Our Family

My brother Eric, his wife Katie and their little girl Aubrey came to visit us for the afternoon and Emma and Maddie enjoyed having another little girl their size around. Aubrey is actually right in the middle of my girls- 7 months younger than Emma and 7 months older than Maddie.

They colored with sidewalk chalk, helped Jared make pizza, went swimming and played a lot of ring around the rosies... oh, and Emma was trying to give Aubrey a hug but Aubrey was not too excited about it. :)

Maddie has been so interested in the potty since Emma is potty trained and lately she has been wanting to sit on it, too.

Which I thought was cute and adorable.

And then one day she went #1 when the bath water was running. That has happened several times.

Then I noticed her trying to go #2 and put her on there. She went no problem. And we celebrated.

Now whenever I put her on the potty she can go. She seems to have an easier time going #2 in the potty than in her diaper.

So do I potty train my 15 MONTH OLD?! I seriously never thought about possibly potty training 2 kids in just 1 year... and definitely never thought I would be considering potty training one of my kids so young. But she seems like she already gets it.

And what is the worse that can happen?

Pros: She goes through less diapers? She gets a head start on potty training? I only have 1 kid in diapers when the baby is born?

Cons: I stress over potty training through the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy and summer? She regresses when the baby is born and we have to start over?

What would YOU do?

I took the recommendation of a friend who is a labor and delivery nurse here in Pocatello and went to my first appointment with my new Doctor yesterday.

1- They have jokes hanging on the ceiling above the beds so when you are laying down you can have a laugh.

2- His undergraduate degree is in Mechanical Engineering(like Jared). A little random, right? But I think we're going to get along. And he and Jared will really get along.

3- Seriously, he's great! I'm so relieved and excited to have this little guy with my new doctor in the new fancy schmancy hospital they just built here!

Emma and Maddie don't always love having the camera in their faces. But for a few minutes today they did. When I said "Smile!" these were their best cheesy faces. Love these girls!

I've been trying new things with the Emma's hair now that it is getting longer. After putting some pigtails in her hair the other day and telling her how beautiful it was, Maddie came to me with a brush and big puppy dog eyes. Her hair has always been so short on top I haven't tried to pull it up. But this was her first official pony tail..
And this is one of my favorite hairstyles for Emma...

The biggest downside to Jared going back to work today? Both girls spent all morning asking for Dad. They were not happy to hear that it was just me.

Emma was in timeout within 5 minutes of waking up this morning. And then she basically just fingerpainted with her yogurt. She asked me for a banana and once I peeled it and gave it to her lost interest.

Maddie woke up in tears, really clingy. The sippy cup I gave her at breakfast hurt her teeth so she didn't want THAT one. She grabbed my cup of water off the table and spilled it all over the house as she carried it around.

I was feeling frustrated, exhausted and overwhelmed by about 8:15. So after they finished eating I loaded them up into the bike trailer and went for a ride to a nearby park. We hung out there for over an hour.

Maddie's depth perception is not great, and the playground was very uneven. As she walked around the playground she found herself sitting on her bum a lot. But everytime she fell down, she never cried, just took a few minutes to play with the rocks on the ground. She would make a little pile, dig a hole or just run them through her fingers. And she would glance up at me with the happiest look on her face, like she intended to sit down on the ground with the rocks all along.

I couldn't help but wish I was more like that. When I get knocked down, I get grumpy. My kids were honestly just being kids this morning and I was so frustrated. What I should have done when Emma made a mess with her yogurt? Help her "color" a picture with it. It was already mess, why get mad? I should have made a game out of the banana. And Maddie only spilled WATER. Heaven forbid. Also, as for Maddie being "clingy", one of the things I love about Maddie is how much she cuddles with me, and I usually love just holding her.

Anyway, I changed my attitude. And when Maddie cried the whole way home from the park in the bike trailer, poked Emma in the eye and made her cry, too, I honestly laughed. Because my life is always an adventure with my kids. And I'm grateful for that.

Jared starts his new job today! We've really enjoyed the last week of having him home all day. We didn't take pictures like we should have, but we went on bike rides, swimming, to the park, lunch at the park everyday and so much more. I called it our "staycation".

Anyway, we have amazing neighbors and a great ward. Really, pretty much the same thing in this neighborhood.

I will have my first appointment with my new OB this week, so hopefully he is great. Only have 11 weeks left til the baby is due! One of these days we should probably come up with a name for him, huh?

The last day before we started moving, the girls and I met up with my friend and her kids at Dierkes. The whole time I kept thinking how much I wished we had gone with her more. It was perfect weather and the girls loved it!

It was a perfect day and both girls loved the fireworks show. We had a fantastic view and it took only 5 minutes to get back home. The whole time Emma pointed and said, "Whoa. Whoa!" Later that night we did fireworks at our house with all of Jared's family. Maddie went to bed but Emma and Paige loved the sparklers.

Limbo: an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place.

Well, we made it! This was probably the least stressful move you can imagine. My mom was so nice and took the girls for THREE days and Jared's company provided packers/movers for us, so day 1 they packed our things, day 2 they loaded and then we cleaned the house and headed to Pocatello. Day 3 they unloaded at our new house and we got the bulk of the unpacking done by 5 p.m. They sent a HUGE truck, though. It was seriously laughable when it pulled up in front of our little house and tiny street in Twin.


Since then, we have unpacked and organized here and there, but we've mainly been enjoying the 4th of July weekend with family. It's weird, though, because we so often spend the weekend here with family that I keep thinking the weekend is almost over and we should be headed back to Twin soon.

We are calling-less, which is kind of a shock to our systems. And Jared doesn't start his new job until next Monday. Poor guy just might go stir crazy. He started up P90X again to help fill his days. :) His family will all be going back to their regular lives after this weekend and we'll be hanging out in limbo until we find a routine here.

Our ward seemed really nice, though. Emma did great in her new nursery. And our neighbors brought over some delicious treats the day we moved in...

Also, I get to wake up to this for a view every morning...

I'll have to do a photo tour sometime soon, I promise. Let me get a few more boxes out of the way first. :) Until then, here is a picture of the outside.