Potty Learned!

It's official ... although today is only the 4th day, it's been a full 3 days of NO ACCIDENTS! And, Ellie has finally figured out that she can go in and go to the bathroom with out having to ask first! We kind of had to put her to the test yesterday, as we had A LOT of running around to do. She told us about 10 minutes into our outing that she had to pee, so speeding towards a gas station we went ... and she made it! About an hour later, at the Nursery looking for trees, she ran half way across the property to come tell me that she had to go, and again .... MADE IT!!!! SO proud of her, I thought it would never happen. Hahaha! If she makes it 3 more days with no accidents, a celebration at Chuck E. Cheese will commence! Woooo!

New Year's Resolutions ...

So usually I don't make a New Year's Resolution because I'm TERRIBLE at sticking to them. But this year, I decided to go "balls to the wall" and make a few!
#1: Work it Out: I'm GOING to start working out, SOMEHOW, three days a week. Whether it's a walk around the block, getting around to doing Insanity, anything...
#2: Capture the Moment: We haven't been very good at taking pictures since we lost our camera last March. We got a new one, but hate it. I want to get a new camera and start taking pictures again! Especially since Claire is so little and changing every day.
#3: Clip, Snip & Save: Coupon clipping here I come! I am determined to master this damn art.
#4: Put it Away: Money ... always trying to figure out better ways to do it, always find other things to spend it on. Ellie needs preschool tuition from September - May... why not start saving now?!!?
#5: Time for ME: I desperately need to take time for myself. I never do. Once every other week to start. I will take an evening (6-9) and get out of the house and do whatever I want ... go somewhere with friends, knit, scrapbook... hopefully moving up to once/week!

I don't feel like I'm setting myself up for failure here, these are all very reachable goals! I'm starting a little late, obviously, but really ... is it ever really too late to make a resolution? Nah!

Now to master managing my headstrong toddler .... *sigh*

HAPPY 2011!

Well 2010 is over and here we begin a new year! 2010 was such an emotional year for us. Our best friends in the entire world, Jake (16) and Boone (3) passed away 3weeks apart from each other in May. Jake, was old and having great difficulties getting around, so after lots of weeks tossing it around, we finally took him in and had him put down on May 5. A very emotional day for all of us. Johnny built him a box and we took him out to a hunting spot and buried him. 3 weeks later, on the 30th, Riley called us, as we were out of town, and told us that Boone had passed. After almost 3 months of weekly, bi-weekly and sometimes tri-weekly vet visits and an autopsy, the unofficial verdict was Bone Marrow Cancer. On a happier note, we then welcomed our new puppy Caly, from TN, into our home in July and then our beautiful second baby girl, Claire Marie, joined us in late September! We are very blessed and I hope 2011 is filled with nothing but great things for us all!

Ellie is amazing! When we are out and about running errands, she recognizes "red octagons," "white rectangles," and "yellow diamonds" signs! I love it! She asks a million and one questions! We are going to put her on the waiting list for preschool in March so she can start this fall! From my experience, I'm sure I could have put her in the 3y/o class when she was 2 and she would have done just fine! In the mean time, I'm trying to keep up her her little brain and trying not to bore her =) She's growing up WAAAAAAAAAY too fast.

Claire is outrageous! I can't believe she's already 3 months old =( she spends her days cooing, smiling, giggling and eating! At her her 2m. check up she was 9lbs. and 22'. She absolutely is in love with her big sister! She's starting to reach for things and when she gets pissed enough, she's able to roll over from her tummy to her back! I'm not ready for my BABY to be doing things like this yet!

Caly continues her training and is a fabulous dog! We are so lucky to have her! She is SO great with the kids. When we brought Claire home and let Cal in to check her out, she got down and army crawled from about 15 feet away until her nose was touching Claire's head. Then she just laid there with her! It was absolutely priceless! That's when I KNEW Cal was meant to be ours! Never had she even seen a baby and that was how she reacted! LOVE IT! She's an amazing bird dog! Her first wild retrieve was a nice sized pheasant and she handled it with out a problem at all!

So with our health and love, we're hoping 2011 is half as good as 2010 was! Here's to a new year! *Cheers*

Ellie's a BIG Sister!

Well we arrived at the hospital just before 6 a.m. and was escorted to the last available birthing suite. I received my IV and signed all the necessary paperwork to be admitted by 630. My epidural was administered by 7 and Dr. V cam to check on me at 730. At my first exam I was 3 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. He said he'd be back a little later to check me again. We all waited for the pitocin to do it's thing ... He came in a few hours later and I was 8 and 70%. Shortly after he left I started to feel my contractions (about every minute and a half or so) and after about 45 minutes started feeling the urge to push. The nurse checked me and said I was fully dilated and very close to completely thinned out so at 12:50 p.m. she gave me the go-ahead to start my practice pushes. Dr. Vandersloot was called and came into the room around 1:15 and after feeling all my contractions (thanks to my epi. they were dull and nagging) and the infamous "ring of fire," Claire Marie was born with a TON of BLACK hair at 1:41 p.m. on Monday September 27, 2010! She weighed 7.15 and was 21.5" tall. The cord was wrapped around her neck and had to be cut before her body was delivered, then, come to find out, it was also wrapped around her arm and torso. She had a little fluid in her lungs and needed a little oxygen but nothing serious. She scored 9's on her APGARs and looked absolutely NOTHING like her big sister! We were released on the 28th at 5:45 p.m. Smooth sailing, quick and easy ... great experience!

Claire went from 7.15 to 6.10 in the first few days and it took her until her 1 month check up to get back to her birth weight. It's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me, thinking it's my fault she's not gaining properly. Her pediatrician is WONDERFUL and had me come in every week to have her weight checked to make sure she was gaining (or at LEAST maintaining), which she has been doing. She's always gaining, just not as much as she "should." I'm going to start taking her to the support group on Mondays to have her weighed to make sure she continues. She is a very good baby! She's more fussy than Ellie was but I think we were just REALLY lucky with Ellie. She sleeps (now, at almost 6 weeks) anywhere from 6-8 hours every night! And for a breastfed baby that's GREAT (I hear)! Oh ... and she has BLUE EYES!

Ellie absolutely LOVES being a big sister ... and she's SOOO good at it! She always wants to help change diapers and giver her baths and asks to hold her all the time! She's transitioned from an only child to having a sibling better than I ever could have imagined! I'm very thankful! Now I just have to figure out how to better distribute my time between the two girls. Right now it's hard because Claire's nursing and just needy in general, being a newborn. I'm working on it though and it seems to come easier by the day.

So close ...

Big shocker! I'm a failure at blogging! LOL!
I decided, though, that I should update real fast. As of today I have a crazy, independent, loving, witty, and BEAUTIFUL baby girl and am 2 days away from having our second little girl =) Life is good ... but will be better Monday night. I hate being pregnant even though this time around has really been a breeze. I'm not good at it and all I do is complain ... poor Cory!
Per a friend's suggestion, I'm going to start a quote list for all the wonderful things my toddler says! I have to ... she keeps me in stitches 24/7!

Anyway ... Ellie is doing great! She can't wait to be a big sister! She talks about Baby Claire ALL the time. I hope she likes her as much once she's here as she does now! It'll make my life EASY-PEASY! She's successfully given up her "me-me" and since has had a vocabulary explosion! We attempted potty training and while she was excited about it for a little while, she completely lost interest so we're putting it on hold, probably until she's closer to 3. She's transitioned into a "big girl bed" wonderfully! She loves it! We took the summer off of swim lessons but are going to start them back up next month, she can't wait! She's also asking me lately if she can go to school by herself ... we're going to have to look into that, maybe after the first of the year =)

We got a puppy in July. She was shipped to us at 8 weeks old all the way from Nashville, TN. She's a registered Black Lab with an amazing pedigree and she's absolutely adorable! Her name is Caly (Calypso) and she's currently about 17 weeks old. Cory's been working his butt off training her and let me tell ya, he is doing an AMAZING job with her! She is absolutely incredible! She's the most lovey dog I've ever seen ... I think she's a little confused, I'm sure she thinks she's a Chihuahua or something! Her favorite place in the world is on your lap!

Then there's the newest member ... the one we're waiting on. Daddy named her, Claire Marie. She will be here on Monday! I'm scheduled to go in at 6 a.m. to be induced so she doesn't get as big as Ellie was, hopefully preventing a lot of the problems I had during delivery, including hypertension. At 37 weeks, Dr. V. guessed she was "...every bit of 7lbs., putting her right on track to follow in her big sister's footsteps." *sigh* Oh boy! We're all really excited to meet her and see if she's going to look like Ellie or if she'll throw us for a loop and come out a blondie (or red-head) with blue eyes! The countdown has begun, 36 hours until we're admitted =) I'll update (at some point) after she arrives!!!

Ultrasound, Birthday Party, Swimming Lessons, Oh My!

So this is the first time I've had a spare minute to jump on here and blog about what's going on, although I've been meaning to do this for a week! Lots went on for us in that last week. We had our 20 week check up and big ultrasound on Ellie's birthday (Friday May 21)!

We found out that Miss Ellie is going to have a baby SISTER! Cory was a little bummed, but only at first, every Dad wants a son ... but he's perfectly happy knowing she's healthy and has warmed up just fine to the idea of another girl! He figures Ellie is pretty cool, so this one will add to the fun! Now we begin the naming process! Oh boy! This is proving to be a lot more difficult that I thought it would be ... and a WHOLE LOT more difficult than naming Ellie. So far we have nothing. More posts on this to come, I'm sure!

Ellie's birthday party was a success. We had it the day after her actual birthday in our backyard. Luckily the weather held out for us and while it was a little breezy, it stayed mostly sunny/warm and the rain took a nice pause for us!! Ellie had a blast! Her best friend, Maddy, came as did Ellie's Cousin Lily! The girls had a great time playing together and it was absolutely adorable to watch! The Dora cake was delish and Ellie was spoiled with tons of wonderful gifts from all her friends and family! We are so blessed to have such a great network of people around us!

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, Ellie has been in swim lessons since the first-ish of February! Last night was her last lesson for the summer (we'll start her back up in September) and she's done absolutely amazing in my opinion! Last ight was family Night so Cory and I both got to swim with her! After class teacher Lori handed out little awards and ribbons for the kids doing such great jobs! As we were leaving and Ellie was handed hers, the teacher pulled us aside ... (Before I get too into my story, I want to share what teacher Lori wrote at the bottom of the award in the "comments" section. "Excellent! Way to swim to TURTLE in the summer.") Lori asked when Ellie's birthday was. I told her she JUST turned 2 on Friday. At the time of writing out the award, she wasn't sure if E was going to be 3 in the fall/winter, but if that WAS the case, she wanted to move E up from parent/child classes to the 3y/o classes this summer because "she's a very advanced swimmer" !!! Since E JUST turned 2 she said she KNOWS she can get her approved for TURTLE (3y/o class) this fall/winter at 2 1/2! She had the TURTLE teacher (Tyler) sitting in on family swim and had E show him how she swims from the bottom of the pool to the surface for air and yells for "HELP!" (They teach them this in case they were to fall in the pool ... so we can hear her and save her). She's the only one in her class who does it and most of the other kids have been swimming since 6-12 months old, except for one new boy this session. E's only been swimming for barely 4m! Can you believe it?!!? I was (am) SO proud! I was glowing all night!!!!! I'm terrified of any water other than bath/shower or pools and am NOT a good swimmer ... at all. So to have her be SO into it and doing SO well is absolutely amazing to me! Cory LOVES the water, he grew up on a lake near Seattle so he's part fish and is ALWAYS begging me to swim and scuba dive with him and I do it but with a floaty and panic attack in tow. LMAO! First thing he said last night was, "Well ... I guess I found my new dive buddy!" SOOOO EXCITED! Anyway, we'll go back to Teacher Lori in Sept. for a session or two and then see what she wants to do with Ellie! She said she doesn't want to keep her at "age level" because of how well she's doing after only 3 sessions! =D We've also decided that we're going to start Baby #2 at 6m (when they first start excepting them) ... so in March/April-ish! =)

Sad day for us

Well today is a sad day for our little family. At 430 this afternoon we are taking our dog, Jake, in to be put down. Cory got him when he was 11, making Jake just over 16 years old. He's been, literally, THE BEST dog I've ever had or even known. He's been in my life for over 7 years and I can't imagine there ever being a more loyal, faithful, loving, cuddly, funny dog on this planet. We've been very spoiled to have had such a wonderful dog in our lives. I'm sad Ellie won't remember him, although in her 2 years, especially the last few months, she's had an amazing time playing and loving on him! We are taking him up Klicker Mountain to bury him. He LOVES the snow and the mountain get lots of it (for our area)! It's a hard decision to have to make, but we know it's for the best. He's got a lot of life left in him, I'm sure, but physically he's done. It's not fair for us to keep him with us. It's selfish at this point. It's really hard knowing he won't be here tonight when we feed "them." Last night we all made beds on the floor and couch and had a camp-out with him in the livingroom. I know Cory has ENDLESS amounts of stories and good times he'll remember, but my most favorite was 6 years ago. Cory was mobilized and staying up at Fort Lewis getting ready to go to Iraq. I had moved in with Eilin and every night I made Jake a place on the bed with me and he'd sleep there, with his paw on my arm, ALL night! If he'd get up in the middle of the night for a drink he'd always come back =) That is my favorite memory of Jakers! Losing this part of our family makes me not want pets anymore. Losing them is almost what I would imagine losing a child would be like. Devastating.

On a happier note, I have a Baby #2 update from a couple weeks ago (April 23)! Dr. V. said everything is going perfectly! The HB was 148-152 bpm and we made our appt. for the ultrasound! We get to find out ON ELLIE'S BIRTHDAY if she's having a baby brother or sister! May 21st it is!