*One of those days*

Today was one of those days where it just sucked haha for lack of better words. Jaden woke up with a cough from hell and nothing I did helped. So I took him to the ER ( big mistake) and sat for six  hours just for them to say he has croup and to give him a steroid shot. Wow something that could of taken 15 minutes was six freaking hours, so mad and wish I would of just went to urgent care but whatever. Luckily my dad stayed with Eli so that part of the day was good. However, Eli is getting 3 or 4 top teeth so he is hurting bad right now and miserable (thankfully he was happy for my dad). 

On top of all that Jaden is not grasping going #2 in the toilet so I end up cleaning gross poop up all over the bathroom and him. Oh and his throw up from when his cough was at it's worst. I realize all this is part of being a mom so I try not to complain too much. But had to vent that today was just one of those days that I am  happy it's over!

*Potty Trained*

September 6, 2013 is the official day that Jaden was potty trained! It really just non intentionally happened on that Sarurday morning. I took his diaper off after he woke up to air out his little bum and then told Josh to take him in to the bathroom and show him how to pee like a big boy (standing up). He totally did it, and I was so surprised and thought why did I not try that before?!? Basically from that point on it just clicked and he has been out of diapers ever since (except for night time) although he usually wakes up dry. He even tells me he has to potty and I rarely have to remind him, which is nice cause I forget to ask for long periods of time  occasionally.

I'm so glad I did not push the potty training and waited till he was 100% ready, it made both our lives easier. So the only thing he struggles with is going #2, which I'm not sure how to tackle that one, so any suggestions are welcome! So that is Jaden's potty training story. I feel so proud and accomplished as a mommy that we have reached and passed this big milestone in his little life, and right before his 3rd birthday too!!!

I wanted to put a cute picture of Jaden in his little undies but Josh said no (I did not agree at all), so I guess this will due haha.

*Hudson Davis Meise*

My baby nephew was born October 6, 2013 at 9:47 am. He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and 19.5 inches long. I was fortunate enough to watch his birth through FaceTime and it was absolutely beautiful and an amazing experience! Love this baby like my own and can not wait to meet him in December!!!

*Eight Months Old*

Eli has changed so much in just the last month. He is around 16 lbs (not very big, but growing great from the tiny little guy he started from). He is still doing awesome on solid food and wants to eat everything we eat. I am still nursing him GO ME!!!! I have been tempted to stop nursing for selfish reasons of wanting to lose weight, but I can't bring myself to do it, so I will probably go for the full year. Really nursing women should get an award for sticking with it for an entire year cause it's not an easy thing to do. I feel bad because I do find myself judging women who don't nurse, even though I only nursed Jaden for a few months and quit cause I hated it. However, I think if you never try nursing (assuming a women can nurse) it is very selfish and you take away a great bonding and healthy thing from your baby. Now of course there are reasons women can't nurse, or try it and just hate it, and I totally get that!

Anyways, back to Eli and enough of nursing hahah. He is sitting up great by himself and rolling from front to back and back to front. Not crawling yet which is totally fine with me (Jaden was a late crawler too, but walked right at a year) so I know Eli will do it when he is ready! He babbles all the time, and it almost sounds like he is saying mama haha wishful thinking. Still a very happy go lucky baby, and is now full time sleeping in his crib. Up until a week ago he was still sleeping in the pack n play in our room at night, and taking naps in his crib. But since we got back from our disaster lake trip last weekend I didn't feel like setting the pack n play back up, so I decided he is ready to sleep in his room ALL the time now.

Teething is still going on ( I hate it) no new teeth have sprung up but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time. Which seriously I hope for the sake of my chest he doesn't get any more soon because he has started to bite when he nurses and it hurts like a B*%$#. I tried flicking him lightly and screaming ouch really loud but he just smiles at me thinking I'm being funny hahah. Eli loves his jumparoo, loves to play with his toys on the ground or sit and watch Jaden do puzzles. His sleeping has back tracked a little, waking up once a night, which is weird cause he eats solids and I stuff him full before bed. Hopefully this is only a growth spurt phase and he will grow out of it soon. I think that's all I can think of for now, so until next....

*Bath Time*

I have finally put away Eli's baby tub and he now takes a bath with his big brother! It really is so much easier to bathe them together, and Eli loves to play with his brother in the bath.

*Minnesota Trip*

Yeah I am so behind on blogging but I guess better late than never. So back in the beginning of August the kids and I traveled back to my home state of Minnesota for a visit to my best friend of over 20 years. Jaden and her little boy Nathan are right around the same age so they had a blast together, and of course Nicole and I just picked up where we left off as always. It was so fun just staying up late and talking, or watching the kids play together in the backyard, and just being together like old times (except we both have two kids now). We were there for a whole week and it really went by way too fast. With four kids it is harder to get around, but we managed to get out and go to the Mall of America and the Zoo (which is AWESOME by the way, and so much better than the Arizona Zoo). Getting out of the heat was so nice and being able to be outside all the time was so refreshing. I miss living in Minnesota and wouldn't mind moving back maybe someday if Josh found a good job there, although I hate tornado's and during the summer it is definitely a constant threat.

I really want to buy one of these for my kids!

Fun rides at Mall of America!

Nathan and Jaden already best friends at the age of 2 and 3 years old!

It was so cool how close you could be to the animals, wish we had this kind of zoo in AZ!

*Seven Months Old*

Why do they have to grow up so fast?!? It seems like a year will be here before I know it and then he is no longer a baby and headed into being a toddler...sigh. New developments with Eli are he is cutting his first teeth!! His bottom two fronts are breaking through and he is miserable but trying so hard to be happy. He really is sweet, and hopefully we can get through this with as little pain as possible, cause it really is painful for us mommies too.

*Five Years Anniversary*

Super yummy dessert we got for free!! (Good thing too since we spent an arm and leg on dinner..YIKES.)

Six years together as a couple, five years of marriage, and two beautiful babies later....WOW it has been a journey, and really it has just begun. I couldn't imagine spending forever with anyone else but the man that I married five years ago today. Marriage is not easy and we have to constantly work at it everyday but there is no one else I would rather work with, raise children with, fight, cry, love, laugh and grow old with for time and all eternity. This year we went out to a fancy dinner, which was lots of fun but we will not do again for another five plus years hahah, thank you mom and dad for watching our kiddos! I love you sweetheart and here is to another great year together!!!

*SoLiDs and loving it!*

Yup Eli is 6 months so that means SOLID food! I started a little bit of solids here and there at around 5 months just to get him used to it as my pediatrician recommended. Now he is full on 2-3 meals a day and is doing GREAT! So as you all know, because let's be honest there are many posts about Jaden an how badly he used to eat (or the lack there of) so of course a baby that loves to eat and actually opens his mouth for the food and swallows, then wants more is like the heaven bells ringing to me..I LOVE IT. I went to the grocery store and stalked up on every kind of baby food known to man so that was actually pretty fun. It sounds weird I know since of course this is not my first time buying baby food, haha, but to buy it and know I won't be throwing half of it away in waste is pretty exciting!

It finally happened for the first time, Jaden fell asleep while eating! He never did it in his highchair but did at his little table hahah love it.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him ever!

*Six Months Old*

Love this boy to pieces! One thing that I love about him especially is that he is a great eater! He actually is loving his solid foods (which Jaden never did till about 18 months) so it's like feeding a baby solids for the first time cause I actually enjoy doing it and get great excitement out of it. I can't get food in his mouth fast enough so I'm really having fun with this stage of trying out different solids with him. Still a great sleeper, he can roll from front to back and almost from back to front and babbles all the time. Eli is a very happy boy and we loved having him for the past 6 months!!

*LoVe*

I love,love,love,love times a million these two boys! Jaden and Eli are really starting to become friends already and I'm loving every moment of it. Eli will just stare and laugh at Jaden all day if he could, and Jaden loves to love on his brother (sometime a little rough and I have to get remind him to be gentle) but those two truly have started to form that brotherly bond that will last forever! I can't wait to see them run around and play together, and hopefully one day be as close as my sister and I are. Even though having two kids can be really stressful at times, I think of how lonely one would be without the other and then what a blessing it is to be able to have multiple children. It truly is a privilege and I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for it!

This would be an example of rough love haha

*Malibu, CA Trip 2013*

Are Cali trip this year came and went to quickly! This year instead of going to San Diego (our normal beach RV camp was closed) we went to beautiful Malibu, CA. We had so much fun riding our bikes and hanging out at the beach all day, and of course what's a vacation in California without going to Six Flags Magic Mountain!?! WOW, what a day that was! I really have never had so much anxiety in my life then I did that day going on ALL and I mean ALL the roller coasters in that entire park. Josh's dad being so sweet got us all this thing called Flash pass which lets you cut all the lines and even go on the ride twice in a row! I think I have definitely conquered my fear of rides and think I can handle just about anything now. Eli and Jaden were again such troopers for the 7 hour car ride there and back, and were so exhausted every night passed out and slept amazingly! So sad this vacation is over but so excited for next year already! Here is a major picture overload.

Beautiful view from our campsite

Happy little beach baby!

Grandma and Jaden enjoying a snack before going on a bike ride

Bike buddies!

Camp!

Papa and Jaden building one of many sand castles!

Brityn and Jaden

Papa and his babies!

Six Flags Magic Mountain buddies!

Love him!

Love the wet suit that papa got him for the trip, and his cousin Brityn had a pink one too SO ADORABLE!

Daddy and Jaden testing out the water

Priceless!

D

Almost 6 months old for his first amusement park trip!

LOL that is me four rows back turning my head, I was so scared haha