The Picture People Portraits!

Anderson cried almost the whole time...

This was was pretty good but he was about to burst into tears.

The one we bought of Anderson... his only smile.

A good family picture but not the winner...

Family picture winner... Isn't it precious how Karoline is holding his hand!?

I just LOVE The Picture People. They always do an amazing job and I would recommend them to all my friends!

Funny Video of Karoline and Our Trip To The Picture People

Video
This is a funny of Karoline laughing at her daddy entertaining her while she finishes her dinner. TJ is such a fun daddy!

Picture People Story
Okay, so today we FINALLY got our family portrait made. We had an appt. a few weeks ago after Anderson's 2 month check up but I forgot that he had to get shots and we ended up running late so it didn't happen. So we tried again today. Our appt. was at 4:30PM. Well while the kids were napping and I got the WORST headache. I felt horrible. I thought we were going to have to cancel again. I felt like I could not even get ready and I had to lay down. I even cried and it takes a lot to make me cry most of the time. Then my body rejected my lunch (sorry) and it was like my headache was almost gone. I felt so much better... I finished getting ready while TJ got the kids ready and we made it!! I don't have the pictures to post because their website is down, but our family picture is SO CUTE! I'll try to describe... I am holding Anderson against my check and I am facing to the left. Karoline is behind me hugging my back practically and TJ is behind her. Well, Karoline did the sweetest thing. She reached over my arm in the front and grabbed Anderson's little hand. Yall, it is PRECIOUS!!!!!! And all four of us are actually looking at the camera. Karoline wanted to run around the whole place so we were bribing her with Cheerios. Anderson was so tired so he did not do well with Karoline holding him so we didn't get a picture of the two of them but we did manage to get him to smile one more time and the photographer got a great one of him. We are going to try again when we get Karoline's 2 yr. pics to get a picture of the two of them. Anyway, thanks for reading my story. I feel like such a simple thing should not be so complicated but with a family of 4 it is hard for an outing to go perfectly.

Anderson chilin out while I get Karoline's lunch ready after church.

Karoline loves playing with our shoes. She got TJ's (ugly) shoes and walked around in them.

Anderson Baby Talk And More...

Karoline HAS to have a napkin now when she eats and she hates having a mess so she works so hard to keep her space clean. It is pretty funny. She will say "Uh-Oh, Oatmeal mess" or "yogurt mess".


Sometimes Karoline loves to play with the camera and she thinks it is so fun to set the 10 second timer and have to run and get in place for a picture... so that is what we did while waiting on TJ to get home from church setup.


Anderson loves to stand up and I think he is so cute when he does because he is so little.


Playing with Avery
Ryan, Emily, and Avery came over for dinner tonight and the girls had a good time. They always love playing together although they are learning to share... it is quite cute. They really enjoyed the chocolate chip cupcakes I made that had squash and pumpkin in them... They actually are good. I ate one last night after I made them.




Video
I made this video especially for my dad who is missing Anderson like CRAZY! Gandaddy misses his little man. Sorry about the surprise in the middle of the video!


Potty Training Update- It is going okay. We were out and about today and she kept saying that she was wet and when we got home she wanted to be changed right away. She has no problem going to the potty but has not figured out when exactly she needs to go. I know it will take time especially since she is so young, but she is getting used to using the potty regularly and that is a great thing. I got her new Dora pull-ups and she was SO excited!

Potty Training A Toddler With a 11 Week Old Baby...

So today went pretty well. Karoline went potty 4 times before her afternoon nap at 1PM and only went once in her diaper. Then after her nap she did great again until about 5:30PM when daddy got home and I had to cook, we all ate, had bath time and then get Anderson ready for bed. It was just harder to put her on the potty every 30 min. or so. I was very proud of her for her first day but I am here to tell you it is HARD on ME to do this potty training thing. I can't get anything done practically and if Anderson is awake... well, see the above picture. Tomorrow is another day and I hope it goes well.

ANDERSON...

Potty Training 101

Well, wish me luck...here we go! I KNOW that Karoline could be potty trained if I would stop being so lazy and just DO it. She is smart enough I know and I think if I was consistent she would have the bladder control. So I decided that I am making myself do this for a week. If after a week she shows no improvements then I will hold it off a little longer.
She LOVES the pull ups we got because of the Princes' on them. She LOVES to wash her hands so to get her to go potty I say "Lets potty so we can wash your hands" and she is so excited. So it is almost 11 AM and she has not gone in her diaper and has gone on the potty three times. I just set my kitchen timer for 25 min. after each potty break and then we go again. Anyway... I'll let you know how it goes!
Main reason for doing this... I HATE (and TJ would agree) changing a million diapers a day and paying for them!!

Anderson, Karoline, and TJ's Office

Sweet Anderson- He is doing so well... We have the night time down really well... he is going to sleep around 8 PM, waking up around 6:30/7 AM to eat and then sleeps until about 8:30AM. Now we REALLY have to figure out a schedule for during the day. He has been taking four 1 hour long naps but they are never at the same time of the day... Oh well. Also, he LOVES ESPN. If he is fussy he can watch ESPN with daddy and he is happy.




Precious Karoline
Gammy is such a sucker! Karoline always points out the products with Dora on them at the grocery store and of course her Gammy caved in and got her some Campbell's Dora products. Karoline loves to carry them around the house!

Silly girl pretending to be asleep in the laundry basket!

Having fun with mommy!

This is Karoline's new FAVORITE book "The 10 Commandments" or "10 Mandments" as Karoline says.

I just realized this is the only picture of Karoline NOT in pajamas!!

Karoline loves her new vacuum. I am hoping it will make her less afraid of my vacuum.


Video, Counting, and Colors - Now that she has mastered her shapes we have moved on. This is a video of Karoline trying to count to 10. She can count to 9 really well but she was so distracted by my camera. She just wants to play with it. We have also been working on colors and she can recognize red, blue, yellow, green, black, purple, pink, and brown. She was so cute today when she came running in the living room holding her shoe and yelling "black shoes"... She also loves the new shower curtain in the bathroom because she loves pointing out the colors. We have started working on the alphabet and she is doing pretty well. Maybe in a few months I'll have a video of her says the ABC's, but maybe not. Anyway... here is the video of her counting and of her with "10 Mandments"

TJ's New Office
Here are some pictures of TJ's new office. This used to be the nursery and they did an amazing job transforming it into TJ's new office and media room. The media room is not totally finished yet. He took these pics with his cell phone.

Happy New Year! and Anderson's Apt.

Happy New Year from Anderson

Anderson had a great doctors appointment today. Here are his stats (which were so different from Karoline):
Weight: 11 lbs. 14 oz. -41% (Karoline was 12 lbs. 12oz)
Height: 23 1/2 inches -59%
Head: 15 1/2 inches - 26% (can you believe this... Karoline's big head was always off the chart!)

One thing we do have to watch is his left foot and leg. Apparently from how he was in my tummy, he has Intoeing. We have to do some stretches to help it out or he might have to get a cast put on! SAD! Mom said I had something similar too and had to wear some kind of therapy shoes for a little while. The doc said that either way the problem would be fixed before he started walking. We both agreed that his reflux is much better and he is a very strong little boy. He had to get three shots and he has slept ALL DAY LONG!! He is also continuing his wonderful night time sleep habits... goes to bed around 8:15/8:30PM and wakes up around 5 or 6 to eat then wakes up for the day around 8:30AM. He is a very happy boy.

Happy New Year from Karoline


My dad had to leave on New Years Day. We were sad but he said it was the best Christmas he has ever had.


New Years Party
Opposites attract I guess... I am rolling my eyes at TJ's shoes. He returned this nice shirt I got him from the Gap and got himself these SUPER UGLY shoes. Oh well... I returned something from him and got myself some new turtlenecks! He HATES turtlenecks! Hehe... needless to say our styles are pretty different.


Me and Emily...

TJ's band did an amazing job! They played what I would call all the fraternity/sorority dancing songs. They were so fun.

Oh Happy Day!

As Karoline loves to say... OH HAPPY DAY!!! I just have to post my excitement.... Anderson slept last night from 8:45 PM to 6:11 AM, ate and then went back down until 9 AM!!!!!!!!!! It was WONDERFUL! I just hope he does it again tonight. He has been sleeping from about 8:30 PM to 4 AM and then waking up around 8AM, but I like the waking up at 9 AM a little better! Oh I feel so refreshed toady! Which is good since TJ and I (mostly TJ though) are in charge of the New Years dinner party for church tonight so we have a TON of stuff to do. I'll post pics of the party some time this week. Have a great New Years Eve.

Bath Pics
I am redoing our hall bathroom to look more "kid friendly" and fun. Nothing major but TJ's mom gave me this fun stripped shower curtain and I am putting new frames in there with the kids pictures. I thought I would share the pictures I am using. They are so cute.





Trying to be like daddy...
I had to include this picture because Karoline went and got TJ's hat and started playing Anderson's guitar so she could be like daddy... GiGi, isn't this the cutest!?

Some More Cheerios Please and Poison Control

The pictures and video are from Christmas that I didn't post on the actual Christmas Day post. But I thought I would add these two things:
Karoline has really started to speak in sentences in the past few weeks. Today she came up to me and said "Some more Cheerios Please". I was so shocked and so proud of her that I started praising her and I think I scared her. She loves to say "love you Mommy" or "love you daddy"... oh and "Shhhhhhhhh, Oshies (Anderson) sleeping"! It is so funny. She is just so funny. I am really enjoying her sweet words. Okay... on to poison control...
Today was the first time I had to call poison control. Karoline was in her room playing and the rest of us were in the living room. Nothing unusual but I forgot to put the humidifier away and she apparently got some of the Vicks Vapor liquid stuff and put it in her mouth. She came into the living room coughing and spitting and her mouth smelled of Vicks. I panicked of course and the bottle said to call poison control so we did. They said she would be fine but it reminded me that I needed to make a list of important numbers for the fridge.

I didn't post these the other day but every time I see them they make me laugh so I put them on the blog...


Giving Dora a bath...

Please excuse my baby talk...haha! I just can't help it. Karoline is first and then there is a video of Anderson...