He's going to hate me for this

Jack may never forgive me for this, but I had to document it. He has been using the potty for quite some time now, but he has just refused to do #2 on the potty. It's very annoying. I don't want to freak him out, but I'm at the point of getting irritated when he runs off on me and goes in his pants. He never does it at school--only at home. We've thrown away a lot of undies--lets face it, sometimes it's not worth trying to clean them out before washing. We've tried everything--candy, stickers, potty charts, trying to pee/poo on cheerios game...I've even bought like ten presents from the dollar store, wrapped them, and try to bribe him with that. Nothing has worked! 

 Jessica, our nanny, had a good idea--she put him on the potty with the ipad...just to get him more comfy with spending time on the potty (he has that baby bjorn seat to sit on). I've also been keeping track of the times he usually goes each day. 

 Saturday morning...after 15 minutes he yells, "Mommy! Come get the ipad, I have to poop!"

 He finally did it...Then he tells me, "Now I want my stickers, my sucker, AND my present!!" ha! Whatever, I was so darn happy, I was happy to oblige. 

 A magnifying glass from the dollar store! 

It totally made my weekend!!!

We also had to send daddy a video to tell him....see below. 

Sorry Jack in advance....when you are 20 and reading this, just remember, I love you! 

Wish I were there (sort of)

I'm ready for Nick and Hunter to come home! It's pretty lonely at home, but I've gotten a lot done. I got the carpets cleaned yesterday (and they look so good!!!), lined up a plumber to hook up the water in the basement, went through old kid clothes to donate at an upcoming Mom2Mom sale for my MOPS's group, so that feels good! The amount of kids clothes we have is just ridiculous. I actually found a bin of 3T clothes in the basement that I didn't know I had, so now Jack has a "new wardrobe"...ha! No kid should have 10 pairs of jeans. I don't even know where it all comes from, but my plan is to donate proceeds this year to MOPS and next year I'll sell the rest and keep the money :) I can't get organized enough this year to do it all. 

 Hunter at the pool. It kind of scares me that the pool drops off on the edge like that...pretty though! 

The edge of the pool looks so weird!! It drops down below I guess to the beach. 

I need to go tanning before they get back--ha! 

Puerto Vallarta pics!

 Well, my week has not been getting off to how I planned. I expected it to be fun and relaxing with Jack. So far he's been a bit of a terror and no idea why. Nothing that some retail therapy and a pedicure couldn't cure yesterday (I had the day off and a babysitter for a few hours). I am hoping Nick won't figure it out for a while--ha! Whatever--he's in Mexico, so I can do what I want! 

Then the first night in Mexico Nick called with Hunter and he was clearly quite intoxicated. To say I was mad is an understatement. I just hope someone is taking care of our child who is sober. I'm trying not to let it ruin my week. I'm glad they are having fun, but Nick needs to be a responsible parent when I'm not there. Ahhhhhh. This might be the first and last time this kind of a trip happens. I am jealous, but with my getting SO sick and the fact that I could not take this week off work, it just couldn't happen. 

One thing he is doing is taking pictures--thanks Nick (and his mom)....Enjoy! 

I love this one above!! 

 Pretty awful hats--I may be making fun of him for this. 

 Gammy Dori is so happy to have Nick and Hunter visiting! 

 I don't know what is up with these poses by Hunter--must be new. 

  At least I have proof he's ok and not sunburned--and smiling!! 

First trip to the ER and other stuff!

Hunter's teacher called me around 12:30 pm on Thursday saying I needed to come pick him up right away. He had put a pearler bead in his nose and I had to take him to the dr to get it removed. He was very nervous about it and asking lots of questions as to how they were going to get it out. It was so far up there that the pediatrician's office said they would not even try to get it, that I had to go straight to the ER at St. Joe's. So off we went! It was a fast and easy trip thankfully. However, it was funny b/c it took three dr's to determine if they could actually see the bead or not. The resident said he saw it, the dr said she did not see it, so then they had to call in the supervising dr to confirm. By the time she came in, I had him blow his nose a lot and it came a little lower so they could see it (way up there) with their light thing. So they used a flexible metal hook thing to fish it out. I missed my pilates lesson, Nick was mad b/c we will be paying this out of pocket since we have a high deductible, and I just had to laugh when it was all over with. I asked him why he did it and he said "XXX told me to". I don't know whether to believe it or not, but he hasn't done anything like this before and I wouldn't put it past this kid to tell Hunter to do it. Oh well. The nurse told him "Don't ever put anything smaller than your elbow in your nose" and I think that stuck with him! So much for his Valentine's Day craft at school! 

 Hunter telling Nana they got it out!  

I took the bead home to embarrass him with later in life. 

My other cutie pie in his v-day shirt

 Cheesy smile!  

 Our nanny put these together for Hunter and Jack's teachers. They are super cute handmade cards with heart shaped rice krispie treats. Thanks Jessica! 

They are cut-outs of the kids hands--you can see how it makes a heart in the middle. Then the kids painted the outside...cute idea! 

 Treats :) 

I hope all the teachers appreciated them---she had to make 8! (Hunter has 3 teachers and 5 in Jack's room)

This is funny--Hunter wanted to read to Jack. Of course he couldn't just be nice about it and wouldn't show Jack the pictures--little stinker! 

Jack was mad and tried to see the pictures....Then I had to put the phone down and break up the fight that ensued. 

Nick and Hunter just landed in Mexico! It's freezing here and in an hour they will be in the pool in 85 degree weather--lucky them!! 

 

4 more days....

Nick and Hunter leave for Puerto Vallarta in 4 days! Sunday-Sunday....It's going to be weird. I am having anxiety about Nick taking Hunter without me. I have told him at least 20 times not to turn his back on Hunter for a second, along with a million other things. Basically, it comes down to the fact that he should just not come home if anything happens to my baby. Nick's mom and stepdad are there for 3 months and so they are going to stay with them. I have been to Mexico 3 times and hate it there....I get so sick and I refuse to go back. So many other places to visit and it's not for me. Nick caught me in a moment of weakness in agreeing to this trip b/c now I'm not so sure. I haven't been away from Hunter like this before :( I will miss Nick too. We aren't the type to vacation separately, so this is a one time occurrence! I am excited to be home alone with Jack--it will be super fun and relaxing. His new thing to say is "come sit with me and cuddle". It's the cutest. We have plans with friends, he's on winter break, and it'll be great. I am excited to read, watch my own tv shows without commentary from the funny farm (aka Nick, during the Bachelor specifically), clean out cupboards, closets, etc. I have Chopper to protect me too--I may resort to cuddling with him. ha! Please pray Nick and Hunter stay safe and that Hunter doesn't get sick! 

 I took these in Marco Island....I'm jealous Nick and Hunter will be swimming in the pool and on the beach while we are here freezing! 

Good Week

Besides snow days and a three week long on and off again colds, it's been an ok week. It's been hard to scramble and find childcare when kids are sick or there is a snow day. Thankfully I have a great husband! I literally called him crying on Wednesday b/c Jack seemed so under the weather and I didn't want to send him to school, but I had a crazy day at work and our nanny couldn't help. He came home and relieved me until she could come. Then today they had a snow day, so I had to stay home until she could come over.

The good news...
1) Jack got a GREAT progress report from his speech therapy place. He has come SO far and is just doing great. Basically they said he's in the "typical" range and we could cut back on therapy--yay for many reasons!! We are going to keep him there once per week for another month or so and then be done. I'm so glad--less running around, evenings out with him, etc. Most importantly, he can communicate properly!! (Besides lots of whining lately which I'm trying to curb)

2) Hunter got a great report from his teachers at his conference. They said he's doing amazingly well. Academically he is thriving and LOVES school. Montessori philosophy strives to develop the love of learning and it's certainly working for Hunter. He is improving all the time behaviorally. One of his friends had left GLTW and went to public school for Kindergarten. Well, he's back. I talked to the parents b/c he's a lot like Hunter with his personality. They said he was totally bored and totally causing trouble in school. They just came back to GLTW this past week. That is my biggest fear with Hunter, so hearing that confirmed our decision to keep him there for now. I went last night for the info meeting on 1st grade (they call it lower elementary b/c the 1-3rd graders are in the same room. It was so interesting!! Scary, exciting, and really cool. I think he might be smarter than me when he's in 3rd grade. The hardest thing for me to conceptualize is they don't give grades. The students master skills before moving onto the next. They do have standards which are excellent and follow a different system than normal public schools. I saw the test scores and they are incredible. I am not bashing public schools, but this seems to be a good fit for us. Of course we want the best for him and love the emphasis on mastering skills (where most public school teachers say if you need extra help on subtraction and they are moving on to a new topic, that kid is screwed b/c with the ratio and lack of luxury of time, there is no option but to keep on pace!). I love that they also place an emphasis on grace and courtesy. This is so important--shaking hands, manners, looking people in the eye, respect, compassion, etc.

3) We are going on a double date with some friend tonight and super excited!!!

The basement!

 The basement is mostly done!! We need plumbing (should have been done last week, but that's another story). We are building a bar too, but trying to figure out plans for that. We broke it in with about 50 people here last night to watch the Super Bowl. It was actually nice b/c with half the people in the kitchen area and half down in the basement, it didn't seem too crazy...besides a certain five year old and his bff from school running around like crazy. 

 I had this chair back in college in my room in our apartment! The kids were sitting on here playing games on the ipads. 

 While Nick was in NYC for a few days last week we tested out the popcorn maker...I got everyone their own buckets for Christmas :) 

Love Hunter's face here----so excited when it started popping!

We watched the UM bball game in the theater room Saturday night with my parents,

 sister, her boyfriend, Gigi, etc...it was fun! 

View from the theater chairs :)

View from front of the room....I got Nick the UM fathead on the back wall...it doesn't look good in the picture, but it turned out great!

Nick took this with his panoramic setting on the iphone...lots of fun stuff for the kids! There is also a bathroom, bedroom, etc. that I need to get organized :)

On another note, this is outside Hunter's room and I just love it...Hunter had his conference on Friday and it went really well. Much better than earlier this year. I am so proud of him!!! We are going to keep Hunter there for 1st grade. It has taken a lot of thought and consideration, but we feel really good about things! Yay Hunter :)