slurpee. I paid $10 for 4mini slurpee’s, 1 large slurpee and 1 pack of candies. Next time (if there will be a next time) I will bring our own cups, buy 1 huge slurpee pour the slurpee into our cups for the kids and I’ll drink what’s left over. That will cost around $2. I might grab extra straws from 711 but otherwise it’s to expensive for them each to have their own! I told Gabe my plan, and as I started to explain I said that each of the kids would have their own sippy cup (straw kind) and he blurted in “NOT ME”… Yes you too! I told him to listen until I’m done talking, once he finished listening he thought it was a smart idea.
Well I am happy that summer has finally hit. And although it took it’s time getting here, it seems to have hit over night.
Olivia loves pushing limits and is constantly testing me right now. Joy loves talking back…… sigh… Good thing they are so cute eh?

Oops. I’ll back up before I’ll explain my oops moment.
Today has been one of those, test your patients, drive you nuts, is it over? kind of days. The only thing that helped me through was knowing that tonight is Mom’s night out. A night that mom’s from our Church (and their friends ~ out reach opportunity) get together and enjoy a hot dinner without the hubby or kids. It’s nice. It REALLY is. Well the boys just got picked up so I started to get ready. Well Joy and Olivia started begging for a snack (sad to say it that way, but they sound like they are begging). So I sat them up with some Cucumber and Tomatos to munch on until Orlund gets home and makes them dinner. I also told Joy that once she was done the veggies then she could have some Cheese. Well I went to the bathroom and got myself ready, makeup on, hair done, dressed. Joy came in and showed me she was chewing a cucumber (yummy), so I followed her out to the dining room. Figured she was telling me she was eating it. Well I wish I had of had my camera. I came in to discover OOPS I didn’t buckle Olivia in! She was sitting cross legged in the middle of our dining room table! She had found a pencil and looked like she was looking for a piece of paper to draw on. Guess I was to excited to get ready and get going! She is now happily eating her food, safely strapped into her highchair. Joy is harassing me asking for more cheese….sigh…. 2hours… just 2 more hours…

Well after my last post I should write that today was a much MUCH better day Thank you Jesus!
Last night I found I couldn’t sleep. I was wide awake. WIDE awake. I haven’t felt that wide awake since before I got pregnant with Joy!! It felt great…. the only problem was it was after bedtime. I couldn’t make any noise. I couldn’t use this wide awakeness for progress. (yes awakeness is a word in Jenn Land). We went to bed at 11pm. I stayed up wide awake until 1:30am. I made a prayer list (specifically of babies, mommies and pregnancies ~ the devil sure has been attacking). I prayed over the list as a whole and individually. I spent some time with the Lord. Then surprisingly enough I was still wide awake (you know what I mean if you’ve ever tried to pray before falling asleep, you usually fall asleep before you say Amen). So I turned my computer on in hopes mom would be online. Nope. So I emailed her. puttered around online. The girls were up a bunch of times, so they also kept me going. Finally I decided I should try going back to sleep. And I did rather quickly, and slept GREAT!
This morning the girls and I went in the back yard, hoping to play in the pool ~ ice! So we came inside. I thought I had the boys at 10am, but nope, it was 11am. So I baked bread. Today was my day to take a meal to some new parents in our Church (Baby born on Tuesday! He’s so cute!). Once the boys arrived I made lunch while baking a desert (turns out using whole grain flour doesn’t work so good in squares). I gave Sol a bunch of time outs but over all it was a good day with them.
My Dad popped over just as the boys were being picked up. So I scooped his car to drop off the meal, then returned to enjoy dinner with him and the girls. (Orlund went on a hike with buddies until 10pm). Then we enjoyed a coffee and he headed home just as I put the girls down. They went down surprisingly well. Bonus! Then I went to have a bath, and decided the tub REALLY needed a scrub, so I scrubbed it. It was draining slow, so I dug out gunk from the drain. While I was doing that my mom called on the phone! It’s always an extra special treat when she calls. We visited then decided we should Skype as it’s free. So we did that, while I enjoyed a bubble bath (I know weird to do, but whatever. I needed the bath). So after a rather short soak, and a good visit with mom I decided to watch a movie. I didn’t like any of the choices I had, but decided on “how to train your dragon”. It’s a ‘kid’ show. My kids wont watch it until they are like 13, but none the less my brother gave it to me. And I like it! It’s cute! Orlund came home, he’s looking at his hiking pics, and all in all it’s been one of those days that at the end of, you wouldn’t mind repeating tomorrow…..Tomorrow will be even better!

Random, but cute. Our little helpers.

~~ I learned a few new things this week, 1- before promising a meal to someone, make sure you have the car to deliver it. 2- not everyone can be so last minute as me (which is completely okay!). 3- it’s more work than I thought to plan the meals, but I think next time I’ll be better prepared……Wish me luck! I do truly LOVE being able to bless others in this way, it’s just been a BIG learning curve for me these past few days.

Happy Father’s day to all you dad’s out there!! I hope you were spoiled rotten.. Orlund was. Before I get to what all we did this past weekend, I wanted to share a little ‘questionnaire’ that I did with Joy. She was SO cute when answering my questions and I hope you get as much of a kick out of it as I did~~

What is Daddy’s Name? Daddy
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Eat eggs
What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Go for walks with me
What is Dad’s favorite food? Cake
What does daddy always say? Daddy like baby, Daddy like Nemo (Nemo is our goldfish)
What is something special daddy does just with you? Go to Church
What is something you want to do with Daddy? Go for a walk to the park
How old is Daddy? 3
Why did Daddy marry Mommy? Want to so Mommy doesn’t cry
Why did Daddy name you Joy? Because I’m a girl

Isn’t she cute?

So on with our weekend. Saturday Morning I got up put coffee on and then made breakfast. A special breakfast, waffles with Strawberries, blackberries and whipping cream. I have to say, they were yummy! Then I got the girls ready and we went to Solomon’s 2nd Birthday party. Unfortunately it wasn’t the most beautiful day and I had figured it would be inside, oops nope. It was outside. And just as I was leaving the house I forgot to grab their jackets… So they both ended up wearing a sweater of Solomon’s. It was fun, but tiring. We came home for their naps. Once they woke up we headed out for dinner ( all you can eat Sushi!!!). Very yummy, very filling. Headed home for bedtime.
Sunday Morning we got up early and got ready for Church. 9am we got there for the Pancake breakfast~ yummy!! Had Church then headed to Orlund’s parents place for lunch ~ yummy!! Had a good visit and headed home a bit later than planned. We tidied the house and got ready for dinner while the girls napped. My dad arrived for dinner and we had a wonderful visit with him and again, yummy food

Well I guess I should get on with my day now… The boys are coming in 1hour and I’ve got lots to do before they arrive.. God Bless you and I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!