Potty Training...Almost There!

Parker has been going pee pee in the potty for a while now. The only snag has been pooping in the potty. He flat out refused to go in the potty. I think it came about because he was constipated so it hurt when he went and he associated the hurting with the potty. I finally took a break from getting him to poop in the potty. I told him if he had to poop to tell me and I would put him in a diaper. He wears underware unless we are out and about for a while, but for pooping the diaper was his comfort. At first, he would freak out about pooping no matter if he was in his diaper just because he was scared of it hurting. After a while, that stopped so my next step was to get him to poop in the bathroom. He just had to stand in the bathroom in his diaper to poop. I told him that we poop in the bathroom and soon he will be pooping in the potty just like mommy and daddy. He got that down good. So finally, I told him no more diapers when he had to poop. He was not too happy with me when I wouldn't put his diaper on for him to poop. He kept handing me a diaper and saying "biper." I stayed strong and used distraction. I told him I would go get the special potty book to read if he sat on the potty. We read Usborne's Potty Time book.

It worked! That calmed him down so I went to get another book to read. While I was gone, he pooped in the potty!!!!! I made a big deal about it. You could tell he was very proud of himself. Then later on in the day, he had to poop again. This time there were no please for his "biper." He just sat right down on his potty and went. I am hoping this is the start of being completly potty trained. Well, at least during the day. It might be a while before he's diaper free at night.

Rewind: Beach Vacation

In May, Keri and her family went to the beach on vacation, and they invited us to come along. The kids and I went for part of the week, and we left Paul home to work. This was Ellis's first trip to the beach. She didn't like the beach at all. When I would put her in the sand, she would cry. So most of the days, we went to the beach while she stayed at home for her nap (don't worry. Keri's father-in-law was there with her.) We had a great little get away, but of course, we missed Paul.

WARNING: If you don't like to look at a bunch of pictures of cute children, then you might want to skip the rest of this post.

Ellis posing in her cute bathsuit.

Such cuteness!

Hannah and Ellis are having a serious conversation.

One of their favorite activities- wrestling!

Watching a little TV. Gives the adults a little peace and quiet.

Adorable!

Everyone, except Ellis, loved playing on the beach!

Hugs!

So beautiful.

They made a friend. Hence the strage red-head in the picture.

I love this little boy!



I just absolutely love Zoe's chubby thighs!

Ellis at 10 Months

I told myself that I wasn't going to wait until the end of the month in order to post about Ellis at 10 months, but here I am again on the day before Ellis turns 11 months creating this post. So, here we go.

• Stats: 15 lbs 7 oz and 27 in. She had lost a couple of ounces from when she got her weight checked last month so the doctor told me to focus more on giving her the cereals and mixing it with pedisure and give her yogurts and puddings to help fatten her up.
• She's a fast crawler. When she's got somewhere to go, you better move out of her way or she'll run you over.
• She is pulling up on her knees. Sometimes she'll just bounce up and down on her knees.
• She says "dada," "mama," "hey," and "babeh" (baby). Mostly she repeats them after us. This morning I got her up and brought her to my bed to nurse. She looked over at Paul's side and said "dada." He wasn't there because he had fallen asleep on the couch reading, but she knew he should be there.
• She celebrated her first Father's Day. She is also starting to love on Paul more.
• She is starting to come out of her shell and be more social with other people. In fact, when we were at a family reunion, she went to a complete stranger (at least he was to her) and let him hold her for a while and I was even right beside her. That's amazing! Although when she's sleepy all that goes out the window and no one else will do except her mommy.
• She's so nosy. Really she's just curious and is soaking up the world around her. She doesn't want to miss a moment of the action around her. She may be sleepy, but she won't give it up if we are out and about. She has to be in her bed in order to go to sleep.
• She rode her first ride. Well her first ride without a parent holding her. She rode the piggies at Dollywood with Parker while we were there on vacation. She was not happy about it at first especially since it jerked when it started but as it went around she enjoyed herself.
• She is now eating table food. I still give her the pureed food too because I want to make sure she's getting enough to eat with her weight issue. She's was ready to feed herself and she let me know it by always trying to take the spoon away from me.
• She loves sweet things just like me. I've given her a few treats of sweets and she gets so excited. She will scream at you if you don't hurry and give her another bite.
• She and Parker play so well with each other. If he lays on the floor, she will climb on top of him like she's wrestling him. Her favorite place to play is in his room. Parker wants her to always be awake to play with him. I know as they grow older they are going to have some fun times together.
• She is so giggly. It doesn't take much to make her laugh!
• She has started to do this head nod thing. She'll just be sitting and playing, and she will start nodding her up and down.
• She has a picnic basket toy that she loves to pull things out of. I will put all sorts of little toys in it and give it to her, and she will be entertained for a while.

Ellis, you are an abosolute joy in our lives. I couldn't imagine our family without you. You are a blessing! You are growing up way to fast. I can't believe that you are almost one year old. You are such a precious girl, and I love you so much!

Ellis on her first by herself ride.

Look at those beautiful baby blues!

NO!

I've had so many conversations like these recently.

Me: Parker, let's go brush your teeth.
Parker: NO!

Me: Eat your supper, Parker.
Parker: NO!

Me: Is Ellis your sister?
Parker: NO!

Me: Do you love your mommy?
Parker: NO!

Me: Parker, put on some clothes.
Parker: NO!

I could go on and on. Parker's new favorite word is no.  Apparently, he thinks it's fun to be contrary. I'm just working on ignoring it and not getting in a back and forth no/yes argument. Oh the joys of toddlerhood.

Finally, we have a plan!

We have been living for a year and a half in what I would call a transition stage. Although if you ask God, He would tell you we weren't in a waiting period transitioning into what God had planned for us in the next stage in life, but we were right were He wanted us, right where He planned us to be.

Before I tell you where we are headed, I want to tell you where we've been. A year and a half ago Paul resigned from the church where he was serving as an associate pastor. We knew that our time there had been served, but we didn't know where we were going next. We moved in with my dad and stepmom thinking that we would quickly find another church where Paul would serve in a ministerial position. Three months later, we were still clueless as to where were going, but we had to figure out something because I was 6 months pregnant and we wanted to be in a place of our own before Ellis made her apperance. Paul moved up to a manager position at Chick-fil-a, we sold our SUV in order to make rent payments, and a month later we moved into our current home here in Westville.

We knew our time here wouldn't be long term, but we settled in, welcomed our second child into the family, and Paul continued to send out his resumes. He interviewed at several churches, but so far none were where God wanted us to be. At one point in time, we were thinking that we would be here for several years, but I have to admit that the idea of Paul having an hour commute one way everyday for several years drove me crazy.

Recently, Paul's boss has been talking with the managers that work for him to figure out their long term plans as it pertains to them staying with Chick-fil-a.  Paul just didn't really have an answer for him. He could commit to being at Chick-fil-a for a couple more years with the possibility that he could get a position at the new Camden one when or even if that ever happened which would be a whoolllle lot closer. He had preached for a pulpit committee for a bi-vocational position, so that was another possibility. He also mentioned the idea of going to seminary. Even before we got married, Paul had talked about going to seminary. Paul had a conversation with a friend who is a pastor about seminary. He told him that it wouldn't get easier to go. The more children you have and the older they get doesn't make it easier.

We talked about going ahead and going to seminary. Sure, Paul could have gotten a ministerial position and gotten his seminary degree online and/or through extensions, but Paul learns best in a classroom setting. He was looking at Southeastern and New Orleans as a possibility, but New Orleans was where he was really interested in. I, on the other hand, was a little bit hesitant about being so far from family and everything that was familiar to me.

After some personal time in prayer, I knew that the only reason Southeastern was still on the table was because of me. I knew that a Seminary education has been something that Paul has wanted for a long, long time. I knew that we were at the perfect point in our life for us to become a "seminary family." I knew that God would provide whatever we needed for this to happen. He would be there with me when I would be in an unfamiliar place and missing my family and friends back in SC. So, I told Paul that we need to go to New Orleans for seminary.

What a peace it is to have an answer to what we have been asking God in prayer. We finally have a "plan." I put that in quotes because when you live for Jesus you don't really have plans, you just take one step at a time wherever He leads.

I'm excited about this journey we are about to take, but I know it will come with its own hardships but nothing that God can't handle. Please be in prayer for us as we prepare to head to New Orleans in January. Pray that Paul would be accepted and that scholarships would cover costs of tuition and things (going into debt over a seminary degree has been one of my fears for a long time whenever Paul and I would discuss going to seminary). Pray that God would provide a job for Paul in New Orleans that would cover our living expenses. Pray for us as we move and settle in a new location so far away from home. Pray that God would help us save somehow for another vehicle. I would love to have a new to us vehicle that has a lot less miles on it and a little more room for this family of four to travel from NO to SC when we visit family than our 2003 Ford Focus with 160,000 miles on it (again, I don't want to go into debt for a vehicle. I don't like debt of any kind as you may can tell). While you are praying for us, please pray for Paul as he prepares to go on a mission trip to Peru in September. This is not an easy trip. It involves living in very primitive conditions and there's a lot of tough travel to get there. It is also a very expensive trip because of the travel and the supplies needed in order to serve in the remote jungle. Also, it is a 10 day trip, which means 10 days of no pay for Paul who is the sole provider for our family, but I know God will provide or He would not have called Paul to go on this trip.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! Sorry for such a long post. I had a lot to share.

We love Daddy!

I couldn't have asked for a better husband and father. Parker is quite a daddy's boy. Ellis loves her daddy too although she's still attached to me. This evening Paul was cutting grass with the pushmower around the edges. Parker got his Bubble Mater and started "cutting grass" with Paul. He followed right behind Paul and did everything he did, even to wiping sweat off his face when Paul did.
I'm so glad that Paul is such a godly man for Parker to look up to. Now, it's cutting grass, but I know that it's so much more. He's is looking up to Paul learning how to be a man of God, a good husband, and a great father.

Frugal Friday: Cook Up Some Savings

I love going out to eat. It's fun to eat food that you usually don't make at home. Of course, it's nice to not have to think about what should I make for supper today (although sometimes I have trouble deciding what I want to eat from the menu.) But the best reason I love going out to eat is I don't have to do the cooking and the cleaning!

It's so easy to pick up food to bring home for supper on a busy day or to go out to a restaurant on a lazy day, but if you go out to eat a lot it adds up. So, my Frugal Friday tip is to cook up some savings. I know this is nothing new to you, but sometimes we need a reminder. Cooking at home not only saves you money, but also can benefit your health which can save some money on medical costs. You can control the ingredients you use and choose to cook in a healthier way.
Maybe you don't feel confident in the kitchen. Maybe you don't have a lot of ideas on what to cook. Maybe you don't have a lot of time to prepare a meal. Whatever your excuse is, it can be overcome. Use the internet to find some tips on cooking or some recipes. Check out cookbooks from the library. Chances are someone else has faced the same difficulties and have written a book or a blog about it.

I have to admit that I could help our family save more on food costs if I did some meal planning. After I get back from vacation I'm going to do better on that.