What a beautiful day!

Yesterday we had perfect weather here, in my opinion. It was so sunny, temp in the mid 70's with a pleasant breeze. Just wonderful. We enjoyed the day outdoors. In the morning we met a friend at the park. She has a 3 year old son and a daughter that is 13 months. The kids enjoyed being outside and playing at the park. I had Andrew and Carson on a teeter totter for the first time together, with me helping Carson. They really enjoyed it. Carson was doing his usual "Wheeee! Wheeee!" whenever he enjoys an activity.

After the park we went to Payless Shoestore. Andrew really needed a larger pair of tennis shoes for playing outdoors. He refers to these outdoor play shoes as his "work shoes". They were having BOGO (by one get one) for half off sale. So I also got Carson a really cute pair of brown leather sandals for this summer.

After lunch Carson went to bed for a nap and Andrew and I went outside. Andrew wanted to water the plants.

Here is a picture of Andrew watering the new plants we planted and sporting his new "work shoes". We planted a flower bed behind our house earlier this week. These particular plants are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I hope they do!!

Recently we have been digging in the flower beds to plant things or just turning up the soil so it is ready for us to plant flowers. So Andrew always wants to dig. I really would prefer that he not dig in the flower beds. We went over to the edge of our tree lined lot, here he can do whatever he wants!I would really like to get the boys a sandbox to play in but for now they are really enjoying this space.

What is your ideal vacation spot?

Beach - 8 (88%)
Lake - 0
Mountains - 1 (11%)
City - 0
Other - 0




I LOVE the Beach! One of my family's favorite vacation spots is The Outer Banks North Carolina. We have been there several times over the past 15 years or so. We all have fond memories of the numerous vacations there. The beaches there are very clean and beautiful. It is a very family oriented vacation spot; tons of fabulous restaurants, minature golfing, golf courses, Jockey's Ridge State Park-awesome sand dunes, several lighthouses, shopping, Wright Brothers National Memorial-where the first flight occurred and so much more.


I wrote this poll question when I was debating about what to do the week of May 3 - 11. Chad is going to Phoenix Arizona that week for his oral boards and a conference. I was debating if I should stay home with the boys or go along with Chad. We have decided that I am going. We were looking for hotels on the internet and I was struck by all the scenery pictures of both the beautiful mountains and the gorgeous pools surrounded by palm trees. I've never been to Arizona and I'm excited about this experience. Some of the Residents that Chad worked with will be there, as well as some of their spouses. It will be nice to catch up with them too!

Both of our parents have volunteered to be with the boys, my parents the first part of the time and Chad's parents the last half. We are so grateful. It will be nice to have some alone time with Chad as well as some much needed "me time". I know I will miss the boys terribly, I haven't been apart from them for long periods of time. The longest I was apart from them was in January when we went to Chicago for 3 nights. (The first time I spent a night away from Andrew was when I was in the hospital when Carson was born!) I'm so glad they will be with their Grandparents who will love and care for them. Thank You!!

Andrew Kauffman - future song leader

Tonight at supper I asked Andrew what he wanted to sing for our prayer. He said "uh, maybe the Lord is good to me" other wise known as Johny Appleseed. So we started singing it...."oh the Lord is good to me..." Andrew stopped us "No, you just got to say 'Hhmmm' first". Grandpa Kauffman was here last Sunday and led the prayer. Andrew doesn't miss anything!

I love a good deal!

This weekend I was doing a little internet shopping. I was looking for a spring jacket for Carson. I actually found one on ebay that I got. It was from Old Navy and the total with shipping was $7.39. What a deal! I also found some great deals on summer clothing for the boys at The Children's Place online. I got some t-shirts for $3.49 and some polos for $4.19 and $4.89. Plus I had one of their 15% off coupons. What a deal! I like shopping on the internet vs. the mall. The boys can be running around playing or sleeping allowing me time to look, instead of whining and squirming in the stroller!

Andrew can actually wear a lot of the same clothing that he wore last summer. Some of the 3T clothing that was a little big last summer fits pretty good now, maybe a little on the small side but still looks good. Plus not having a diaper on with the shorts helps as well. He probably has gotten taller and not much rounder, although he is still a very solid little guy.

Oops! This Moma goofed...

Today was a day for Andrew's swimming lessons. His library books were due back today too. So I decided to go to the library prior to swimming lessons. I was telling Andrew on the way there that there wasn't story hour at the library today, we were just returning the books and getting new ones. He was a little disappointed but was ok with it. However when we got to the children's section of the library, there HAD been story hour and it was ending! All the children were leaving with the craft they had just completed. We were both a little confused. Andrew said "I'm gonna ask her" referring to the librarian that leads the story hour.

Turns out Andrew missed todays story hour as well as the past 2 weeks! Oops. For some reason I thought it was over until the spring/summer session started. The last one we went to theme was getting ready for spring, the previous ones were all about winter. They took home their attendance sheet, which was a large cup of hot chocolate that they put a white sticker (marshmellow) on each time they came. So I just thought it was over. Oops.

Andrew actually handled it better than I thought he might. The librarian asked him if he wanted to complete the craft while we were there but since we needed to be on our way to swimming lessons ~ she packed it up for him to do at home, which he just did. I guess the winter session of story hour isn't over till the end of April. So we will go next Monday before swimming lessons.

You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for ICECREAM!

Today Carson had his first tastes of ice cream. He really enjoyed it! At first he wasn't sure about the cold temperature, but soon was requesting more.

We are still doing a trial and error with dairy. It seemed like last Sunday his stomach was upset, he had many BMs and was pulling at his shirt and whimpering at times. I thought it was because he had more milk and a new kind of cheese. At the beginning of the week I didn't give him any dairy and then gradually added some more in after he was doing better. Perhaps he just had a mild stomach bug and it wasn't the dairy.

I give him milk mixed in with his soy formula. I've tried giving him just milk but he won't drink it. He is enjoying yogurt, he likes to play with it as well as eat it. But he at times avoids the dairy. I made Lasagna but he wouldn't eat it, just pushed it around his plate once the peas and applesauce were gone. Today I gave him some of Andrew's cheese quesadilla, he took a little nibble and handed it back to me. Makes me wonder if he just doesn't like it, or if it does upset his little tummy.

Goofy Boy!

I walked out into the living room today and saw this.....


I have no idea what he was doing or why.

What is wrong?

Today Carson has been very needy. He has only been content when I am holding him, very close by or when we are outside. I wish he could talk and let me know what is troubling him. I wish he could say....

"It's my stomach Mom." or
"My teeth really hurt." or
"I just need some extra love and attention today."

I love you baby Carson.

I love spring!

The past few days have been so nice here. The boys and I are enjoying the beautiful sunshine. It is great to be able to play outside and go for walks. Yesterday I took them for a walk in our wagon. I have done that a couple other times recently and it had gone well. But yesterday I think they were feeling a little crowded-neither of them could keep their hands off the other! And of course whoever was touching the other than the other would protest. Soon they will be doing the "I'm not touching you" game. So today I walked with them in the double stroller. It doesn't seem to maneuver as well as it once did, or perhaps the boys are heavier.

There was a fire truck in our neighborhood, no fire. Andrew was pretty excited to see the fire truck. The firemen were walking out to the truck when we were still pretty far away and then started driving towards us. Andrew was waving and waving at them. As they passed us, the firemen were waving at him/us and some even leaned out of the windows so Andrew could see them better. Andrew thought this was really neat. Once we got back to our house Andrew said "Maybe the firemen can come to my house and play."

What is your favorite type of food?

American - 0
Chinese - 0
Italian - 4 (40%)
Mexican - 4 (40%)
Seafood - 1 (10%)
Other - 1 (10%)

I just love food! My top two favorites would be Italian and Mexican and if I had to choose a favorite it would be Mexican. A week ago Sunday we were driving home from church and were debating what to do for lunch. (I haven't mastered the Sunday lunch thing) We were very tempted to stop at the local Mexican restaurant that we love but we didn't have any food for Carson to eat. So we went home and ate leftovers-boring!

Just One

When Andrew was about the same age as Carson is now, it seemed like we were starting the age when transitions were difficult and still are. Andrew has a difficult time ending doing the activity he is presently doing, even if the next activity is one that he really will enjoy. We got in the habit of always warning him when it was almost time to do something else. Or when he asked to do something again and WE were done with the activity, we would tell him "One more time" and have him repeat it "One more time". This seemed to really help him. Also when he asked for something to eat, usually whatever we were eating, we would tell him "just one".
Here is Carson requesting "just one".

A glance at a baby book or two

After Andrew was born, a creative memory consultant gave us this scrapbook. She had already decorated the pages with the pastel colored shapes. I decided to use it to show Andrew's development. I started putting one picture in every week in the first couple months, then every month and after he turned a year I put one in every 3-6 months. So in 22 pages with one picture to a page you can quickly look at Andrew from day one till 3 years old. The picture above is his 6 & 7 months pictures. What a butterball!

I knew I wanted to do something very similar to this for Carson. I received an offer from Shutterfly for a free photo book. So I decided to give it a try. Since I wanted it to be similar to Andrew's book I kept it simple. A picture or two per page with captions telling when the picture was taken and how old he was. Carson's book goes from day one to 16 months.

I was pretty pleased how it turned out and with very minimal effort from me! Just uploading the photos to Shutterfly's website and entering the captions. I did look at books that other people had made after I made this one and wished I had been more creative. But I am glad that I kept it simple and stuck with something similar to Andrew's.
I have another free photo book from Shutterfly thanks to Pampers Points (changing all those dirty diapers IS good for something!) Not sure what I will use it for right now, perhaps photos from a family vacation~if we go on one. If you would like to view Carson's book on Shutterfly's website let me know and I can email you a link.

Grandma's Treats

Chad went with us grocery shopping Monday evening. When he is along there is usually a few items placed in the cart that I wouldn't normally buy. This time it was Keebler fudge striped cookies. Andrew and I each had one for dessert after lunch today. I remembered how my Grandma Short often had these around for us to eat. Some other things I remember her having are Tang and those different colored wafer sandwich type cookies. She would also make different snack mixes and at Christmas she would make these cookies with peanut butter in between Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate. At my Grandma Stuckey's I can remember many of the grandchildren swimming in their pond and Grandma would bring out flavor ice and her wonderfully light with sugar crystals on top sugar cookies. At Christmas I remember having white chocolate covered pretzels.

Andrew's Grandmas have their own little usual treats as well. At Grandma Short's he often has chocolate Teddy Grahams. He also likes her Curves bars. As well as chocolate chip cookies & party mix. At Grandma Kauffman's he often has a mixture of miniature marshmallows and M&Ms. Peppermint Patties are often handed out as well as all sorts of delicious baked items.

What are your Grandma's treats?

Art is in the eye of the beholder, right?

I struggle finding different things for Andrew to do. I don't feel like I am very artistic so finding creative things for him to do is challenging. He enjoys coloring but it only lasts for a few minutes if he is coloring by himself. Today I got him a little scissors and glue stick. I gave him a piece of paper, the scissors and glue stick, and an old magazine. I told him he could cut out pictures and glue them on the piece of paper. He would always cut straight across the bottom right side of the page, drop the scissors and tear the page down. (he is not very experienced with a scissors) This kept him entertained for quite a while. I wasn't sure what he would come up with. Art is in the eye of the beholder!
Andrew had swimming lessons this morning. He had a week off last week, I guess because the school kids were on Spring Break there weren't any swimming lessons. He really enjoys this time to splash around in the water with me, the other kids and their instructor. I asked him last night if he wanted to keep going to swimming lessons. He said he did and started asking about the other children and about the different activities they do in the water, "are we going to do...." We decided to stop going to Jump and Shout. :( Andrew has really enjoyed it, Carson too. But it is a little expensive, especially when you have to pay for two of them. I am hoping for warm weather so they can Jump & Shout outside! Maybe we can go to it again in the fall.

Security

Last night again Andrew woke up twice before 11:30 crying "MOMMY! MOMMY!" The first time as soon as I walked in his room, he laid back down and was soon sleeping. The second time I was feeling very tired and a little irritated. I asked him...

What is wrong?

"I just wanted you."

What do you need?

"I just need you to make me feel safe in here"

Well that nearly broke my heart to hear him say that, especially since I was irritated by him waking up. That is one of my jobs, to make him feel safe in this world.