No more Pull-ups

So right before I went on strict bedrest with Izabella, nathan was not wearing pull-ups during naptime and sometimes not at night either. He would only have a few accidents here and there but nothing major. But when I was put on strict bedrest while being pregnant with Izabella, I started to put him in pull-ups while Nathan was at work, this way if xavier had an accident I wouldnt have a mess to clean up while being on bedrest. After doing this, I did regret it because then it went back to him having to wear a pull-up at naptime and bedtime all the time.
Well 2years later we are running low on pull-ups and I said to myself I dont want to buy these expensive things anymore, especially when we have to buy diapers for Izabella. So I told xavier that he only has a few pull-ups left and then no more pull-ups after that. He looked at me and said mommy you have been saying that and I still have them. I had to laugh because he was right, so I looked at him and said well guess what? These are your last ones and if u want more u will have to buy them yourself. But mommy I have no money. My reply, well then I guess u need to start going to the bathroom at night and stop drinking after a certain time and if u dont u will have to do laundry in the morning to. Xavier: Oh fine I wont wear them anymore, besides I start Kindergarten this yr and big boys dont were pull-ups.
So needless to say we have gone three nights without wearing pull-ups and knock on wood No accidents.

First time at the Library with my babies....

Today I decided since the lovely princess was up bright and early, I would get some cleaning done around the house and then take the kids to the Surprise park before it got to warm to be outside. The kids enjoyed being there and playing. The city had added some new things to the park, so nathan was especially excited.
We tried to feed the ducks and birds but they didnt seem to be hungary.
Nathan has been asking to go to the library FOREVER and have not yet taken him until today. The Surprise Library is basically in the same parking lot as the park, so when it started to get hot, I asked nathan if he wanted to go to the library today and of course his response was YES... :)
I wasnt sure how this advanture would go with Izabella being with us, but it went pleasently good. She was quiet in the library and she stood by us as we were looking for books, she even picked out some books herself.
Both kids enjoyed being able to play learning games on the computers and meeting some new friends.
We ended up checking out sixteen books and so far read 6 of them. The kids signed up for the Summer reading program so after we read so many hours they get a prize.
My goal is to at least take the kids to the library at least once to twice a week.

6 yrs ago this week

Six years ago this week and six yrs ago last week, was one of the toughest weeks for me. I was working a lot of hours and not feeling good at all. My Uncle Joe was dying from Leukemia, so I was pretty much staying with my aunt to help care for him, which let me say I would never take these weeks back for nothing. Even though I was not feeling good and working a lot and not really seeing my husband, I enjoyed being with my uncle on his last few days. I got to know him and hear stories about him from my aunt or when he wasnt out of it and could talk from him. Besides my aunt I was the only one that could see him without a hat and help him to the bathroom. I believe it was my aunt at one point that asked How are you able to see him without his hat but noone else can. My reply I believe was: I told him that I have magic eyes and when he doesnt have his hat on I still see it as if it were on. Of course he didnt believe me but it did help him open up around me and feel comfortable with me being around.
On this exact day May 25th 2004, was one of the saddest but happiest days of my life. It was sad because I seen my aunt in pain from just losing her husband to the battle of Leukemia in the am of this morning. But I was happy because my uncle wasnt suffering anymore and knew that he had gone home to god. I was also happy and excited on this day because you see I went to the doctor that morning to, to see why I havent been feeling good, and come to find out I was pregnant with Nathan. Even though I was happy and excited for mine and Nate's good news, I also felt guilty after getting back to my aunts house and just finding out that my uncle had passed away shortly after I had left for my appointment.
I didnt tell anyone but nate that we were pregnant for two reasons. One we had had a miscarriage a few months before and wanted to wait until we got to the safe zone but two because my aunt had just lost a husband and a best friend and I didnt want to show my happiness to her. I do think I ended up telling her to because I wanted her to know that even though uncle joe has gone home to god, god has sent as a new angel into our lives and he will be here in like nine months.

Outting with the family

Today was the first time in a very very long time that we actually really enjoyed our family day together. Izabella was wonderful and the kids didn't fight one time. They both had good listening ears.
Today we decided to take the kids to the Sea life aquarium in Tempe arizona, and let me tell you it was amazing and well worth the money. We would take the kids back there again. They had so much activities for the kids to do and alot of learning facts for them to learn. I even learned some new things about our sea creatures.
We knew that nathan would enjoy it but wasnt sure about Izabella, but we could tell by the way she was smiling, looking and talking that she also really enjoyed being there. I do think it might of been a little over whelming for her because she didnt know which way to look (at times you where in a tunnel and there were water and sea creatures on the side of you, above you and below you.
After we were done at the Sea Life we took the kids over to the Rainforest Cafe where we had lunch. We werent sure how Izzy would be because its a hit or miss with her on going out to eat and behaving. But again she was Awsome, she enjoyed watching the fish swimming in the aquarium next to our table and both kids enjoyed watching the animals moving around and making noises, along with hearing the Thunderstorm.

Graduation Day

Today was one of the saddest days of my life. My little man who has been attending school since he was 16months old, has come to his end of being in the baby school/preschool. He will go onto Kindergarten in the fall. I will also miss his teacher Mrs Meyers she was awsome and knew how to work with kids and never had any compliants about him, like his teacher last year. She would tell me to stopping worring about his behavior, he is a boy and boys are boys, and he is very good in this class.

Now we have to decide if we want to pay the extra money for him to be able to attend full time or if we will just have him go half a day(which is FREE). When I first heard that schools down here go full time Kindergarten, I wasnt really for it, but after thinking about it, Nathan's first 2.5yrs of school was being there anywhere from 8-10hours a day while I would be working and the teachers give the kids down time, so then I said oh it wont be to bad for him, he would actually probably like it more than anything.
But then we get his acceptance letter in the mail saying that he was accepted and if we wanted him to go full time we would have to pay the second half because of budget cuts, and this was away to keep all the extra activities.

So now that I have accepted the idea and started to like it, its not going to happen unless we pay for it and I am affraid of what type of learning he may miss if he doesnt go in the afternoon and only morning, because its not like when I went to school there was an AM and a PM class and they learned the samethings as each other. All the kids go in the morning and then the parents pick up their child in the afternoon if they arent attending the second half. Also now I have to tell him that he may not go all day anymore and he was really looking forward to eat, being able to eat lunch their, getting multiple recesses and such, so its going to break my heart if we decide not to and I have to tell him. Also this is a downside for me to, if he doesnt go full time that affects my schooling big time and I dont know what I am going to do about it. So we shall see what happens in the fall.

The girls in the picture are his girlfriends, except for the little little girl she is one of the sisters' sister. Their names are Aspen(tall girl), Lizzie(ponytail) and Lizzie's sister Emily ( I believe) and then his teacher Mrs. Meyers.

Well we where doing good there for awhile

So we started to break Izabella from the binky where she was only getting it at night, cause that is the only way she would go to sleep and stay asleep through the night. But daddy opened up the drawer, where I had the extras (because I only gave her one and told her the other ones where gone) and she seen them, so now we are back to having the binky for naptimes and bedtimes, which i am okay with as long as she doesnt have it in her mouth during the day and while we are out and about. But now we have to start all over again and I hate that, oh well stuff happens. Right?

Mommy being Crazy and Insane

So on nathan's days off of school I try to find fun and free things to do with the kids. But on this particular day it was way to hot out to take them anywhere outside, so I decided to get my flour and brown sugar out and let the kids go at it in the kitchen with their toy cars and trucks. They had so much fun and the mess was also fun to clean up, let me tell you. It was all over the place other than on the cookiesheets that I had put it on. Izzy found out that she didnt like flour but did like the brown sugar.

I need to come up with better ideas as a parent and not as a teacher cause I am always doing this, but hey the kids had fun and that is all that matters. Right?

Its going to be a long day today.

Today I have 5 kids that I am caring for. Two are toddlers, two are 5(with one having autism) and one is four. I didnt get much sleep last night izabella woke up crying and screaming for her binky and after hearing it for awhile I caved in and gave it to her. This morning when we woke up I told her to put it in the drawer that she is a big girl and she doesnt need it. Now normally when I tell her this she does it but a few moments later she goes backs and gets it, but so far nothing. So maybe we can just at least break her from it during the day and during naptime then eventually break her completely. We will again try tonight to not give it to her and see what happens.
On a brighter note, nathan learned something new today. He learned how to walk on his hands and he took at least a few steps before falling. He was so excited to show me and I was so excited that he has achieved something new in his life. He is getting so big and I cant believe on may 18th he will graduating from preschool and starting Kindergarten, man where does the time go?.

No more Binky

I cant believe that next month my little princess will be 2, man where does the time go? Last night was the first night that we put Izabella to bed without her binky and she did very well, because she went to sleep with no problems, but I think this was because she was sooooo tired from our long day yesterday, that she didnt realize she didnt have it. As I am writing this she is screaming BINKY and trying to push me off the couch to go get one for her, since she cant find any in her normal drawer. So lets see if mommy can make it through this day without caving in and giving her the binky. Xavier was so easy compare to her with coming off the pacifer, she is so attached to them, she needs to go to bed with at least three with her and he was off of the pacifier in a day.

Mothers' Day

Today was sure a hot day in phoenix, but not to hot when you stayed in the shade. The kids kept asking me: mommy what do you want to do today? I had no idea. So I decided I wanted to take the kids to West Gate to go play in the water fountains, so that is what we did. Nathan enjoyed it and izabella on the other hand didnt know what to do and was scared of the fountains.
But before going to West Gate I wanted a 7Eleven Slupee, so my lovely husband drove around town just to get to a 7Eleven slupee for me.
When we got West Gate the kids played in the water for awhile, then we went to lunch and ended there with window shopping.
When we got home nathan started to bbq ribs for dinner, and our friend Amber's husband is in the service and couldnt be home for mother's day so we had her came over with her two kids to have mothers' day dinner with us, it was sure nice.
Even though my mother's day was a very nice one, I wish we could of been in michigan to have dinner with our moms, oh well, we are hoping to see them and everyone else this summer for about a month and a half.
My children got me a day spa gift card, flowers, lunch, made BBQ ribs for dinner,DQ after dinner and then nate and I ended the night by watching the movie "Lovely Bones".

The day/evening with the boys!!!

We have been doing an awards chart with nathan and every week if he gets a certain amount of stars, he gets something small, like candy, rent a dollar movie, ect... But if he acheives a large amount of stars at the end of the 4 weeks he gets to pick a BIG prize, so his big prize was to go out to eat and see How to train a dragon. So that is what we did today, Cheryk came and kidnapped Izabella and took her to a BBQ, while we spent the day into the early evening with little man.
The movie was in 3D and it was very good, it was also great that we got to see it for FREE, because during the movie the sound went out a few times, so we got refunded our money.
At the end of the movie nathan looks at me and says: Mommy I like that we just did this, just with us 3 but mommy I miss Izzy and I want to go home now and play with her, and the next time we do this, we should allow Izzy to come with us. I thought that was so cute that he had missed his sister and wanted to get home to her.