10 Months

Crawling, pulling up, and cutting teeth are the new sleep.

A heavy dose of adorable-ness make it all okay.

Sunday Best

The boys- 

and the girls-

Clucky

My first endeavor with a whole chicken-

 earned me this- 

my first post dinner thank you note.  It reads 

Dear Mommy

I love you

I like you

I liked dinner

Thanks for dinner

Love Leah 

For Mommy

And we are holding hands and wearing fancy shoes.

Welcome Home

We're gearing up for another week without Daddy.  The last time he was gone, we made these videos to welcome him home since he got home in the middle of the night.

Leah's- sincere and simple

Adam's- ends with "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen".

Emma's- lots of screaming from Adam- 

Mine- no wonder the kids occasionally freeze up when a camera is shoved in their faces!  It's awkward.

Side note about the word awkward- someone in Leah's Primary class used the word and now Leah is trying desperately to figure out how to work it into her vocabulary.  She just can't quite grasp the concept of it, so she ends up saying things like, "What if we made lemonade but forgot to put in the sugar?  That would be so awkward."

And Adam has adopted the phrase "for real", only it comes out "fo wheel".  So he says things like, "Emma was chewing on dat book and she was about to rip da pages... fo wheel."

True Confessions

We have never told Leah and Adam where Emma was born.  We read so many books during my pregnancy about mommies going to the hospital to have the baby with the help of a doctor.  When Emma was born, they came to the hospital to meet her.  When we drive to Indianapolis, they love to point out the hospital where Emma was born!  There has never really been a good time to say, "Oh, hey!  Did I ever mention that Emma was actually born right here on the front seat of our car?!"  The moment has never really presented itself.

That has kind of nagged at me over the months.  There is no wrong way to bring a baby into the world, just ways that make a little more sense in the minds of then-four-and-barely-two-year-olds.  But I started to feel like the longer we waited to tell them The Truth, the more odd it would seem that we kept it from them for so long.  And it is quite an incredible story that certainly helps shape who our family is.

So today, when we were waiting at the car wash at the very same gas station, I turned around and said, "I'm going to tell you guys an amazing story...." And on it went, the very mild retelling of Emma's birth. 

I think Leah said, "Huh", and Adam couldn't take his eyes off of the car getting washed in front of us long enough for me to get a real reaction.

So The Truth was out.  We drove through the car wash, past the lovely hedge of bushes* by which Emma was born, and headed home.  Leah asked a few questions, like, "So did the doctor have to slice open your tummy and pull the baby out and then stitch you back up again?"  (Ahh, the joys of preschool over-sharing) to which I replied "No, but that is how you were born.  No matter how a baby is born-

whether they come out the regular way in the hospital

  or the doctor has to help bring them out through Mommy's tummy-

 or they are born right here in the car, 

the important thing is that the baby is healthy and safe.  That's all that matters."

And by then we were home and on to the next activity.

But later in the afternoon, while we were running through the sprinklers, Leah ran over to me and said, "Mom!  I was so shocked today!  I was so shocked when you told me that...

("This is it!" I thought.  "The moment I was expecting earlier today when Leah is going to tell me all of her thoughts and feelings about learning The Truth.  Brace yourself...")

...pioneers used to live right here in Indiana!"

Oh yeah.  We had that conversation today, too.  Well, that's that.  At least now they know The Truth.

*Side note on the lovely hedge of bushes.  In the spring time the trees around the gas station were in full bloom, and really looked so pretty, so I tried to take a picture of them while I was waiting at a red light.  The gas station sits next to a church and kitty-corner to a beautiful memorial garden-style cemetery that doesn't have any headstones, just rows and rows of flowers interspersed with statues of Christ as the Good Shepperd.  Although I still fully believe that the best place to have a baby is in the hospital, I think Emma picked a very pretty, although non-traditional place to be born.  And I love that I can drive by it every day and smile to myself about her grand entrance into the world.

Potty Training- Week 2.5

In the days following this post, I backed off from potty training with Adam.  I figured he wasn't ready just yet, and I have no desire to push him into doing something he wasn't ready to do.  Especially something that involves bodily functions.  But guess what?  After a few days of peeing freely in the pull-ups (with me feigning indifference but really cringing inside at the thought of having to buy these super-expensive glorified diapers for another year), he started keeping them dry.  And he started marching off to the potty, all by himself!  There were a few casual reminders from me here and there, but for the most part, he just started announcing his intentions and and making his way over to the potty.  Just like that!  Easy peasy!

And he's been quite consistent about using the potty ever since.  Earlier this week we graduated to big boy underwear, which he has also been keeping dry- only two accidents so far.  One happened right after he stayed dry during a 1.5 hour nap, and the other happened while he was playing at a park, so both understandable, in my opinion.

Adam's aversion to using a big toilet was creating a bit of a problem.  The first day of wearing underwear, we had a few outings planned, including a piano recital at a nursing home.  Adam carried his froggy potty- the entire thing- into the recital and sat on it (lid closed).  Thankfully we didn't have to use it, but I would have if needed! 

I casually mentioned to Adam the other day that I thought the seat part of his froggy potty would fit on a big toilet and keep him safe from falling in.  He was very curious to find out of this was true, and it was!  He's happy to use the big toilet now, as long as the froggy seat is attached.  Thank goodness- that is much more manageable- and discreet.

We've now reached the stage where Adam wants to know if he can really use the potty anytime, any place.  So, if we have 3 stops planned, I can plan on 3 trips to the bathroom.  I don't love this stage, but I'm happy to show him all the potties in the world if it means that he'll use them!

The real amazing part is that he has kept his pull up dry at night, too.  That is a really long time to not go potty!  I'm just amazed that he's doing it, and I'm certainly knocking on wood about that one.

I never, never thought I would say this, but I actually think that potty training this time around (so far) has been kind of fun.  I haven't really stressed over it or pushed it, so it's gone at Adam's pace, not mine.  Which means he's ready.  And it is really fun to stop everything else that I am doing to run into the bathroom and cheer along with Adam at the contents in the toilet.  He insists that I jump once and clap my hands- sometimes I think he's the one training me!  I am just so proud of him- and he is proud, too.  The other day I said, "Way to go, Adam!" and he said, "Way to go, myself!"  This is a HUGE milestone, and he's doing really  great.  I'm sure we still have a quite a ways to go before we're officially done (heck, Leah peed her pants just the other day... and I can think of the last time I did, too... whether I was pregnant at the time or not, I won't be saying) but we're well on our way!

Annual Strawberry Fest

We were more than ready to head out to Annie's Orchard to pick this year's supply of strawberries- we ran out of freezer jam last July, and frozen strawberries in February.

The weather was beautiful this year (last year I kept Leah, Adam, and my 8-month pregnant self plastered to the AC in the car while Jason, Grandma Suzanne and Auntie Emily very kindly picked the strawberries in the blazing heat), and we had a great time as the Four Musketeers!  Leah was picking beautiful berries by the handfuls, Adam was happy to eat berries by the handful, and Emma was kind enough to sleep for the first half of the trip.  Jason wasn't able to join us with his mad super-picking skills, and I didn't pick nearly as much as our family would have liked.  We're hoping to head back out before the season is over. 

But we still managed to do a whole lot of this- 

and a little bit of this- 

to get a bunch of this-

Yum!

It's officially a tradition!  Previously blogged about here and here.