{Finally....the BINKY FAIRY came}

Well, the binky fairy "sort of" came to our house! Ayden is really into the garbage trucks these days...he loves to watch them coming every Thursday morning! We asked him early in the week if he wanted to give all his binkys to the garbage man. We acted like that was a really exciting thing to do, so he was really excited about it himself and said yes!! So all week, we talked about it and every day, a couple times a day, I asked him what he was going to do with his binkys! Each time, he would say "garbage man"!! Finally on Thursday morning, we woke up extra early so we wouldn't miss him coming! We put all the binkys we had left in a ziploc bag and we got ready! We thought we heard him coming from the street behind us, so we ran outside to the driveway! While we were waiting, I asked Ayden if he was going to give his binkys to the garbage man and he said no and he wanted to go back inside! Ha...I couldn't believe he was really going to change his mind, but I guess I should've expected that!! Well, it was a false alarm and he wasn't coming, so we went back inside and Ayden held onto his little baggie as tight as he could! He had a serious look of concern on his face now and I was starting to feel bad! Why couldn't we just keep his binkys forever...it's not like they were hurting him at all!! Then, we heard the REAL garbage man coming and we ran outside! Before Ayden even knew what was really happening, he handed the bag to the garbage man!! GONE FOREVER!!!! I think this was harder on me than it was on him!! I was sad to see them go! He seemed fine at first, but that was a rough day with a lot of crying and saying he wanted his binky back! But I reminded him that the garbage man took his binkys and was going to give them to little babies and he was a big boy now and didn't need his binky anymore! Here we are...5 days later and he is totally fine!! He didn't have any trouble sleeping without it and we keep saying that if we knew it was going to be this easy, we would've gotten rid of them a LONG time ago!! I'm so proud of him for being such a big boy!!

{HE POOPED!!!}

Finally...Ayden has finally made it to the potty in time to poop!! We have been potty training for over a month now and he has only pooped in the toilet once!! This past weekend, he pooped in the potty all by himself two times! But I won't tell you about the other time this weekend that he pooped in his underwear! And it's been so nice that accidents are becoming fewer and far between! I think it's because we have finally decided to not do pull-ups anymore...I hate them!! He just feels like he still has a diaper on when he is wearing them, so he will go in his pants anyway! So we are doing strictly underwear now and at least he can feel it when he does have an accident! I'm so happy that he is catching on so quickly and just hope that one of these days we can go back to having him wear clothes around the house! He seems to do so much better and not have accidents when he can just run around the house naked all day! That makes life pretty interesting when you have strangers coming to your door and your naked child runs to greet them!! Oh the joys of potty training!!

{Our Sunday Afternoon}

I love Sunday afternoons!! We usually get home from church about 2:00 pm, eat a quick lunch and then Ayden and Zoe go down for naps! We usually just lounge around or nap on the couch and enjoy the peace and quiet! It's so nice to just be able to stay at home, be lazy and not have to go anywhere! The only thing missing that would make our Sunday's the best would be if our parents lived here and we could go to their houses for Sunday dinners. That is one of the things I miss most about living in California...it was so nice to switch off every Sunday going to my parents for dinner and then Jeremiah's parents for dinner! Regardless of how bad our meals were during the week, we were always guaranteed ONE great meal on Sunday! Now we have to fend for ourselves!! Tonight, Jeremiah family came over and our sister in law made a yummy lasagna, so that was good!

Here are my cute boys eating lunch after church! As we were pulling up to the house after church today, Ayden was so excited when he saw our house and said "our home, our home"! He doesn't usually say that when we come home, but then he showed me the coloring page that he colored in nursery today and I saw that they learned about being grateful for their homes! It's good to know that he is learning more in nursery than how to play with toys!! It was really cute!

My mom was here all last week and it was so nice to have a break from all the everyday things...changing diapers, dressing kids, bathing kids, feeding kids, entertaining kids, etc! But now we are back to the daily grind! Zoe has been really fussy the last few days...she must either be going through a growth spurt or teething! She is rolling over here and there, but I guess I need to let her play on the floor more often to get more practice! Today she did start to sit up for a few seconds at a time before falling over!

Zoe has discovered her tongue and her lips! She is constantly sucking either her top or bottom lip in and making a smacking noise! And if she isn't doing that, then she has her long, pointy, little tongue sticking out like this picture! Such a silly girl!!

{Family Bike Ride}

Yesterday evening, we tried to go for a family bike ride on the Jordan River Trail. This was our first time trying Zoe out in the bike trailer...I was a little worried about what Ayden would do to her sitting that close without us being able to keep a constant eye on them! So Jeremiah spent about an hour getting air in the tires of my bike (since I haven't ridden it in about a year), getting his bike and the trailer ready, and loading everything into the car. We also invited his sister and his brother & his wife along for the ride! We thought it would be a great evening for a leisurely trip down the trail. Well....Zoe had another plan!! She started out ok, but about 10 minutes into the ride, she had had it!!! She started screaming and would not stop!!! She did NOT want to be in that trailer for one more minute!! Her screaming got so bad that Ayden tried covering her mouth with his had as he said "It's ok Zoe, it's ok!!" We decided to stop after 10 minutes and the girls stayed where we were and the boys went to get the cars to come pick us up! It was such a big fiasco to go on the bike ride and then we ended up not even going! Then, all of a sudden, when we stopped, Zoe was fine! I guess she just doesn't like going for bike rides...or maybe Ayden pinched her or something!! Just kidding, I doubt he would do that! Guess we will have to try again another day!

It was so cute to see both of them sitting so close together in the trailer! Ayden looked so big compared to Zoe!!

All set and ready to go!!



She looks so happy here....it must be because we hadn't started moving yet!

{Random Things}

Not much going on this past week, but I did have some pictures that I wanted to post!!

Zoe's first wagon ride!!

Zoe is still not a big fan of tummy time, but she is getting a little better each day!

When I look at Zoe, I still can't believe that she is the same 5 lb 14 oz baby we brought home from the hospital a few months ago! She is getting so big and I love all her rolls!

I love watching these two interact!! Ayden loves Zoe right now...that is until she is old enough to start crawling around and getting into all of his toys!

{Yucky...rice cereal???}

Today was Zoe's first taste of rice cereal! The doc gave us the green light to start her on cereal a few weeks ago, but we are just now getting around to it! It's funny how that works with the 2nd child...I remember with Ayden, we couldn't wait to start him on cereal and did as soon as the doc told us to! Anyway, Zoe HATED it!! Every time I put the spoon in her mouth and she tasted the cereal, she started crying hysterically!! I guess we will just have to keep trying and I'm sure she will like it one of these days. Ayden didn't like seeing her crying, so he tried to help and gave her a straw...trying to get her to suck the cereal out of the bowl!

But she sure does like just sitting and hanging out in her high chair!!

{brother AND sister}

Since so many people have been telling me lately how much Ayden and Zoe look alike, I have been looking back at Ayden's scrapbook to see pics of him when he was the same age that Zoe is now. I found this picture of him in his crib...so similar to a recent picture that I have of Zoe...Ayden is just a few weeks younger than she was at the time of this picture. I think I really do see the resemblance in these two pictures and I really LOVE that the two of them look alike!

{Date Night}

We were able to celebrate our anniversary yesterday...only one week late! It was my turn to plan and I was excited to surprise Jeremiah. He had no idea where we were going until we started driving and I gave him directions. But then, I couldn't remember how to get there, so I had to tell him where we were going so he could find it!! =) I told him to take us to the Gateway and that is when he got really scared!! He said, "why are we going to the Gateway, I don't want to go shopping!!" I'm sure he was thinking this was going to be a torturous date because he is the world's WORST shopper!! I played along saying he has to like shopping when it is something for him! When we finally got to the Gateway, we started walking around and walked into Sanctuary Day Spa & Salon. I said, "this is where we were going!" I thought for sure he would then realize that we were getting massages (Jeremiah has NEVER had a massage before and he is always talking about how he wants to get one! Whenever we go to my parents house in La Quinta, he is always jealous of us girls that get to go get massages while the guys go golfing! I'm sure he would much rather go get a massage, but then my dad makes fun of him, so he goes golfing!!)

Anyways, we walked in and he asked, "what are we doing HERE???" I told him he is getting a haircut (which was funny because he just cut his hair the day before)! He was really getting scared now! In Jeremiah's mind, the only thing worse than going shopping is having to go to a salon!!! I was really starting to enjoy seeing him squirm at this point!! I checked in and told them we were there for the couples massage, but I guess Jeremiah didn't hear that! He still had no idea what we were doing there!! Then the girl starts walking us back to the dressing area and tells Jeremiah to go in the locker room, put on his robe and meet us in the relaxation room!! HA!!! You should have seen the look on Jeremiah's face! Poor guy looked so lost! I really wished I had told him what we were doing now...I was starting to feel bad!

I met Jeremiah in the relaxation room and asked him if he knew what we were doing there! He still didn't know, so I told him we were getting manicures and pedicures! He said, "what??? I don't want a manicure!!!" And then he asked me, "Is this what you really have to wear when you go get pedicures??" I told him when you go to a nice place like this you do!! (This is just making me laugh out loud all over again just to retell the story!!) Finally, I broke the news that we were getting massages! He was excited and it was a wonderful day! We got a couples massage and then they brought us cheesecake, water and juice while we sat in the soaking tub! It was such a nice, relaxing time and we really did need it! It was a nice break to be away from the kids (thanks to Jeremiah's mom for watching them).

After leaving the Spa, I brought a change of clothes for us to go to dinner! Jeremiah still didn't know where we were going to dinner! We started walking around and as we walked by Fleming's Steakhouse, I told him we were going there! He was SO excited...Jeremiah ALWAYS wants to go to Fleming's! It is so expensive, so we have never been there! Our dinner cost about as much as we spend on 5 regular date nights! We definitely splurged and it was so nice!! We got a yummy appetizer, had the best ceasar salad I have ever had, the most delicious steak ever (and I am so not a steak person) and the tastiest creme brulee I have ever had in my life!! It was a perfect date and a perfect anniversary celebration!! I wish we could do a date night like this all of the time, but even once a year will be great!!

We told Fleming's that we were celebrating our anniversary, so they gave us a box of chilled chocolate covered strawberries. I ate most of them in the car on the way home, but saved one for Ayden. He found it right away when we got home and I think these pictures definitely show that he enjoyed it!!

{4 months old}

Zoe was 4 months old on Monday and she is really becoming such a joy to have around! This is the stage where I think babies start to become so much fun!! I love that at this age they start developing into a little human instead of just a little blob that sits there with a blank stare on their face! These are some of the things I love about Zoe at this age...

1. she sleeps through the night...there is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby (especially one that will sleep all night)
2. her smell...i love baby breath...it's kind of like puppy breath (but much better)!! i could sit there all day smelling her yummy breath!!
3. she loves to help me feed her...she tries to hold her bottle as soon as she sees it coming towards her mouth, her hands go straight up! it usually is too heavy for her at the beginning of the feeding, but by the end, she does it all on her own!
4. she is such a snuggler...when she is crying or getting ready to fall asleep, she loves to have a blanket close to her face and she always holds on to her pink stuffed puppy to sleep.

5. she is soothed by me...it makes me so happy that she can stop crying the minute I pick her up or the minute she hears my voice...there's nothing better than the feeling that your baby needs you so much!
6. her blue eyes...she has such big blue eyes and we really hope that they stay blue!

Today she had her 4 month checkup! We haven't been exxagerating when we say that she has gotten so big lately! She weighed 13 lb 11 oz (50th percentile) and was 25 1/4 in (90th percentile)! It's crazy to me how much she has grown since she was born. At 2 weeks, she was in the 3rd and 10th percentile, at 2 months she was in the 25th and 50th and now she has jumped to the 50th and 90th!!! What a big girl! I keep going back to these carseat pics to see how much she has changed! The first one is just born, the 2nd picture is 6 weeks old and the 3rd picture is 4 months old! Can't wait to see how much she changes in the next few months!





She also had to get 4 more shots today...she didn't seem to mind for too long! She cried a little, but stopped right after the last one went in! It always makes me sad that when they get poked, they look up at you with a look that says "mom, why are you letting them do this to me?!?!?!" Makes you feel so guilty! The doctor said everything else looked great and she is a happy, healthy little girl! We are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl in our family!

So many people have been telling us lately that Zoe looks so much like Ayden! I went looking back at his baby pictures and I think they do resemble each other!! Isn't that so crazy?!?!? And it's crazy that people also say that they look so much like us...Ayden for sure is a spitting image of Jeremiah I think, so it will be interesting to see how Zoe turns out! Crazy how this was all part of the plan...really confirms the fact that these two little ones were supposed to come to our family!!

Here is Ayden at 4 months.....hmmmmm???

{Potty Update}

I am scared to post this because I don't want to jinx anything, but I am so glad to report that potty training is going GREAT!!! I am shocked that we have stuck to it and that it is actually working!! From the moment Ayden woke up this morning, he started having a great day! He went potty in the toilet 5 times before we even went to church! And I was a little worried about being at church and not having our magic little Fisher Price potty with us! But.....I didn't need to be worried because he went potty 4 times at church today....every time in the toilet!!! YAHOO!!!! It's a good thing there is a kid size toilet in the nursery bathroom because Ayden was way too scared to sit on the big people toilets...the little one was perfect size for him to stand and go to the bathroom...which he thought was pretty fun!

Potty training is the greatest thing ever!! I never realized how nice it would really be to not have to change diapers anymore! I think we are still a long ways off because we will have to work on not going during naptime and bedtime, but at least we are off to a great start! Ayden only had one accident today where he went potty in his pull up. It was when we had family over for dinner tonight and I think he just got a little too distracted and too busy to go! Other than that, he did a great job today! He probably went about 15 or 20 times in the potty and most of the time, he goes because it's his own idea! There were even a couple times that I looked to see if he had gone and he did...without me even knowing!! So days 3 and 4 have gone great and I am hoping for an even better day tomorrow! I know one of these days we will have to leave the house and that makes me nervous! For now, it is nice to be confined to the house so he can run around naked and sit on the potty whenever he wants to!

{Happy Anniversary}

Today was our 6th anniversary! I can't believe that it has only been 6 years that we have been married....HA!! It feels like we've been married forever!! But when I really think about it, these 6 years have gone by so fast! We have so much to be thankful for...mostly our 2 cute kids! We have been so blessed!! Hopefully one of these days in the next month, we will be able to celebrate our anniversary! This year we are starting a tradition where one of us is in charge of making plans to celebrate our anniversary and then we will switch the next year! It is my turn this year and I have a fun day planned...all we need is a babysitter!! So, we will make this happen in the next couple weeks either when Jeremiah's mom or my mom is here to visit! I'm looking forward to it!

Just wanted to post a picture of our wedding day...mostly just because it makes me so happy to remember that day! It was the most amazing wedding day and I have such happy memories from it! There is usually never another time in your life when you have EVERY single family member and friend with you to celebrate such a special moment! I just love to think of that day! In fact, you can catch me watching our wedding video on a regular basis...I always think about how great it would be to go back to that day and make time stand still for a while!!

{Hogle Zoo}

Yesterday we finally were able to go to the Zoo. We had been meaning to go since last month when we were going to go for Ayden's b-day! Yesterday morning, Jeremiah went for a bike ride in Salt Lake and the ride ended right by the zoo, so we decided to meet each other there!

Ayden had such a blast! This was his first time at a "real" zoo and he was in heaven seeing all of his favorite animals! Every time we saw a new animal, he had to tell me the sound that animal makes...it was great entertainment! His favorites were the monkeys, giraffes, elephants, zebras, and of course the white crocodile! When we were watching the animals, he would tell me that he wanted to ride on them or touch them!



One of the highlights was getting to ride the carousel...he had a lot of fun going up and down and cried when the ride was over and we had to get off! I'm so glad that we were finally able to go and seeing how much fun Ayden had, I know that we will definitely be back soon!

(Pettiskirt}

My sister-in-law Cara got this adorable pettiskirt for Zoe!! We got it in the mail a couple days ago and even though the size is 18 months, I couldn't resist trying it on her and I was shocked that it actually fit! She looked so adorable, but I didn't really get any good pictures since it just looks like she is sitting in a big poof ball of pink. It will be so cute when she gets a little bigger and can stand up! And I am ready to have a total girly girl that wants to play dress up all the time and wants to wear things like this! So fun!!

{A Bit of Jealousy}

Zoe has been loving the time she gets to play in her activity center! It's really nice to be able to put her in there because she can play with the toys, watch Ayden, and see everything that is going on around her! She really has a good time playing!

Unfortunatly, Ayden is having a hard time sharing "his" activity center! As far as he is concerned, this is "HIS" chair (even though he hasn't used it since he was a baby) and he doesn't like Zoe to sit in his chair! The other day, when I was taking pictures of Zoe in it, he got a little jealous and decided he wanted to get in and get his picture taken!

{Potty Time}

For the past 2 days, we have been making a serious attempt of potty training at our house! Ayden seems so young since he just turned 2 last month and most people say boys don't potty train until around 3, but I'm not sure we have a choice anymore! Ayden has been taking his diaper off for a while now. So we started taping them on at night and when he took naps, but then he outsmarted us and started getting the tape off somehow! I'm not sure how he does this because we use packing tape and wrap it around his waist twice! And when he does end up taking his diaper off, it is not a pretty site! The straw that broke the camels back was when I went to get him up from his nap and smelled poop before I even opened the door to his room! When I went in, I saw his diaper on his dresser with no poop in it...this time, he had taken the diaper off and THEN decided to poop ALL OVER the place!! It was awful!! Jeremiah and I decided that night that we need to seriously start potty training! So...that is why we are trying so early! I figure what's worse...picking up poop all over his room or cleaning up the occassional accidents he has! Either way, I am cleaning up after him, so I might as well be trying to train him along the way!!

I am surprised to say that it is actually going better than I had expected! I tried a couple weeks ago, but that just resulted in pee all over my floor and none in the toilet! At that time, we were trying to use a potty seat on top of the real toilet! He hated that...I don't know if he was scared to sit on the real toilet or what! Since that didn't work, I tried a new approach!

Yesterday, we went to Target and went potty training crazy!! We got this Fisher Price potty seat that literlly has all the bells and whistles, Elmo's Potty Time DVD, 2 books about going potty on the big boy potty, a pack of Thomas and a pack of Cars big kid undies, and some Skittles as our reward treat! As soon as we got home, Ayden wanted to get the potty out. He undressed all the way and sat on the potty! He said, "it's coming" and then he tooted!! I was so excited and gave him a skittle!! He was so thrilled....he ran around the house screaming and then came and sat down again! He told me it was coming again and......he tooted again!!! I gave him another skittle and we both got so excited!! I was just thrilled that he was trying to push on the potty!! Anyway, he did this SEVEN more times!!! It was so funny, but still nothing to show for it in the potty!!! When he woke up from his nap, I asked him if he wanted to go on the big boy potty and he was so excited! So he came downstairs and sat down! We started reading one of our new potty books and all of a sudden, I heard him peeing in the potty!! We had a HUGE potty party and he got a sucker instead of a skittle this time!! We left the pee in the potty to show daddy when he got home from work! Ayden was so excited!! We didn't have much luck with the potty after that yesterday...he wants to be naked all the time and loves to just sit on the potty all day, but he had quite a few accidents last night! But....when I went to book club last night, he actually pooped on the potty!!! I couldn't believe it!! That is a pretty big step!! Jeremiah was so proud of him that he took a picture of it and sent it to all of our family! What a nut!!

So far, today is going ok! For about every time that Ayden goes in the potty, he has about 2 or 3 accidents! I guess that isn't all that bad for day 2!! At least I am hoping that it gets better each day! And I just hope I can stick with it because it does get pretty old cleaning up puddles all over the house! I am really realizing that potty training is a FULL TIME JOB! Pretty much all I have done the past 2 days is sit next to him on the floor, watching to see if anything comes out and asking him every 5 minutes if he needs to go potty! It's exhausting!! =) And I'm also realizing that you have to be willing to be confined to your house for this potty training thing to work! Tonight we went out for date night and sure enough, Ayden didn't want to use the potty at the house he was at, so his pull up was soaked! I hope that doesn't mean that we are back to square one and will have to start over tomorrow!

Hopefully we can keep trying and one of these days he will really get it! He does love his new big boy undies, so that makes it fun! And he just looks like such a big boy running around in them! I can't believe he is growing up so fast! This is one stage in his life that I hope goes by very quickly...I am dreaming of the day that I only have to deal with diapers for one baby!!