Winding Down

There are just three weeks left in the semester! We're sure looking forward to its completion. There's still a lot Blake needs to get done but it's hard to be too stressed about school when we're facing job changes, car changes, and who knows what else. God's been so faithful to us through this whole journey and we know that he has the perfect solution for even our littlest of concerns.

Rory: Can be quite dramatic and emotional these days; it's quite fascinating to watch her learn to express herself and deal with her emotions. When she's mad she tends to stomp her feet, sort of spit, and hit herself while yelling, "pow pow!" Teaching her appropriate ways of handling her emotions is complicated; I hope some of it comes with greater maturity when she reaches three in a couple months. A couple amusing things she's said lately include:
Me: "Rory, do you want to go poop?"
Rory (enigmatically): "When the time comes, Mama."

And, when I was upset about about something: "It's okay, Brittany Joy." Blake calls me Brittany Joy; although she's referred to him as Blake before she's never called me by my name. Hopefully she understood that she's not permitted that liberty- we were definitely laughing through our correction!

After messing around with potty training for MONTHS, I finally decided that enough was enough. She knows how to use to the potty; it was just my lack of diligence that was  keeping us from truly tackling it. I wasn't sure how it would go since she suffers from poop anxiety and was still quite a heavy nighttime wetter. We bought more undies and some awful plastic pants and told her that her diaper days were done. Although I said that, I wasn't convinced it would be the case, especially at night. However, we decided to try the plastic over her undies during naps and bedtime and see what happened for a few days. Shockingly she's only woken up wet a few times in the last couple weeks! It took a couple days but I'm encouraged. The plastic pants have kept her from leaking onto her jammies or bed; we'll continue using them for a while. We're working through her poop issues too and while we still have a ways to go we're definitely getting there!

Bashy: He's starting to talk more and has added "fish," "shoe," "moon," and "truck" to his vocabulary. He uses silverware well (Rory never even tried at his age) and is such a good eater, not picky at all! His size certainly does not reflect the quantity of food he eats; usually he eats more than Rory and I put together! For the last six months or so he's had spells of waking up furious at night. We thought it was just related to teething (he's a horrid teether) but after consulting some friends and doing a little research we realize he gets night terrors. These can be brought on by teething (which explains why he was up almost every night last week) or being sick or overtired. The good news is now we know what the problem is. The bad news is there's nothing we can do for him; the more you try to console a toddler during a night terror, the worse it gets. We're praying this stage passes soon and are grateful that he's his normal silly, happy self during the day.

Blake wisely determined we needed a family outing so we excursioned to the Deer Farm, where the kiddos saw fun animals and fed some deer.

Also fun was playing on the tractors out front!

A couple weeks ago we got to go on a fun adventure: The Verde Valley Railway!

We got to ride all expenses paid in first class, which meant comfy leather couches, free food and drinks, and enjoying the scenery through large windows or the outdoor viewing car. The best part was we were with grandparents who entertained the kiddos so Blake and I could really relax!

The scenery was lovely but not so breathtakingly beautiful that you felt compelled to watch every second less you miss something. This made it more enjoyable, in my opinion.