Newest Project

Whenever Nathan is gone I like to keep myself busy at night while the kids are asleep. Well, as many of you know Nathan was out of town Monday for his second part of his step 2 test in Atlanta, Georgia. I've been wanting to try this out for a while now but with Halloween around the corner I had to get the costumes done first. Well, I got the costumes done Sunday so I definitely had time to experiment Monday night. The pattern I had for the tie was for 4-7 year olds. Obviously Easton doesn't fit in that category so I had to do some adjustments. I think it turned out well and just in time for Halloween. It is hard to see but it is a black tie with orange spider webs. It took a little while but hopefully the next one will go a little fast now that I have one under my belt.

Potty Training

I started potty training Easton almost a week ago. I was going to wait until he was 2 1/2 but then it occurred to me that if I waited until then we would really only have 2 weeks until we took off to visit family for 6 weeks. I'm guessing it would take at least 2 weeks for Easton to be semi potty trained (probably more since he is so dang stubborn) and by then visiting family will most likely throw things off and Easton would probably regress (who knows he still might). Anyways, I figured why wait. The more practice he gets in before then the better right? I think he is ready. Whether or not Easton wants to is another story.

I tried to get a picture of Easton from the front but he kept turning his back and sticking his butt out (I guess he wanted everyone to see his cars). I had someone the other day tell me he should be a model (maybe an underwear model?)

It really hasn't been as hard as I was imagining. Yes, it can be difficult sometimes because he is so stubborn but I really think he is starting to get the hang of it. I mean he only had one (I repeat ONE) accident yesterday. I really can't believe how well he is doing. We still have things to work on like having Easton tell us when he has to go instead of me dragging him to the toilet every 1-2 hours. So far he has told me twice that he has to go but that was after I asked him if he had to go and it was probably to stall so he didn't have to go to bed. Oh, well we got to start somewhere. We also need to work on the dreadful number 2 on the toilet. If I'm in the same room as him I generally catch him and we make it to the bathroom, but if I'm not (well I'm sure you can guess what happens). With the helpful advice of Aunt Jessica I've been having Easton clean up his messes. He really isn't liking that very much so hopefully that will speed things up.

We had to cover our couch for obvious reasons.

We have a chart for Easton. Each time he successfully goes in the toilet he gets to either put up a stamp or a sticker. Once he gets a sticker (going 11 times. It was supposed to be 10 but I messed up) he gets to pick a prize from his surprise box. He is a sneaky little guy. When I'm busy cleaning or feeding Blair he will sneak in the bathroom, climb on the toilet seat, climb onto the counter top, grab the stamp or stickers from the shelf, climb back down, and then proceed to decorate his chart until I catch him.

The second day into his potty training (I was setting the timer for every 20-30 min) I brought him to the bathroom, put him on his chair, and nothing happened. He couldn't go. Not too surprising since he just went 20 min earlier but I wanted him to get used to sitting on the toilet and just trying to go. Anyways, Easton tries to push. Nothing. He pushes harder. Still nothing. Finally he pushes a third time and then looks at me and says, "Mommy, broken."

This morning while he was sitting on the toilet he looks down and sees his pjs (batman) and then he starts singing, "na na na na na na na na na na , batman!" I was laughing so hard that he wouldn't stop singing it for the next 10 minutes (no joke). I had to call Nathan and have Easton sing it to him because I thought Nathan would get a kick out of it since he sings it to Easton anytime he wears those pjs.

Rice Cereal

Last night we started the solids (rice cereal). It is hard to believe that Blair is old enough to be eating solid foods now. She really didn't do too bad with it at first but eventually she didn't care much for it as you can see from the videos. I thought she might like it better the second day, but I think it definitely was worse today. She just kept making a sour face with little head twitches and spitting it out. Eventually she started to cry. Not sure if she absolutely hates it, if it was too cold, and/or not fast enough for her. In any case she doesn't want anything to do with it. Maybe within a week she will at least tolerate it. We shall see.

Video #1 (happy and willing to try)

I like how she is talking and telling me all about it.

Video #2 (not really liking it as before).

On another note. Blair is really trying to sit up. If she is on her back she will try really hard to raise her head up hoping the rest of her body will follow. If she is sitting on your lap she hardly needs any support at all. She loves sitting up in the stroller. I'm wondering if her mouth will find her toes first or if she will sit up first.

Don't forget to check out our trip to the zoo post.

Trip to the Zoo

I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. It was kind of a last minute thing. I had planned on asking others to join us, but I kept putting it off and then it was too late. I checked the weather that morning to see what the rest of the week would look like and yesterday looked like it would be the best day to go for a while. So I got us all ready, packed a lunch and got to the metro by 11 (late start). We got the the zoo around noon. I had so much fun with Easton (Blair was there too but she slept most of the time). I think it was just what Easton and I needed some us time. It was a perfect day to go to the zoo. All the animals were out and about. I got some really cool pictures.

Right when we got there they were feeding the river otters. They came running towards us to get their food. Easton got really excited.

Easton couldn't get enough of all the statues around the zoo. If he saw one he had to get on. After a few I stopped taking pictures.

Easton and the panda. This little boy was really scared of this statue because someone snuck behind and scared him. He kept telling the panda to stop because he didn't want it to scare Easton like it did him.

Easton and the bear.

Easton even got on the little red panda statue. I think Easton should have been giving the red panda a piggy back ride.

My cute little Blair finally awake.

Some of my favorite pictures from the zoo of the animals.

When we got home Easton found his gorilla stuffed animal and brought it around the house the rest of the evening. He kept putting it under his clear bucket (I think he was putting it in a cage). At times I found Easton under there too.

This was probably Easton's favorite (of course). I was actually surprised that he didn't roar like crazy at the lions. He just stared at them in amazement. He got really upset when we left them. Some teenage boy was convinced that these were tigers (not sure if he was joking). The girl with him kept telling him they were lions and then she finally said, "why don't you ask the little boy?" (referring to Easton). Easton looks at the teenagers and gives them his "your dumb/why are you talking to me" look and then proceeds to say, "LION! ROAR!" They thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Some zoo workers were getting things ready for the boo at the zoo. Here are some of the animals all dressed up for Halloween.

Elephant

Lion

Monkey

Don't forget to check out Blair eating rice cereal for the first time.

Family update

Can I just say how hard it is to take a family picture. Maybe next time we will get something a little better but for now this is what we got. The only picture that we all actually look pretty good turned out blurry so this was the next best one. Too bad I can't figure out how to cut and paste different photos to make one that I like.

Too Blury...

Easton's actually smiling! Oh, but what is Nathan doing? And Blair is still not looking at the camera.

Too bad Easton doesn't have his head down (I mean he is smiling) and Blair's still not looking at the camera.

Oops! Not ready. Easton getting a little antsy.

Let's turn on the TV so at least Blair and Easton will look towards the camera. No smiles from Easton. Too bad I don't look good. If I did then I think this would for sure be the picture. It isn't too bad so maybe I might change it to this one. I just thought the chosen one truly showed how the process played out.

Nathan found out this morning that he made AOA! Go Handsome! You're awesome! Last night Nathan was wearing his baseball cap from when he went and played in the stake tournament softball game (they won by the way). I brought out Easton's new baseball cap and I couldn't help but snap a picture of the two of them.

Easton woke up sick yesterday morning. He threw up twice. Once on Nathan and once down my shirt. I really don't think that I'm going to be able to drink orange juice for a while now. I had Easton get the flu shot the day before when Blair got her shots. I don't know if he was just getting sick anyways or if the shot made him sick. In any case he was running around and wrestling by the end of the night so I'm pretty sure he is feeling better. However, he did come home from church feeling kind of yucky. Hopefully a nice nap will do him some good. Isn't he handsome like his daddy?

Since Blair is 4 months old we can technically start her on rice cereal. I still need to pick some up, but I figured she could at least get used to her high chair in the mean time. Apparently her high chair isn't all that exciting. Lets just hope that we have better luck once we actually give her food.

Blair at 4 months

Blair had her 4 month doctor's appointment today (she turned 4 months yesterday). She had to get her shots which she didn't like at all. It definitely didn't help that she was tired and hungry when she got them. She is 25 in. long(between 50-75th percentile), 14lbs.(50th), and her head is 16.5 in. (between 50-75th) around. Her weight surprised me because I definitely thought she was bigger than that, but she's just perfect.

I just love this little girl. She is just so smiley all the time. I'm pretty sure that I mentioned in the last post that she is my little cuddler. She will just snuggle right up next to you. I love it! She definitely loves attention. She hates being by herself. As long as she has someone she can see and talk to she is perfectly content.

She is also my little wiggler. She is constantly kicking her legs and wiggling her little body. If I leave the room and then come back a few seconds later she is never in the same spot I left her. She has to move herself so that she can see what is going on. I really think she loves her daddy's voice. Whenever Nathan starts to talk she will stop everything and move her head towards his voice.

Blair loves her hands. She can't get enough of them. She also loves her play mat. Hitting and grabbing those toys will keep her entertained for quite a while. She has spotted her feet a couple of times but looses them almost as quickly as she finds them.

Blair on the quilt that Grandma Sue made for her.

Last week in Washington

Okay so we've been home now for almost 2 weeks now but I didn't have a computer the first week and I've been busy making Halloween costumes and getting back into the groove of things to get on the computer and blog. Here are a few pictures from our last week in Washington.

Visiting my grandpa one last time. I finally remembered to bring my camera.

Blair and Grandpa Cunningham. I just love this picture. Blair is my little cuddler.

Blair, Grandpa, and Easton. Easton wasn't very happy.

Easton getting his hair cut by Grandma at her work. Notice how still he is? There are about 5 TV's in there (plus he got at least three suckers). He was in heaven.

So Easton has been saying some funny things lately. Here are a few that I surprisingly remember.


On our plane ride home.
Easton: "Blair no go. Blair stay" (as he is pushing her away).
Me: "Blair is coming home with us. She is part of our family and we love her."
Easton: "Oh, man!"


Easton is eating pizza and finds some jelly bellys left on the table. He picks up a few but drops one on top of the pizza.
Easton: "Sorry pizza."


Easton's new favorite sentence is, "I want that too!" In the past he would say this if he saw something another person had and wanted it too. Recently though he will say it whenever he wants something (most of the time no one has anything so I have no clue as to what it is that he wants so I have to play the guessing game with him). It was happening all day long and I was getting really annoyed and frustrated.

Me: "What do you want?"
Easton: "I want that too!" (pointing to nothing in particular)
Me: "I don't know what you want. I need more information." (I figured he didn't know what information meant). "You need to use more words."
Easton: "I want that too doo too doo too doo too."

Apparently in his mind he was using more words.


The other day I was watching the news and they were talking about Governor McDonald. All the sudden Easton starts singing.
Easton: "E I E I O. Moo Moo Moo. Moo Moo Moo."


I love Easton and all the funny things he says. He is such a smart kid. It is fun to see how he connects things.


Nathan finally came home to us. He tricked me (or lied to me-however you want to look at it) all day Thursday. He was secretly flying home a day earlier than he told me. I was so confused when he called me up at 1 in the morning to open the door for him. It has been so fun to be a family again. We all love daddy! Easton asks all day where daddy is and will run around the house looking for him.

So Nathan is now considering Tacoma, WA as a place to do his residency. We don't know for sure if this is an option but we will definitely have it on our list just in case. It would be nice to be 2 hours from my parents. I think he finds out today if he will do just a phone interview or if he will fly out later this month to do an in person interview. We have to have our list finalized by the 30th. Also, Nathan is in the running for AOA (Alpha Omega Alpha-National Medical Honor Society). Only about 3,000 students, alumni, house staff, and faculty are elected each year in the nation. It is a great honor in the medical field if you are selected. I think it is already an honor just be invited. Nathan filled out all the paperwork and we should find out in the next couple of days (I think) if he gets selected.

So everyone says how much Blair looks like Easton. I admit there are a lot of similarities but I can tell them apart (I probably should since I am their mother). Just for fun. Can you tell who is who? Both were taken around the 4 month mark in the same outfit.