What a Busy Week!

Okay, I guess it's been more than a week, but you get the point. I'm going to try to get some of this update done while I have two hands free. I just set Abbi in her swing sound asleep and Jack is playing with his cars and watching Curious George. Happy belated Mother's Day! I'm sorry I didn't post sooner, I was going to but then life happened and I didn't quite get to it.

I know I've talked to some of you so you'll already know some of this, but I'll write about it anyway. Last Saturday, we went swimming at the Lowell's house for a bit and were able to spend some time with the family. We got home a little past the time I usually put Jack down for a nap so I put him down thinking he'd fall asleep right away (because it was later and he'd been out in the sun for a while). After I put him down, he was quietly talking to himself for a bit. In the meantime, Abbi was just over-tired and I was trying to find a position she'd be happy in. When I almost had her happy, Jack started calling me so I went to check on him. I walk into his room and he says, "I pooped!" And yes he did. His diaper was off, he had poop on his hand and down his legs, there was poop smeared on the side of his crib, a chunk on the wall (and some had fallen on the carpet between his crib and the wall), it was on his bedding and pillow, and there were pieces of it on the top of his foot. He was kind of standing on one foot and I told him not to move . . . when I came back in he was still leaning on one foot. I put Abbigaile in her swing so I could start cleaning, so of course she starts screaming again. I started the shower and told Jack to start getting wet while I cleaned everything. Our swing's batteries were dead so I had to keep pushing it while taking care of everything else. I finally got Jack's bed cleaned and ready for naptime and him showered and put down again; Then, I was able to tend to her and we all went down for a nap. Oh! I mentioned that his diaper was off . . . it didn't have anything in it! You all know we're potty training so we think he may have known the diaper has to come off before you go . . . he just missed the whole get to the potty step in between. It hasn't happened since (thank goodness).

The next day was Mother's Day and Abbigaile's blessing day, as well. Justin and the kids got me some beautiful flowersJ. Church, and the blessing, went well, and then we all came home for lunch. We're so grateful to everyone who took part in our family's special day. We love you all! Abbigaile looked beautiful and slept for quite a bit of the afternoon (even with all the kids here).

Justin had his last final on Monday and his last school activity on Thursday. We're so happy to have him home with us a bit more now. Justin painted Abbi's dresser on Friday and painted a new workbench for the garage. We're going to try to get a lot of projects done around the house now that he's out of school for a while. We've bought a garage door opened so we have to install that and some other ceiling fans. We're going to stain our cupboards, change the hardware, and work on our yard. Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do.

We had the opportunity to watch Justin participate in his commencement ceremony last Saturday. Justin's parents, my mom, my dad, Mackenzie, Jack, and Abbigaile all took part in Justin's event. It was a big day for all of us, especially Justin. He walked with our friend Jeremiah and the rest of his senior experience group. We went to dinner afterwards and had some delicious Italian food (thanks dad!), then headed home. I think that night was the earliest we'd both gone to bed in quite a while (and it was great). I think that was the biggest, and most important, event that happened in our family.

Jack was fevered last Tuesday, but no other symptoms arose and it only lasted that day. I'm just so grateful if was a fever and nothing more serious. Abbigaile is growing quickly, as I'm sure you can imagine, and has become a little pudgier. I'm still not sure what color eyes she's going to have yet, but I don't think they'll be blue . . . if they are they won't be like Jack's eyes.

Friday, the kids and I went up to my mom's house and hung out while Justin was working. We played and made tons of cute bows for Abbi.

Sunday, (which is actually when I started this post) was just a nice day overall. We had church in the morning and ate lunch with Justin before he went to work. The kids and I took a nice nap and had a great evening together—all I have to say is Jack is a very sweet boy and he loves his lil' sister very much. I lined Abbigaile's dresser drawers and put the pulls back on; I'm excited that her room is coming together little by little.

Justin volunteered at the fire department yesterday morning, and then went to work for the remainder of the day. Abbigaile was kind of cranky, but Jack listened and behaved nicely. We watched the 24 season finale (what a letdown) and spent some time together before going to bed. We've already had a very productive morning; I've put away the remainder of the coupons, we've voted, went grocery shopping, picked up rain checks at KFC (today is the last day for that), Justin's outside working in the yard right now (I'll post some pictures), and now I'm going to work on Jason and Sierra's baptism program, then continue tidying the house. We've got a big week ahead of us and I hope we'll accomplish a ton! I'll write again soon.

Jumping Jack

Little Things

There's probably not too much to update everyone on, but Jack has Cars on and is coloring contently right now and Abbigaile just fell asleep so I thought I'd try to write something up quickly. However, it usually takes me a while and I often have to keep coming back to the computer just to finish; plus, I often write more than I'd plan to. Anyway, I'm happy to say the kids no longer have runny noses! Yay! I'm just hoping no one brings anything home for a little while so we can be around other people again.

Jack got to play outside for a while this morning at his little center and he had a blast; however, it was already quite sunny and his cheeks were a bit flushed. We also went to music class today and he behaved pretty well. He had a meltdown at first because he found some cars in the diaper bag and I had to take them away (they aren't supposed to bring toys), then he was trying to climb up some shelves to get some books and we had to stop him. But, we get little egg shakers for one of the song we sing (the Ravioli song!) and he didn't throw them at anyone! He still ran around a bit, but he actually participated for the most part. I'm so glad he was pretty well behaved because Abbigaile was awake the whole time so I kept her with me during the class (rather than in her car seat).

With regards to the potty training, we're really not making any progress. We washed his little potty so he's able to use it now, but it's really not helping all that much. He's only put his hands in his poop a few times since I last wrote (so gross), and luckily when he does do it he doesn't touch anything; I think we're at least making progress there. He'll now tell us he has to go and then run to the bathroom, but he's already pooped by then—it's a step in the right direction, I guess. It'll just take little baby steps and I know we can't force it.

Last Saturday, Nana came over and we had a nice visit with her. She brought Jack a sweet little bear and a toy bus that he plays with quite a bit now. He loves that bus (thanks Nana)! Abbi slept most of the time (and Jack went down for a nap) so we were able to watch the Kentucky Derby and have a nice chat. I'm glad Nana was able to see our home and meet Abbigaile J.

I've finally finished the movie I was working on for cheer! It was fun, but I'm glad to have it over and done with. My next big project will be compiling all of our home movies onto DVDs—that'll be a big one! Justin had his last real school day yesterday and he has a final on Monday night. He'll have a couple of weeks off and then his GMAT preparation course starts up, so he'll be studying several nights a week again. He hoping to study and prep for the next five months and then take the test. I know he'll do well.

Abbigaile is just growing and she's such a sweet little girl. There are days when she's a bit crankier than others, but I think that's to be expected. For instance, there are times when she won't eat unless I'm standing up, and then she'll wail if I try to sit with her. She's getting to be so strong! Last night I laid her on a little activity mat, so I could start to do a bit of dinner prep, and she scooted herself completely off the mat and turned herself! She moves when she's happy, but she can really move herself when she's upset. Oh, she's also just started to drool a bit. I can't remember exactly when Jack started, but I noticed her drooling on Sunday (down my arm, of course).

I think that's all that's really happening around here right now, nothing exciting, just little things that happen day to day. I'm going to start making little notes about things I want to blog about so I can remember it all. Also, I think I'll try to post some video I've taken recently of the kids. Until next time . . .