4 Months with Allison

Our baby girl is 4 months old today. I can hardly believe I'm saying that. She still feels so newborn to me.

Allison is one special little girl. She is very laid back, is usually happy all the time, smiles constantly and loves watching her big brother do anything. She loves to swing and look at herself in the mirror. She grabs and kicks the toys on her bouncy seat. Almost always, she's lying diagonally in it - grabbing toys with her right hand and kicking toys on the other side with her right foot.

She continues to be a great nurser and isn't one to linger at the breast. She eats and then she's done. She only cries when she's tired (and not in a place/position where she can fall asleep), hungry (which isn't often because I don't wait for her to cry before feeding her), soiled, or being head-butted or pinched by her brother (He really does love her!). She sucks her thumbs sometimes. She favors her left but has no problem taking her right if it's the easier one to get to. She chews on her fingers and fists and will put her dress in her mouth too. (I just love it when she does that.)

Her dark brown hair is slowly being replaced by lighter hair. She's still hanging on to the hair she had at birth but it looks quite funny. The top hair looks like a toupee because her head has grown but the hair has not. Then, she has a ring around her head that appears hairless but that's where the lighter hair is coming in. The best part is the patch at the bottom of the back of her head. It hasn't grown at all. It was long when she was born. But it is looking a little mulletish now that the rest of her hair doesn't match it. For her sake, I hope her hair comes in like Jackson's. That boy has great hair. So far, she's following in his hair footsteps.

I love being Mommy to this sweetheart of a baby girl. She is blessing far greater than I could have imagined. One of my favorite parts of the day is when she first wakes up in the morning. She whines a little so that I know to go and get her, but the minute I say her name and pick her up, she is bright-eyed and super smiley. We all love it! I can tell that our bond is grower stronger with each passing day. Oh, how I love it so!

3 Years as Mommy!

Sunday we celebrated Jackson's 3rd birthday! I can't believe he is three years old. I still remember the first night that we spent together - I never knew that I could love like that. Three years later, he still captures my heart and continues to amaze me. I love watching him grow. I love seeing his personality develop. I love being his Mommy and taking care of him every day. Of the many things he's taught me, I have learned that being a Mommy is the best yet toughest job there is. And there is nothing I'd rather do!

Jackson's birthday started a little like Christmas morning. We had his birthday present waiting for him when he woke up. Here he is on his way to see it:

A MONSTER TRUCK! I have never met a boy so interested in cars. He has a Power Wheels Lightning McQueen car that he has loved. Our neighbors' twins have a Barbie Jeep and he always talks about it because it seats two people. Of all of the things we could have bought for him, we thought he would enjoy this the most. It seats two, has a drink holder and a radio, and the tailgate lowers down - all things that he LOVES.

A short test run before taking it outside:

Saturday had been a beautiful day but Sunday was terrible. It was cold and drizzly. Not good weather for a boy who just got a truck. But it all worked out. We went out several different times when it wasn't drizzling, and when it was wet, we spent time inside enjoying cake and presents and playing.

Tuning the radio:

Present Time! These are some of the gifts that family and friends sent for Jackson:
Chutes and Ladders!!

A cash register! When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he always said, "a cash register." Grandma made sure he got one. He loves the scanner. He was scanning cars and people. He scanned Michelle and told her that she weighed five dollars. Then he scanned me and told me that I weighed $20. Allison was the lucky one. She weighed $30! Finally, something costed $5.

Steve and Michelle brought him this awesome race track. He accidentally saw it on Saturday and kept asking me if it was for him. Before and after his nap, before bed and then when he woke on Sunday morning he asked me, "Is that box for me?" I told him that I didn't know what he was talking about. Apparently, he asked Michelle too because on Sunday morning, he told me, "Michelle said that it might be mine." Jackson, I guess it was!

Grammie and PaPa sent this scooter. So far, it's made many runs around our house.

Jackson LOVES candy. He rarely gets it (although he gets plenty of homemade sweets) so we decided to put a few of his favorite things together for his birthday cake - trains, candy, brown sugar, sprinkles, and chocolate chips. Saturday night, Jason, Steve, Michelle and I all sat around the kitchen table decorating, directing and creating Jackson's cake. (Everyone played an important role!)

Do you like the Twizzler tree? That was Steve's idea. Jason and Michelle suggested using every Twizzler color for the railroad ties, which was perfect because Jackson is my child that likes one of each type, color or flavor. (When we eat ice cream at home, he wants one small scoop of every flavor. When he brushes his teeth, he likes to use a little bit of my toothpaste, Jason's and his own.) We had fun making his cake.

Jackson was born at 11:13. We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candles at that exact time. When we say smile, this is the face we always get:

We're really better off just not saying anything at all.

I LOVE this picture. This is my precious boy!!

If you like saliva on your cake, come to our house. We'll take care of you!

Jackson asked me if he could eat the train tracks "all gone."

Sure! Just go easy on it. They aren't going anywhere!

Jackson got this birthday plate when he turned one. It's tradition for him to use it each year.

After his much-needed nap, Michelle and I took him and Allison on a walk around the neighborhood. He drove, of course! (Jason and Steve went to watch the Thunder play the Rockets. Our friends gave them tickets...for FREE! What a blessing for those guys! Jason felt terrible for going somewhere on Jackson's birthday, but I encouraged him to go. He never gets to do anything with friends. He deserved it.)

Allison all bundled up for the walk:

Michelle and Jackson playing with the racetrack:

Thank you for all of the wonderful gifts!! We had a great day celebrating our sweet Jackson. He's brought so much joy into our lives. We love him abundantly!

Dinner: A Family Affair

Dinner tonight was a family affair. It was late, we were busy, and I hadn't started cooking. Rather than eating out, we all chipped in and did our part.

Jason cut the chicken (thank you!) and Jackson sliced the vegetables in the Slicer Shredder:

I decided to take a photo and document the event whenever I was watching Jackson. I looked at him in amazement. He knew exactly what to do and did not need my help with anything. I couldn't believe my 2 (almost 3) year-old was performing the task so adult-like.

Allison and I helped too:

What did we make?
Chicken Fricassee with Dumplings
We used chicken breasts instead of thighs and cut them into bite-size pieces. It was GOOD!

The Potty Train

We finally made it! Diapers are gone and underwear is here to stay.

Jackson's potty training story is a train of events. In my mind, it started about a year ago when we moved back to the States. I felt like he was ready to say goodbye to the diaper, but I put off potty training because we were going through such a huge transition. I thought it would be a confusing time for him and that he'd succeed and then regress, so I put it off. I kept saying, "As soon as we get settled, I'll focus on potty training." Well, I never thought it would take so long to get settled!

When we finally moved into our house and got our stuff delivered, I started talking about it. I would mention that the time was coming when he would start pottying in the toilet and wearing underwear like Daddy. (He'd pottyed on the toilet many times before. We started putting him on the toilet when he was very young because we didn't want him to be scared of it.) I hoped to potty train him before Allison was born. On 9 July, he told me not to put his diaper on him because he needed to go pee-pee. We went into his bathroom and he got on the toilet. While he was sitting there, he looked up at me and said, "I'm potty training."

He told me that it was time to potty train. I was happy that he'd reached this decision on his own and thought it would probably be a breeze. We didn't have any underwear, so I let him run around bare-bottomed. I don't think he ever had an accident. When I'd put shorts on him, he'd sometimes have accidents. I realized he needed to make the connection that his shorts weren't diapers and to pay attention to the sensation to go. If I would have kept this up for a few days, I think the diapers would have been gone in July.

Now, this is where my ignorance will really show! There was rarely a day that we didn't have to leave the house for something. After all, we'd just moved in and were getting ready for a baby. So what did I do? I put a diaper on him when we left the house. I was always so rushed and quite honestly stressed out about all of the things that needed to be done before Allison was born. Consequently, I didn't want to hassle with him wetting his pants while we were out. I also put a diaper on him for his nap, which I still do...just in case, but made the mistake of not making him take it off every time he woke. (I'd offer but he wouldn't want to.) So he was spending part of his day in a diaper and part of his day without it. Talk about confusing! Before long, he was in diapers again 24/7. Wow. I was such a bad trainer!

After Allison was born, we decided to make a big deal out of going to buy his big boy underwear. (I know what you are probably thinking, "You still hadn't bought the poor kid his own underwear?!" Well, we kept talking about it, but we were so overwhelmed and busy with preparing for Allison's arrival that we just didn't get it done. And we all wanted to go together, so that made it much harder.) We went to Target and let him pick out the kind that he wanted. Here's our underwear shopping day on 22 August:

"I want that one."

Daddy's foot makes a great step stool:

Ah! Lightning McQueen:

Shopping around:

When I say, "Smile!" this is what he does:

A little better:

Loading 'em in the cart:

Washed and dried:

He is my official lint screen cleaner. He loves to do this for me:

We tried so hard to get a picture of him in his underwear. He didn't want to stop and be still. As I was turning the camera from vertical to horizontal, he looked at me and smiled. Luckily, my finger was fast enough to snap the photo. I thought it was the only one I'd get:

Little did I know, I was about to get two of the greatest pictures. No, these are not poses. Jason was telling him to salute (trying anything for a photo) and I was telling him that I wanted to see Thomas on his booty. So he's in the middle of trying to salute and turning around to look at Thomas on his booty. I just happened to snap the camera at the perfect time!

I don't remember what happened here. I was just snapping pictures and he was moving around:

It was a great day and the underwear was a hit, but he quickly decided that he didn't want to be a big boy. He still wanted to be a baby and wear his diaper. Being a first time potty trainer and remembering what everyone had warned me about (that kids usually regress when a baby is born), I put the underwear away and let him have his diapers back. Whether or not that was a mistake, I will never know. Part of me thinks it was, and part of me thinks it really just wasn't time. I didn't want to fight over it. I felt like having a new baby was a big enough adjustment for him.

As the weeks passed, I kept feeling like he needed to get rid of those diapers. I would ask him if he wanted to wear underwear, but he never did.

The week of Halloween, I ran out of diapers on a Wednesday. He spent most of the day without a diaper and didn't have an accident. That night, I put him in a diaper for the Harvest Hoedown at our church. I talked to the Children's Ministry Director while we were there. By accident (but obviously not), potty training got brought up. When I explained our potty training history, she encouraged me to not put him in a diaper again. She assured me that he was ready and that I wouldn't be pushing him too hard; rather, I'd be setting high standards for him to meet.

The next day, we had a play date with some friends. He wore underwear and had one accident at their house. He had an accident later in the day and then a few times on Friday (while friends were at our house and he was busy playing). On Saturday, he was gone most of the day with Jason and didn't have one accident while they were out. That was a huge success! I think he had one accident late Saturday afternoon but not once when he went trick-or-treating and none on Sunday. Monday, we drove to Houston and he went to the bathroom whenever we stopped. He did not have one accident while on our trip and it took us ten hours!! I was so proud of him. He continued to do great the entire week in Houston. He even does well during naps and at night. We go to the bathroom right before he goes to sleep. I put a pull-up on him just in case, but he hasn't wet his pull-up during naps or at night in over a week!

I cannot believe it was so easy. Even better, I didn't even have to plead with him to wear underwear. I didn't have diapers so there was nothing to protest about. I had read in Dr. Sears' Baby Book that one strategy is to "run out of diapers." I thought about trying it, but I figured he would tell me to go to the store and buy some more. I didn't think it would work on him, but it worked like a champ.

Jackson's potty training adventure is kind of embarrassing for me. I feel like such a failure...like such a bad teacher. Sure, I've done great the past two weeks, but what about the months before that?! I don't know that it matters. After all, he is wearing underwear now. I just hope I don't perform this poorly in other areas in his life. Perhaps this is just a good lesson for me - I am not perfect nor will I ever be perfect. I am going to make mistakes as a parent, but God is working in all of them.

Here are some funny things Jackson has said pertaining to potty training over the past several months.

"It's clean sweeps!"
"Is it a log or a snake or poo-poo pellets?"
"Am I wearing a diaper or not?" (As if to say, "Can I pee in my pants or not?" Isn't that terrible?! Of me?!)
"I promise, I'm not straining."
"Look how much!"

And over all these months, he only had one pooping accident. I was in my room with Allison and he was playing in his room (without underwear on). My poor baby picked up his own poop and flushed it in his toilet before I ever knew what had happened. I felt terrible for him!

Perhaps this is too much information to be sharing on my blog?? If kids read this, I wouldn't post it. But it's just us adults. Besides, he makes me laugh, and I want a record of what he did so that he too can laugh about it one day. At our house, we're comfortable talking about all of this stuff!

"I Grabbed My First Toy!"

I know she's terribly out of focus, but I was taking the picture during the conference on Sunday and didn't want to be a distraction.

Allison and I spent four days in Dallas at The Bradley Method Teacher Training conference. (I'll explain what it is in another post.) It was AMAZING! And she was AMAZING! Classes were from 8:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night with a break for lunch and dinner. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to focus because of having her there and that she would be difficult to manage; but, she was incredible. The conference was very relaxed and very supportive of breastfeeding moms...obviously. I had hoped that she would be awake during my breaks so that I could talk to her and play with her. By the hand of the Lord, no doubt, that's exactly what she did. She napped during the majority of the sessions and woke for breaks. It was wonderful. And when she was awake during a session, she played right in front of me. This was our little space:

And here are the AMAZING women who were at the conference with me. We were all training to be instructors in The Bradley Method of natural childbirth, also known as Husband-Coached Childbirth.

Big Brother and His Little Snug Bug

Before our nap on Friday (yes, it was a nap for all to the praise of God), Jackson and Allison were on my bed while I was checking email. Jackson was pulling Allison to a sitting position and talking to her. It was so precious! He kept saying, "Pulling up big! Oh, big girl." I ran to get the video camera, and this is what I caught on video:

Jackson is holding Allison.

"If you cry, when I'm turning the hairdryer on, I'll turn it back off and pick you up. K? Okay, Baby Bear. K." (We sometimes use the hairdryer to warm up our sheets:))

Jackson lays Allison on her back (very well, I must say) and then turns on the hairdryer.

"Oh, sweet girl."

Allison does not cry. Jackson turns the hairdryer off almost immediately after turning it on. He pulls Allison to a sitting position and hugs her.

"Oh, Baby Bear. It's ooookay. Baby Bear, it's okay. This is okay. You're not comfortable (meant to say uncomfortable). You're just laying on me. And snugging with me." (Jackson sometimes calls Allison his Snug Bug.)

And this is what it looked like:

I LOVE my kids!

Trick or Treat

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. Jackson didn't even know what it was until a few days ago, and all he knows of it is dressing up and getting candy. We decided to give a try this year.

Major Exum:

How did we decide to dress him up as an Airman (Major Exum)? Well, around 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon, I read some wall posts on Facebook from girls in my Sunday school class who were talking about a Harvest Hoedown that started at 6:30. I had no idea what they were talking about. My neighbor, Lindsey, came to the rescue and told me that it was a party at church for the children. The kids go dressed in their costumes and the youth provide games and candy. Great! I had no costume for Jackson. I had been mowing leaves all morning and needed a shower. Dinner wasn't cooked. And my child would be the happiest boy on the planet if I somehow got it all together so that he could be there.

Thank goodness, both kids were still napping. I jumped in the shower and started dinner. Jason left work earlier than he had planned to search for a costume. He went to Target and couldn't find anything, so he decided to try looking on base. That's when he came across the ABU (Airman Battle Uniform). It was almost 2 sizes too big, but we made it work and we made it to church by 7. Not bad!

Jackson's first night to go trick or treating:

The pumpkin he's holding was mine when I was a little girl! We got it from my parents last weekend.

His first house:

"Trick or treat!" Towards the end of the night, he got the hang of saying that when he went to the door.

"Momma, take a picture of my sucker."

And this is how he looked all night long:

He had a great time. What kid wouldn't have fun collecting all kinds of candy?!

Note to self: Next year, bring water. We had a meltdown because I didn't bring water. Momma, don't you know you're supposed to think of everything your child could possibly want! (I actually did think of bringing water but then forgot as we were walking out the door.)