Big (unofficial) News!

I should probably wait until this is more official (that's the advice I've been given), but I'm so excited I want to share! Drum roll please...

We are moving! 

How many people thought I was pregnant? Ha Ha. Nope.

Okay, so we're not moving to a new state or anything...yet. We are relocating about 20 minutes west of Charleston to be closer to where David works. After I had kids, I developed a real desire for a big yard. It's nearly impossible to get that in Charleston. If you do have one, you paid premium for it or it's straight up hill. Everything is a hill in WV. Not wanting to have a lot less of a house just to get some flat land, we decided to head towards what's called Teay's Valley. It's flatter and has more housing options. Yeah, I'm majorly bummed about leaving my cute, charming little city, but let's be real, it's only 20 minutes. 

Like I said, it's not quite official yet because we still have to get through inspections and closings. Fingers crossed. I am aware that there are some deal breakers out there when it comes to passing inspections, so nothing is 100% sure yet. I'm a little nervous, I'll be honest. But right directly behind the apprehension is sheer excitement. We have a tentative closing date around late March. If something falls though, we will quickly begin our search again. Either way, we are moving.

I'll go into more detail later about why we decided to move, how we sold our house, and how long it took to find our new pretty (almost) home-to-be ;) I just couldn't take the secret any longer! Not to mention, I'm sure a few of you are suspicious of all my recent activity on Pinterest ;)

 She's not perfect and is going to require some love and attention, but here is a first look at the house I really want to become my home. I was so excited when they accepted our offer.  More pictures to come when the REAL papers are signed!

 Let's just hope and pray I don't have to write a later post about why the deal fell though. Like my husband always (sometimes annoyingly) says, "It'll all work out." He's right. If this isn't meant to be my house, then something else will come along.

Under a Pile of Books

Baby Graham has a cold. Lots of snot and a mild fever make for a cranky, clingy little boy. Basically, I've accomplished nothing today. He keeps bringing me books and plopping down on my lap. To be quite honest, I've got nothing better to do, so, reading it is! Everything else can wait.

LOVEly Day

I love my little family. We had a lovely day together minus a few hiccups where love came in the form of discipline. It's so much more fun when love is displayed through heart pancakes or sprinkled covered sweets. Aunt Sarah watched the boys last night so David and I could enjoy an evening out together. It's been nine years since he asked me to be his wife in good times and bad. We've had both, but mostly good. I am so blessed to be loved by such a great man and by two affectionate little boys. 

 

MeMaw sent a package of goodies for the boys to open on Valentine's Day and I promised to get pictures. They loved all their surprises ;)

The Bible says in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." And then in John 3:16, that act is carried out. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Kind of makes my love look weak. I am so grateful to experience that kind of love. 

While thinking about all of the love I experience in my life from the perfect love of my Savior to the imperfect, yet humbling love of my family, a song has been playing in my head all week. This is a ramped up, more modern version of what goes on in this semi-traditional girl's head, but I love the lyrics added to such a beautiful hymn. "Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead."

Now That is Love.

Park Weather

We have had the most mild winter since I've lived in West Virginia. It's crazy. I'm usually freaking out about the cold and dying to feel the sun on my skin by this point. Don't get me wrong, I'm still really looking forward to spring and sun dresses again; but I'm seriously okay with the fact that it's still winter. We've had random beautiful weather in the months that tend to be relentless with snow and freezing temps. Monday was one of those beautiful, unexpected mild winter days. David is on a week-long business trip to Washington state this week, so I have to plan my days with more to do than normal so I don't go crazy. It was so nice to be able to incorporate the park into those activities. I pushed Graham in the stroller for a mile while Parker ran by my side. Then, we played on the playground for 30 minutes before doing another lap around the track. This time, I insured a good nights sleep by letting Graham run too. We were only there for an hour total, but they were completely worn out. SUCCESS!

Though I'm loving 55 degrees and sunshine, I'm a little sad that there hasn't been enough snow this year for a snowman. There's still time. I feel crazy for even saying that.

Classic Mom Post

So, a few blogs ago, I posted that my boys had both accomplished something big. It's true, and now I'll share Grammy's big deal.

Graham is potty trained. Can you believe it? I know! I never expected it so early. Not that 2 years 5 months is remarkably young and shows early genius signs or anything, but if you know Graham, you'd understand why I was hoping to get the job done before he left for collage. In all seriousness, I was hoping to begin the big-boy journey this summer, but I was nervous for even then. Potty training was so easy with Parker, but still I had these feelings that Graham, with his APGAR 2 score and all, would give me a fit-of-a-time when it came to potty training. NOT AT ALL. I never even had to bust out the timer method that worked so well with Park. Here's how it all went down...the toilet. :)

One afternoon after Graham got up from a nap, he was crying because he was holding his pee. He has been doing this for months. He would eventually stop fussing when he alleviated himself in his diaper. I had set him on the little potty a few times to see if he'd pee in there, but only a few times was he successful because he didn't really have much control over when he went. I don't know why he started holding it, but it was only during nap time. The rest of the day, he was happy to just go in his diaper. And I was just fine with that. After I changed him this particular day, Graham was just running around in a pull up. We used them some times because we had a lot left over from when Parker was being trained at night. They are easier to pull on and off of a wild animal child.

I decided to chat on the phone with a friend when Parker came in and told me that Graham needed to pee. I was like, "Wha?" I told Parker to take him in the bathroom and have him go. I was sure it wouldn't work, but thought they'd leave me alone a minute so I could talk. A few minutes later, the brotherly pee team emerged from the bathroom with cheers. Parker informed me that he had gotten Graham to go pee. He was able to pull down Graham's pull-up and seat him on the frog throne all by himself. Such a good big brother. I checked it out, and sure enough, there was evidence in the little frog toilet. Yay! That was my first thought. My second? Hmmmm. Do I really want to do this? I gave them both a few chocolate chips for a job well-done, that is, Graham's peeing and Parker's coaching.

When Parker figured out he could get paid for his efforts, the game was on! Every few minutes, he marched his brother to the bathroom and demanded that he produce pee in the potty. I didn't even have to be present. Parker would pull down Graham's pull-ups or underwear and Graham would do his thing. It was amazing. They managed 6-8 successful trips to the bathroom that first day and I kind of felt pressured to actually potty train Graham for good. 

The next step was getting him to poo. For you weathered, veteran moms out there, you know this is the tricky part. He had a few nasty accidents. One in which he was actually trying to go in the potty. I won't go into detail, but I'll at least say, he went only a small amount in the frog. The rest was on the bathroom floor and strewn though the rest of the restroom and hallway in the form of brown little footprints. Um...yuck. I'm not the mom who says it's okay to mess yourself, either. A lot of parenting magazines tell you to not scold them at all. I don't believe in ripping them a new one for an accident, but it's not okay and I didn't want Graham to think it was. I told him he made me sad, acted somewhat disgusted (it's the truth, what?), and reassured him that I knew he could do it the right way. I wasn't cruel or mean. That seemed to work for him and on day 3, he went in the potty. The big potty. The potty where I could just flush the nasty away. It's like graduation day for toddler moms.

The rest is history. He figured out how to stand and go which makes going in public soooo nice because you can just stand them on the potties. He usually tells me when he needs to go or I make him when he starts "the dance". I still put pull-ups on him when we are out for an extended period of time in public, just for insurance, but he usually keeps them dry anyway. We've had a few accidents here or there, but he's made it, pretty successfully I might add, to big-boy-hood.

WOO-HOO!!!

I told him I wanted to take some pictures of him in his big boy undies to commemorate the occasion. I figured these pictures are much better than him sitting doing his business ;) I know it looks as though I've posed him, but I promise all I did was throw him on my bed. He wouldn't sit still so I let him flounder about and I just kept shooting. Occasionally I'd get him to look at me. Ladies, eat your hearts out.

GQ Baby all the way!