Keeping up with Fred-n-Sara

After Christmas, I got a new camera. Finally. I’ve been using a friend’s since I broke mine on Calvin’s 1st birthday! It’s about time I found a good little camera. It’s just a point and shoot, but it’s fast and wasn’t too expensive. I think it takes pretty good pictures, but I’m not a photographer so it’s just a humble opinion. Anyway, because I have a fun new toy and because I think it’s important to have lots of pictures for my kids and I to look back on when we’re all older.

So, let’s review January. Someday I promise I’ll get better at updating pictures as I go.

Sunday, January 1

This was our first picture of the new year. Lulu woke up just in time for a new year's kiss. And she was so excited about it!

Monday, January 2

The video gamers.

First real snow! It's crazy that we've gotten into January before getting much snow.

Tuesday, January 3

A little after-Christmas snack just for me!

Wednesday, January 4

Sleepy girl.

Thursday, January 5

The boys were given another train set to keep at their Great-Grandma's house. Cal had to take it apart, after my cousin put it together, to figure out how it went together

Friday, January 6

Calvin loves to climb!

While not a climber, Oliver had a good time in the tunnels.

Saturday, January 7

Aren't they silly?

Sunday, January 8

Cal and his uncle reading.

Monday, January 9

Peanut butter english muffin and banana. Breakfast of Champions!

Or nutella.

Tuesday, January 10

Playing outside always brings the smiles.

Oliver's on a boat!

Wednesday, January 11

Thursday, January 12

Just playing around!

Friday, January 13

Cuddling with Dad. She was supposed to be sleeping.

Saturday, January 14

Snow fun!

I don't understand the reasoning behind giving a baby processed "cereal" for their first food. I think this is the last (and first) time I'll give her any.

**I don’t even know why I bought it. I never really gave Oliver any cereal either. It just doesn’t look appetizing. Shouldn’t a baby’s first experience with food be tasty?

Sunday, January 15

The boys like watching videos on Fred's "smartphone."

So this is it! The last 2011 picture post. Finally, right? Go easy on me, it’s been a busy week; Laura is now 6 months old, we started giving her solid foods, she was baptized, and we had our first real snow of the season (thanks global warming; usually we’re well into the snowy season now). More on all of that later, right now, let’s wrap up the year!

Monday, December 26

Playing with his new headphones. I bed he'd like them better if he plugged them into some music.

Oliver likes his too; they are a lot like Dad's...without the rap music (let's not comment on the pacifier in the over 2 year old's mouth)

Tuesday, December 27

A meeting with the new toys. A meet and greet, if you will.

Wednesday, December 28

Babyzilla attacks the local train tracks. Delays expected.

Thursday, December 29

Tonight we celebrated my youngest brother's birthday. Laura partied so hard she slept in her car seat from the time we left until midnight!

Friday, December 30
Fred’s niece got married today!

The bride and her dad.

We didn’t stay long at the wedding. All the kids and Fred have been fighting a cold. Plus the boys were recking havoc as they do late in the evening, even at home.

Saturday, December 31

Look who woke up just in time for the new year! Not that she cared, I think she was just hungry.

And that’s it, the end of 2011 for our little family. It was a big year for us, some things ended and some new things began, not to mention we welcomed our sweet baby girl into our family. I hope the year was good for you! Let’s hope that 2012 is even better!

Most of these pictures contain smiles. And most of them contain cuteness. That’s how we roll here.

Tuesday, November 1

Wednesday, November 2
You see all these cute pictures of our kids, so I’m betting you sit around wondering what Fred and I do once the kids are in bed. You probably think we collapse with exhaustion, right? Nope. I’ll show you what we do, just about every night:

This. Usually I'm on the empty side of the couch playing on the computer or reading a book. Sometimes we watch tv instead. So exciting, right?

Thursday, November 3
Today was Fred and my 4th wedding anniversary. We didn’t do anything big. Instead we took the kids out to eat to one of our favorite family restaurants. But I did get a little surprise from my wonderful husband!

Fred got me 24 BEAUTIFUL red roses!

Friday, November 4

Cal reading one of his favorite books to his sister.

Saturday, November 5
Since I am home all day now, I’ve gotten adventurous with baking. I’ve tried my hand at bread, even building up a sourdough starter to make bread, rolls, and lots of other goodies. I also decided to get some pie pumpkins and try my hand at pureeing pumpkin for pie and lots of other fall treats (none of which Fred will eat, so I can only make what I know I’ll have help eating!) After baking and pureeing the pumpkin, I couldn’t let the seeds to to waste.

Roasted pumpkin seeds; salted goodness!

Sunday, November 6
No picture.

Monday, November 7

Look at that pouty face!

Laura really wants that caterpillar toy.

With a little convincing, from me, Cal showed her how it worked.

Tuesday, November 8
Because Cal didn’t have school today and it was beautiful outside, we had a picnic at the park. As soon as we got there Cal’s glasses broke. Can you see how he was trying to hold them on? Poor guy had to play without them on the playground after lunch. He did surprisingly well running around without them.

Picnic at the park.

Enjoying a little sunshine.

Wednesday, November 9

This girl loves to be on the floor. She also loves chewing her fist.

Thursday, November 10

Drawing. With an orange marker. Or smelling it. Either way, he's occupied.

Friday, November 11

Oliver was showing Laura how to "play cars."

Saturday, November 12

Sunday, November 13

Monday, November 14
No picture

Tuesday, November 15

I was trying to take Laura's picture. But I guess Oliver thought he should be in it.

This was the picture I was trying to take.

I never posted anything about potty training Calvin, but it was relatively easy.  Between Fred and I and the babysitter, he had peeing in the potty down in a week; both all day and all night, without pull-ups.  Now poo was a different story, it took Cal a long time to get comfortable with going on the toilet.  I won’t go into a lot of detail, but we were so happy when he finally “got” it completely.  For the most part, I have to say, Cal was easy to potty train.  He showed a strong interest last November and we just ran with it.  I thought for sure that there would be a set back, but a year later (and lots of big changes in his little life), he’s still doing really well.  I can’t even tell you the last time he had an accident (January, maybe?).

Calvin, aka Mr. Fancy Underpants, at 28 months!

From my experiences teaching preschool, I know that it’s pretty common for boys to be difficult to train and late potty trainers.  I considered us very lucky with Calvin being so easy and I thought for sure we’d be in for it with Oliver.  So I decided that I wouldn’t even consider potty training Oliver until he was absolutely ready to start using the potty.

In the spring Oliver started showing “signs” of being ready.  He’d tell us when he went, let us know when he needed his diaper changed, asked to sit on the potty, would watch his big brother (and us, fun fun!) on the potty, all that fun stuff.  He was starting to be ready, but I wasn’t even close to being ready for that.  I was at the tail end of pregnancy, feeling very large and uncomfortable.  I couldn’t imagine all be bending and squatting over to help him get his pants down and up, dealing with accidents or even all the extra laundry.  So I put it off.  I told Fred that we’d try later, in the summer.  Summer came and I only got more uncomfortable, so we put it off longer.  Finally, Fred just brought up the little frog potty we bought for Calvin and started asking Oliver if he wanted to go potty in it.  At first he would say no, but eventually he decided to try.  It wasn’t long after that when he started telling us after he went potty.  Too late to sit on the frog potty, but a good start.  Then he started occasionally telling us when he had to go and he’d sit and go and we’d cheer. Even Cal was excited for him.  Still though, with a new baby and Fred back at work, I couldn’t see potty training him on my own.  I didn’t have the time and I just forsaw it going horribly (because I’m always the optimist!) for us all.  But I knew that Oliver was ready and we had to help him soon.

Oliver: King of the Bathroom*

So, last month, Fred and decided to begin working on potty training Oliver. Some friends had used and recommended the 3 Day Potty Training Method, so I thought we’d try it. I was hopeful that he’d do so well that it really would take only 3 days, but I was prepared for it to take longer.  And longer it did take.   We stuck to the method, but I think, although Oliver was ready, he wasn’t even 2 yet and it took him a little longer to “get” the whole process.  A month has gone by, almost exactly, since we started the 3 Day method, but I think I can safely say that Oliver is potty trained!  It took lots of accidents, but he’s doing awesome now.  He’ll use a public toilet, our big toilet, his frog potty, or anyone else’s toilet now.  He is still wearing a diaper at night, but he’s woken up dry the last few nights, so I think we’re about done with those too.

Now we’ll have to see about getting Laura potty trained… in another couple of years.

*notice the empty toilet paper roll and the pile of TP on the floor, yeah, Oliver thought it’d be fun to unravel it all after going potty. The sad face was because he knew he was in trouble for it!

Catching up on the last month, as usual!

Friday, July 1

Oatmeal cookies with chocolate covered raisins. Yum!

Saturday, July 2
Today we spent the day swimming at my aunt and uncle’s house. The water was a little chilly, but it was refreshing, or so I was told, since I don’t have a bathing suit that fits at 9 months pregnant and HUGE.

Oliver and his great aunt, she wasn't convincing him the pool was cool.

Calvin, however, LOVED the water!

He kept telling everyone to "get away" so he could swim on his own.

Oliver was liking the strawberries more than the water.

Sunday, July 3
I wanted to get a couple pictures of fireworks while sitting on my deck after the boys went to sleep, but I couldn’t see any. So here’s one I didn’t take, but thought looked nice (it is from Akron though)!

Monday, July 4
Happy Independence Day!  We celebrated with a day at the park and ice cream.

Oliver loves his swings!

Cal loves the slide.

Blueberry Ice Cream Cone

Can't waste any ice cream goodness!

Tuesday, July 5

Hot weather and swollen feet = me feeling done with pregnancy!

Wednesday, July 6

Potty time!

Thursday, July 7

Cal told me he was going to school.

Friday, July 8
I won a contest and got a $50 gift certificate for The Vintage Pearl jewelry/keepsakes online shop. I love their stuff and ordered these:

It'll have 3 little pearls though, for my 3 babies!

Perfect!

Saturday, July 9
Today we took the boys to a little workshop at a local home improvement store. I thought the boys would love building the tow truck, but it turned out to be a little more complicated than I imagined (previous projects have been very simple). The boys lost interest after a little while, but I think they had a good time while interested.

Always wear your goggles, says Oliver.

Calvin attaching the "tow."

Handy Manny, look out! Here comes Handy Oliver!

Sunday, July 10
Today, in the hotter-than-Hades heat, we went to a birthday party for a friend’s little girl. It was at the zoo. We didn’t stay long because I felt like I was going to melt, but the boys did get to ride the carousel (and have some yummy cupcakes and sing happy birthday to their friend).

He was so happy to finally ride the carousel!

Oliver, not so much.

Monday, July 11

Oliver the Monkey

Cal the giraffe.

I’m not sure why both of them had their hands in their mouths for these pictures. Weird.

Tuesday, July 12
Here’s a picture after a fast and crazy delivery with the most important people…the doctor who caught Laura, Fred, me, and of course our baby girl!

Happy Birth Day to our little girl!