LIFE

Life never seems to slow down I guess I should just learn to run a little faster!

Since January...no December... I have been making the goal to be a better blogger. For myself, for record purposes, so we can reminisce and so that everyone that is far away from us can feel a little closer to us and our family. Well...I haven't been doing so well. We are REALLY busy a lot of the time. So during my down time, which honestly isn't too much, I just want to do a whole lot of N.O.T.H.I.N.G . and when I get behind I feel overwhelmed and I still want to have everything in the order that it happened so that when I print my blog books it is accurate so then I don't post anything about what is currently happening and it becomes a whole big mess. Anyway I'm trying to do better. Here are a few things that are going on in our lives...

It was 62 degrees yesterday and 55 today AND it was sunny!! Warm weather and sunshine puts us all in a better mood! :) Plus it has been spring break for Josh..but I'll talk more about those events later.

Our house is officially on the market and has been since February 22. It was a little later than we hoped for, but we got everything done that we wanted to. We have had some lookers but no takers, yet. We have heard all positive feedback from the lookers and some interesting comments like "it's very clean" or "it is decorated nicely" those comments make me think things like "don't most people want their house to be spotless when people are critiquing every inch?"... but I know from experience that some people don't care... and "thanks but those decorations aren't staying." We have also heard comments like, "We are looking for something with a little more open floor plan" or a young single lady said " It's too big." I was surprised by that comment since everyone always seems to be wanting bigger and better. I wish we had a buyer so I could plan for the future a little better, but hopefully the right person will come along soon.

Josh is taking his licensing exam, the WREB, in a few weeks so that has been stressful to prepare for.

Brinley is in love with her Dad. For a long time she didn't want anyone but me for most of her needs. She wouldn't settle down for anyone but me, she didn't want to drink her bottle or go to bed for anyone but me, but now she lets her daddy. She gets so excited when he comes in the room. She says DA-DA when we go to his school to pick him up. She loves it when he carries her only a few feet from the ground and runs around the house chasing Hayden. There is a lot of giggling going on during that game!

Hayden speaks in sentences all the time. He is getting SO big! They aren't always grammatically correct sentences but we get what he is saying and it's really cute!! He says things like " Daddy lay down me" "I don't wanna do that" "No not like that, like this" He is also a very polite kid. {We think anyway, and we're grateful} He usually says please. "Please fix it" "Please help me" "Please get it me" And after we do what he wants he usually says "Thanks!" in an excited voice.

Brinley sleeps GREAT now! for a while she was waking up about 4am. Then it became 3am and she didn't want to go back to sleep so I was up with her for an hour trying to convince her that it was still night time. Now she sleeps from 6:30pm...trust me she is ready at 6:30...until 7 or 7:30am. It is FABULOUS! Hayden on the other hand does not like his bed. We let him sleep in our bed for naps because nap time is better if the kids are in separate rooms and we used to have him go to bed in his bed, but he woke Brinley up almost every night with his talking or getting up and down. So for everyone's benefit we let him fall asleep in our bed and then we moved him to his bed. This worked fine for a while but then he started waking up in the middle of the night crying hysterically, and depending on the time of night his crying would wake Brinley up, or if she woke up in the night crying he would wake up, and then the whole house was awake. If he didn't wake Brinley up when he got up then he would come get in our bed... or sometimes I could convince him to go back to his bed and I would lay by him until he fell asleep. A queen bed is not made for 3 people, one of them being a wiggly toddler, so one of us would get kicked out of bed. So we have been playing musical beds around here just trying to get a decent nights sleep and keep everyone happy. But if the kids sleep in separate bed rooms then he usually sleep in until about 7 also. This is a whole new wake up time for our family and we LOVE it, it makes up a little for the crazy nights we sometimes have.

We got a gym membership to the YMCA in January. I have been going on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I like the classes on those days. I'm sure I would like the classes on other days too, but it is kind of hard to get the whole house ready to go by 8:15 everyday. We have to leave by 8:15 so we can take Josh to school and be there in time to take the kids to the play room and get a spin bike. It's not a top of the line gym so there aren't many bikes. The other reason why I don't go everyday is because it is right during Brinley's morning nap time and I don't really want everyday to be whacked for her. The other days of the week I try to work out at home since we have a lot of our own work out equipment, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. I wish I were a little more consistent.

There are only about 6 weeks left of dental school! Josh is ecstatic at the thought that it is going to be over and that he is going to have completed all of his requirements! It has been quite the wild roller coaster ride for us. I could not be happier that dental school will be over, but leaving the people that I have come to love here will be hard. I try not to think too much about that part.

Hayden does pretty well at the whole potty thing. I say pretty well because he keeps his pants dry most of the time and he can go pee all by himself, with the occasional help pulling up or un.doing his pants, but pooping is a whole other story! It was the first thing he did in the potty but he won't do it now and it is super frustrating for me. I have tried everything to get him to do it. Negative punishment, positive reinforcement, praise, sticker charts, new toys, putting on baby diapers when he poops in his pants...which by the way is very traumatic for him and makes him melt down every time but doesn't make him stop... and everything else I can think of. I'm open for suggestions and I think I'm going to have to be okay with a ten year old pooping his pants!

We are trying to prepare for life after Buffalo. I feel like there are so many things we have to do and so many things we don't know the answers to. The Navy has a million little things that have to be done, but they aren't the greatest at explaining or helping with them. Our future holds a lot change and a lot of unknown and I don't really like either.

Brinley used to love bath time. She would play with Hayden and they would splash and laugh and squeal about who got what toy. Then she got a bum rash. A REALLY bad bum rash that was more like sores. Around the same time she fell in the bath tub when trying to stand up against the edge and hit her lip and cut the inside of her top lip. One of those two things has made it so she HATES bath time. She cries when we turn on the water and start undressing her, and continues to cry until we get her out. It makes me sad!

We have had our share of sickness around here this winter. One kid then the next with fevers and runny noses and diarrhea and throwing up and coughing and then Josh or I or both gets it. Not fun!

I am going to have my tonsils out. I'm looking forward to it. I don't have a surgery date set yet, but they have been a problem for me since I was little so it's time.

Hayden loves pretending to be and playing/watching superheros. Spider Man is his favorite, and he has the whole web shooting thing down, but he likes all of them. Really, he likes lots of things. Action figures, Star Wars, Spider Man, Toy Story, Cars, Curious George, Sesame Street, Thomas, Diego & Dora, and lots of other things.

Our life is crazy but I will try to be a better blogger...among other things!