the potty monster

let me just start by saying i couldn't be happier that i finally have BOTH kids fully potty trained...

BUT it seems as if we created a potty monster out of russell!
for a couple of weeks, he was completely fine with going pee pee on the potty, it was the poo poo he was afraid of. slowly but surely, we got him used to that too. in fact, every time he went, he got a little "prize" of some sort and lots and lots of praise, almost like a party! well, maybe that's where we went wrong because now he is going to the potty at least 100 times a day--or at least it seems like it! flush after flush after flush... it's all i hear! i'm afraid to see what our water bill is going to look like next month! seriously, how can a kid (who, mind you, would hold his *urge* hours at a time when we were out and about) have that much pee inside their little body! well, i guess i should be happy to have a break from the diapers and wipes (of course now we use "flushable potty wipes") 'til the next kid comes along, whenever that may be :-)

FTI: he has gone poo poo in the potty FOUR TIMES today alone!!!! wow [and yuck] lol

just thought i'd share the exciting news!

...

will the rain ever stop! we TRIED to go to the park today but it was another nasty and wet day. not a complete rainout but just enough to spoil the fun :( well, almost... we decided to make it a movie day! we took the kids to see UP, the new disney pixar movie. the theatre was packed -- i guess everyone was thinking the same thing we were! it turned out to be one of those cute movies that not only the kids enjoy, but the moms and dads too :) 4 thumbs UP from us!

last friday, we "ordered in" our brooklyn's pizza because my mom wasn't feeling so well. we all ate at my parent's house and the kids had fun with grandma and grandpa as usual... here are a couple of "dress up" pictures from that night:

doesn't he look like his grandpa in this picture? esp wearing his hat!

something else you do a lot of on a wet day: play games! natalie and daddy very carefully built this jenga tower today...


and russell just couldn't resist!

family photos

(taken by my friend brittani, a very talented photographer)

a HUGE thank you to BRITTANI!

weekend in review

friday was a very busy day for us! that morning i took the kids to story time at our local library, then headed to the park w/ my friend brittani and her kids. it was SCORCHING hot out that day but it was still fun to hang out at the new park i found. later that day i took the kids to MyGym for their Freeplay class to let them run, play and get the sillies out! Straight from there i headed to Brooklyn Pizza for dinner w/ the family. (gotta love that family tradition!!!) natalie had the privilege of spending the night w/ grandma and grandpa that night, so i made sure little russell had a *boys night in* with his daddy. they worked on putting together a model car kit (meant for toddlers), then got cozy in bed and watched a "new" movie, Over the Hedge, while munching on popcorn. russell was in heaven! the next morning while russ worked, russell and i went out to run some errands and did some mother-son bonding over lunch at mcdonalds :) that night we ate dinner at ruby tuesday with my parents and sister and her boyfriend, then walked around the mall to burn off those calories! after the kids went to bed that night, russ and i relaxed in our room and watched Creepshow, an OLD stephen king "movie". we had both seen it before but it had been YEARS and we got a good laugh over watching it again. sunday was another busy day including yardwork and church, backyard pool fun, and finally, our much anticipated family photoshoot with our friend brittani! the park we went to was absolutely gorgeous and i can't wait to go back with the kids but next time i will be bringing my bug repellant! there were some monster mosquitos which were attacking us the entire time! good thing we weren't there long -- brittani knows how to do her thing; she does it well and she is quick :) can't wait to see the pics, and of course i will be posting some on here as well! after our photoshoot, we headed to bruester's for a much deserved ice cream treat!

i apologize for the long, drawn out and rather boring paragraph above but i have been slacking on my blog lately and i felt that if i didn't post something -- ANYTHING -- soon, i would start to forget things!

*boys night in*

(note russell is playing w/ the model cars he just made)

dinner at ruby tuesday, natalie being silly:

ranch mouth:

making a wish at the fountain:
playing with his new woody,
a disney store gift from g-ma and g-pa:

my *attempt* to get a picture of the two of them:

bratty brother:

tired after ice cream:

simple and sweet

wow, we finally have a bed! it arrived today and we wasted no time picking up the package and getting it all set up in the room. it is very small and simple and i'm so happy i chose to keep looking, because i was just not feeling that first bed. this one seems to tie everything together and for now it is the perfect fit to our room!

BiRtHdAyS!!!

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

ALEX & CELENA!!!!!

Happy Birthday To You!

May is a popular month for birthdays in our family!

Birthday wishes to the rest of our friends and family who are also May babies!

go russell!

natalie LOVES to dance! i think she gets it from grandma. every now and again russell will put on his dancing shoes too.

so here he is dancing -- with grandma, of course ;)

too big, or not too big; that is the question...

we finally purchased our much needed mattress set! but we hurriedly chose a bedframe, and as much as i DO like this bed, i'm afraid my answer to the above titled question is: TOO BIG!


after it was set up, i realized that the bed was just a little too gaudy and over the top for our simple little room. i love the classic style and details of the wood, but i just wish it was less "heavy" and more "dainty". so the same day russ and i set this bed up, i ordered another bed off of JCpenney.com, one which better suits my style, and also one that doesn't require little ol' me to use a step stool to climb into!!! HOPEFULLY, the second bed works out! pics of that to come! (soon, i hope)

p.s. we are not looking forward to taking this bed apart and re-packaging it up :(

playing catch up

i am back from our beautiful rachel's weekend and still in awe of the way God touches each and every one of our lives, no matter what we do, and how he has abundantly blessed mine in particular!

on monday, i returned home only to joyously discover that my little russell is potty trained! i suppose he was just waiting for me to leave... the week before, he had made a HUGE leap in his potty training when he went poopoo in the potty for the FIRST time, AND he went to the bathroom ALL ON HIS OWN! (usually i have to remind him to go). i was a little worried that he would regress while i was away for the weekend, but in fact, the exact opposite happened and now he is doing excellent with going all on his own with few to none accidents.

my little boy has really been growing up on me -- it's like i blinked and he turned into a big boy over night! the other day i asked him to help set the dinner table for the first time and without me telling him where to put anything, he did it perfectly. and just this past week, i was upset about something, and he came up to me and patted my back and said "it's ok mommy, it's ok." he is my quiet little observer. he watches and retains knowledge but you have no idea he knows what he knows until he does something like that!

we took the kids to eat at a japanese habachi grill restaurant as a treat the sunday i got home and despite the fact that we had to wait about an hour to get dinner started, the kids loved every second of it! natalie had fun talking to the "chef" and he had fun entertaining her. to my surprise, the kids tried everything that they were served. natalie, who normally picks at her salad, ate every last bite, they both gulped down their soup, both tried, and loved the shrimp appetizer, both kids ate those veggies like they were candy (when they normally won't even touch zuccini, onions and mushrooms), and natalie, who is not a big fan of rice, couldn't stop eating it! i think i'm going to take up japanese cooking lessons, b/c we surely cannot afford to eat at a place like that all the time!

now on to a more gloomy subject... THE NON-STOP RAIN IN JACKSONVILLE! just a week ago, our city was in the middle of a drought, and literally, for the last FIVE days, the rain has been coming down continuously! and of course, when it rains, russ cannot work. so it's been a little scary to think about his next paycheck... but having him home this week has been a real treat. he got to see natalie in her my gym class, has been a huge help in running errands and going shopping with me and the kids (both of which i would have been miserable doing by myself in these terrible weather conditions), and we have also had some good quality family time. the kids got to watch a cute dreamworks movie called Flushed Away, which in fact we all enjoyed, and russ and i enjoyed watching the season finales to our shows Lost and American Idol.

All in all, it's been a good week, despite the nasty and gloomy weather.

We are looking forward to celebrating Celena and Alex's birthdays this Memorial weekend!

Here are some random pictures from the last few days:

waiting to be seated at Daruma's Japanese Grill

natalie and russell playing doctor together

russell playing with his new toy that he got for going poopoo in the potty for the first time

natalie playing with her puppets (a christmas gift from last yr), her new favorite toy

***

WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY WEEKEND!

did ya miss me?

i admit, i have been a bad blogger lately. it's been several days since my last post, i know, and i'm sorry. things have been a little difficult around here for the last week. as i mentioned previously, russ had his wisdom teeth removed and what we thought would be a "simple" weekend long recovery, turned out to be A WEEK AND A HALF LONG nightmare. he re-visited the dr. 4 times since his surgery, only to be told that there is no infection, possibly a little dry socket, but the pain was just coming from the way his body was healing, having to do with his age and the severity of the impacted wisdom teeth. they were bad. and the doc said that russ' surgery wasn't an easy one. so russ just had to sweat it out, even with the pain meds (including 2 refills) and lots and lots of ibuprofen. meanwhile, he was having to go to work and only managing to work half-days. Most of his time at home was spent in bed with the exception of him trying to brave a couple of outings with us.

as a result of russ being "out of commission" i was feeling very much alone with taking care of the kids, and not being able to hang out with my very best friend and companion. that alone will put anyone in a slump. and on top of that, i was feeling so bad that he was in so much pain and there was nothing i could do about it.

i do, however, have some good news: as of today, russ is feeling about 75% better and hasn't taken a pain pill yet. i believe we are now on the road to recovery and i hope things can be normal again!!!

***
UPDATES:

- last tuesday we visited with the diggs for a playdate. baby lauren is so precious and might just be the best baby i have ever seen! she is so mild mannered and easy going, i KNOW heather couldn't be happier :) what a cute little family of four they are now!

- last thursday we had a meeting with "child find", the program we entered to get some additional help for russell's speech delays. we found out that russell was qualified for the developmental delayed program (NOT speech therapy, which is what i thought he needed). what this means is that he will be attending a pre-school-like class at our nearest elementary school where there will be about 15 students total, all of which have some sort of developmental delay. the class is a full school day, from 8:00 to 3:30, from monday through friday. i am VERY leary of sending him off, however i think we will move forward with this opportunity, because i do not want to turn any help down. natalie will also be started pre-k-4 next year and her class is only a half day. i am so not ready for BOTH of my kids to start school, especially to be sending my youngest child off so early and for such a long day! not to mention, what am i going to do with my time!!!! (that was a rhetorical question, by the way...haha)

- MOTHER'S DAY: we hosted a lovely brunch at my house for russ's parents, his aunt and her son who was visiting from NY. afterwards we relaxed outside with the kid's summer pool set up. russ was feeling pretty bad that day, so we didn't do much else. i got some great gifts from my mom (the week before) and sis, but i really appreciated the one from russ who barely had any time to do any shopping with being "sick" and all, and he still managed to get me something so thoughtful: a little picture book box for our wedding pictures. we just bought all of the proofs from our wedding photographer and i have been so excited to FINALLY, after 5 years, have these in our possession. now, i get to work on making my very own wedding album! maybe i'll have it ready for our 5th anniversary which is coming up in july. that is my goal, at least :)

- this week we are laying low, trying to relax from a stressful past week and also i will be helping on a church retreat this weekend, so i will be gone the entire time. i've just been trying to enjoy my time with the kids and get things ready for my absence. my brave husband will be holding down the fort!


no time to post pictures today, but i will try to get some up soon!

i hope everyone is doing fantastic!!! no doubt my parents are -- IN HAWAII!!!

p.s. it's good to be back :)

yum yum mama fu's

me and the kids went to eat out tonight...

...and i had fun watching them eat :)

monsters, aliens, angels & mothers

it was a LOOOONG weekend for all of us to say the least. on top of having plans with family and friends, russ had his wisdom teeth pulled! it all started on friday, and that's when i turned into a mommy of "3". LOL

on saturday, while russ was at home in bed, heavily medicated, with icepacks on both cheeks, i took the kids to see the 3D movie Monsters vs. Aliens! they had been to the movies with me last summer so i wasn't too worried about their behavior (i.e.: russ running down the aisles, natalie being a chatterbox, them losing interest in the movie, etc...) and they did really well! although, i will say that things didn't start off that great -- in the first 5 minutes as i was trying to get everything situated russell accidentally dropped half of the box of popcorn on the floor! i wouldn't have been so upset if i didn't just throw down $35 on this particular trip to the movies, a MATINEE show at the least! can you believe that?! what is this world coming to!!! lol

natalie kept her 3D glasses on the entire time and was really into the movie

russell had a hard time sitting in the folding seats since he didn't weigh enough to keep them down. is it just me, or do they need to do something about this problem! i sat with half of my leg stretched out over his seat just to keep him from being folded inside!

***

on sunday, we went to see our neice shelby, as she celebrated her first communion. she looked so cute and the kids always love hanging out with their cousins!

CONGRATULATIONS SHELBY!!!

i was attempting to take a picture of russell with his older cousin cheryl (she is one yr older than natalie) because they were so cute hanging out together (cheryl was acting like his little mommy and russell was just eating it up!) and when they sat down, cheryl's 2 friends wanted to be in the picture too! cheryl is quite the social butterfly!

***

on sunday, we went to my parents house to celebrate mother's day early since my parents will be in HAWAII nexy weekend! yep, that's right, HAWAII - i'm so jealous :)

here's my sassy little natalie trying on some of grandma's gifts and accessories

***

we hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! it is now monday and i am still trying to recover from the craziness of ours.

an update on russ: he is still recovering. this is day 4 and he is actually experiencing the worst pain so far but we are hoping things will start to get better from here!

*LOVE TO ALL*

beach day

welcome baby lauren!

i am so proud to announce the birth of our good friends' heather and ryan's daughter, Lauren Bailey!

today the kids and i went to visit the diggs family at the hospital. as much as natalie LOVES babies, i thought she would be ecstatic to see lauren, but for some reason she shied away. maybe i scared her a little when i gave her the talk on how we don't touch new babies :( little russell did better than i expected -- he didn't seem to be jealous but instead he kind of just ignored us altogether! as for me, i was on cloud nine holding precious little lauren. i even had the privilege of changing her poopy diaper and swaddling her up like a little burrito :)

lauren was born on monday afternoon, and although she came two weeks early, she weighed a whopping 8lbs11oz! she is too cute for words as you will see in these photos:

is she cute, or what!

check out that enormous bow that heather's mom made - how adorable is that!

the whole time i thought she looked like heather, but when i saw this pic on my computer tonight, i totally saw ryan's face

seems like just yesterday heather was visiting ME at the hospital when russell was born...MY HOW TIME FLIES!

corey's wedding

last night my friend heather's sister, corey, got married :)
russ and i were asked to help at the reception, and we were very happy to do so. we had a lot of fun while working during the reception, and worked extra hard cleaning up after everyone left, but in the end, i'm just glad we were able to be there. it was such a beautiful event, every little detail was thought out and carried through as you will see in the pictures below. i hear heather and corey's mom is nicknamed "martha stewart" and trust me, that is an understatement! their family did all of this themselves!

can you guess what the colors were? ;)

it's the little details that make a world of a difference

trying to keep clean, here russell sports a nifty apron

look how gorgeous the sister of the bride looks, and she is due any day!

me, russ, ryan and heather

logan chillin on the floor

he was soooo exhausted but somehow made it through the night!

boy, was i thirsty

sorry, no pictures of the bride and groom, but CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH, COREY & MATT!