Battle?

Derick and I seem to have an ongoing battle. He is battling to NOT nap and of course I am battling FOR the nap. He seems to be at one extreme or another. If he does sleep it is for nearly 3 hours, yet that seems to be a rare occasion these last couple weeks. I know he is nearing 3 and many seem to drop their nap around this time, yet he really could use the sleep. We have been struggling with the night terrors usually about 4-5 nights a week. He wakes up just screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs and nothing will calm him down. Eventually he passes out again and will sleep the rest of the night just fine. On the days he does not nap, he seems to fall apart about 5pm and it is rough night for all of us. I am hoping that as we start swim lessons tomorrow maybe that will be something to help wear him out to improve the sleep. We'll see.

Derick has been so funny lately with all he has to say. On Easter, when he found cracked eggs he would say "Look Mama--it's hatching". Not sure where that one came from, but glad he is learning. It tugs at the heartstrings when everyday at our attempted nap, then again at bedtime he tells me, "Mama, you sleep by me?" I saw that I have to go in my own bed, then he comes back with... "Mama, you snuggle with me?" Who could say no to such a sweet request. I then lay down by him for a few minutes when he starts with, "Mama, I love you all the heart." How precious these moments are. I try and treasure them as we already are getting to some of the..."Go away, don't look at me". Thankfully there are more sweet moments than rough ones of this magnitude...what do you do when they are teenagers and such sweet moments may not even exist? Yikes...

Our first trip to the dentist last week went well. Teeth looked good and everyone was in awe at how well he could sit still. They said next time to bring him for a cleaning as he has the ability to sit through it.

Potty training has been decent considering we have done it for only a week. He tells me about 80% of the time by saying..."Mama, the peepee is coming" and we rush off to the bathroom. He even has done it at the mall, at the zoo, and even by himself a couple times at church with no assistance whatsoever. Going #2 has yet to be accomplished in any form so we have invested in quite a large box of Pullups. I am not about to deal with poopy pants in public just yet ;) . I was informing Ricky awhile ago about teaching him to stand up and go as some of the public bathrooms are kind of gross. Well yesterday Derick walked into the bathroom while Ricky was in there so just casually Ricky said to him, "Pretty soon you will learn to go like Daddy". That was that...no big deal or elaborate conversation. Well this morning I walk into my bathroom to see that Derick had dragged his little stool over to the toilet and was standing up over it trying to 'pee like daddy'. It was so funny, as he was there arching his back thinking it might help it come out. When it didn't, he climbed down and walked over to his potty and sat down as usual. He and I celebrated the potty training with a birthday cupcake. I tried to sing a big boy potty song, yet he proceeded to sing himself Happy Birthday :D

The house has a for sale sign posted in front, yet is still not officially listed...hopefully in the next couple days. Yet I have been trying to appreciate not having the pressure of keeping it spotless--just yet :)

A Busy Time

Things have been a little busy in our household...a little more than usual...well, at least in my life. After talking about moving to a larger house the last couple years, we have decided to move forward with it. The market is at a very low point and the housing prices are very sad when it comes to selling. Yet since we have a fair amount of equity we thought we would give it a shot; because on the flip side the prices for what we are looking for are incredible...so we are taking a step of faith and figure if it is meant to be it will be. If not, we have gotten our house in great working order and it looks the best it has ever looked :) Anyone who knows me knows that I am so NOT a neat freak nor do I enjoy cleaning. My mom always said I wouldn't mind so much once it was mine... I am still waiting for that day ;) So I have asked Ricky if this is his clever way of ensuring our house looks great at a moment's notice. Ricky has done an amazing job of getting the house in order and the realtor said multiple times at how our house has such nice curb appeal. Maybe I will add a picture...as it does look nice. And thanks to God for making all the roses be in bloom at such a perfect time :)

On top of all this I have been enrolled in a photography workshop as well as some Photoshop classes... I am enjoying learning both, but am second guessing taking them simultaneously, as I would rather focus on one or another. But I do enjoy it and am learning more and more which will help me futher my business as time permits.

I am on day #2 of some serious potty training with Derick. I know that we as parents are not to compare our children, but when I was seeing so many more boys that are younger than him that are potty trained, I decided to crack down more. Since Derick is soooo verbal I kept hearing that he will let me know when he is 'ready' but we had yet to 'hear' anything from him...so I needed to take the initiative. He has done great so far with a couple accidents, but overall I am pleased how much he is telling me. As a reward he gets two M&Ms or robin eggs...something I am not sure the dentist will be thrilled about, but we will be finding out shortly, as he has his first trip to the dentist in less than an hour. I am also hoping the potty training is relatively quick, as we start our first intensive swim (more like the survival) classes next week and it would be nice to not have to mess with swim diapers for very long.

Needless to say, all the craziness has run our household down. I think Tash brought some germs back with her from FL last week and our woredown immune systems are fighting the battle. So we are taking it easy, but then will get in gear, as next week we are off to my parents house to visit with my brother and family who will be in town for a week.

I am hoping to post some of our Easter pictures when I have get the next burst of energy to download and sort through pictures. Until then...Happy Trails!