Baby Girl

My poor baby girl is having some pooping issues. Help please! I need suggestions. She's been on solid food for about a month now. She doesn't eat a ton but we are building a small variety of foods. However, from the start she has been constipated. I stopped giving her banana's and I hardly give her much cereal at all. And I added plums and prunes to her diet. But nothing seems to be helping. What do I do?? With Aiden the prunes did the trick. I'm stuck and I feel terrible for her. All she can get out are little pebbles. I am willing to try anything. ????????

On a more pleasant note below is a picture of Makayla with us at Mason and Danielle's wedding this past weekend. Aiden got to stay with Aunt Mindy and play with Luke. I believe this was Makayla's first wedding. She did great too, especially for only getting a brief 30 min nap at the reception. If Aiden had been in this picture I might have accomplished my quest for a fantastic family picture. I love the pic but the quest lives on.

Last Weekend

I know this is a few days late but last weekend we went down to my parents house so Kreg could attend a bachelor party. The wedding is this weekend for our friends Mason and Danielle. He's a groomsmen so we'll be down at mom and dad's again tomorrow night. We took our time getting down there last Saturday with a stop at the zoo (Aiden has been asking for weeks to see the elephants). So we pretty much just stood in front of the elephants for an hour. He wanted the elephants to get in the water and told Kreg they weren't obeying him because they weren't getting in the water. I thought that was funny. Then we went to the mall and did a little shopping, along with dinner at Chick-fil-a! Yum! (My absolute favorite fast food) And we made a quick stop at the tux shop so Kreg could go ahead and pick up his tux for the wedding.

Sunday afternoon was nice just hanging out at my parents. I have pictures below. Aiden had lots of fun with his cousin Luke and Uncle Mark. The bachelor party was Sunday afternoon/evening so we drove back Monday morning after breakfast out to Bob Evans! (I absolutely love Bob's multi-grain cinnamon pancakes...thanks to my dad!)
Oh and this is cool. They had a guest speaker at the bachelor party. Mason's dad flew in one of the top triathlete pro's in the nation, TJ Tollakson, to be a guest speaker. (Many of the guys involved in the wedding are big into biking and triathlons). I am not familiar with the names of triathletes so I didn't know who TJ was but I'm going to be watching for him now when I see stuff on TV. He talked about his training. The most interesting part Kreg told me about was that he got invited to train at an Olympic training facility and one of the things they do there is train with Navy Seals. Did you know in Navy Seal training the final test in their trianing is to let someone drown them and then revive them. Wow! Crazy! They want to take out all the fear and panic that might reside in a Seal when he is in a dangerous situation. It made me that much more thankful for those willing to do that to protect our nation.
So anyway, here's a few pics:
Makayla enjoying being a big girl now and eating real food!

Aiden very happy to be jumping on Uncle Mark.

And Aiden showing Luke how to "get" Uncle Mark.

But in the end I think Uncle Mark won.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Well I think its official. Yes I do believe so. Although I don't want to speak too quickly and I'm nervous to post it because I don't want my foot in my mouth. However...I'm going to say it anyway...Aiden is potty trained!!!!!!!! 3 cheers for Aiden! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!

He is doing so well I can hardly believe it. I guess we just managed to train him at the right timing. We started out using bribes (a Hershey kiss, or money for his piggy bank so we could buy a special toy once he saved up). Now he doesn't even ask for a reward anymore. My new 6 favorite words: "Mommy, I need to go potty." He has an accident every once in a while but I have to give him a lot of credit because they seem to be few and far between. Have you ever seen 2T boxer briefs? They seriously are the cutest things ever.

As a reward Aiden got to help daddy on the farm last week. (Only a 2 year old boy would think following daddy around the stinky hog barns was a reward.) He helped Kreg for 2 hours in the hog barns Thursday morning. Then Friday afternoon he got to ride the combine with Kreg because they were harvesting wheat. The picture below is of wheat harvest.

Play Time With Daddy

Play time with daddy has to be equal opportunity around here. Especially as baby girl is turning into a daddy's girl!

Happy Birthday Kreg!

Yesterday was Kreg's birthday. I know I'm a day late in posting this but that's because there was birthday celebrating to do, no time for posting! So you shall get a post today and topic shall be my wonderful husband.
In honor of Kreg's 27th birthday I will give you 27 things I love about Kreg:

1. He is a godly man and strives to be so. He knows he needs Jesus!
2. He loves me and makes me feel beautiful!
3. He loves his children by not just words, but actions too.
4. He's a hard worker and doesn't complain!
5. He is one fine lookin farmer! :)
6. He keeps me grounded (sometimes I like to dream up in the clouds a little too much)
7. But he still lets me dream. (Currently I am dreaming about running a marathon.)
8. He is such a good daddy. He wrestles around with Aiden and talks sweetly to his little girl.
9. He raves about my cookies and my pie baking skills.
10. He's athletic.
11. He likes to go shopping with me.
12. He's careful and cautious about what we watch on TV.
13. He has a heart for discipleship.
14. He cares about his family and mine.
15. He has a very big heart!
16. He is giving. I often tease him about giving all our money away.
17. It may sound silly, but I love that he loves farming. A husband happy with his work is a very good thing!
18. He kills bugs and spiders for me (when he's home). And listens to me complain when crickets get in our home!
19. He knows how to fly an airplane. He had his license before I got in the way. :)
20. He's silly, yet serious when needed.
21. He likes to vacation at the beach!
22. Did I mention he's good lookin? Oh that's right...best lookin farmer I've ever seen.
23. He respects those in authority over him and is willing to be mentored by men older than himself. He seeks wise counsel.
24. He's fun!
25. He takes things in stride. i.e. I get worked up, he stays calm.
26. He takes pride in his family. Therefore I stand proudly beside him.
and...
27. He loves the kids and I with Christ's love, not just any love.

Happy Birthday Kreg!

"Anything you can do..."

"Anything you can do....

I can do better."

"No you can't." "Yes I can." "No you can't" "Yes I can, Yes I can, yes I ccccaaannnnnn."
Now everyone sing along!

Fireworks!

Ok I am going to vent and then I'm going to be done. I know yesterday was the 4th of July. I am very thankful our country has an Independence Day. I am grateful beyond words for the men and women that have fought for our country over the many years. I am blessed to have such amazing freedom. And I am glad we celebrate. Lets all celebrate and have cookouts and run around with sparklers and go downtown to watch fireworks. But lets be considerate of others at the same time. I understand that it doesn't get dark until almost 10pm. But fireworks outside MY BEDROOM windows until 12:35AM is unbelievably RUDE! Yes Rude! I went to bed last night at my normal time, 10:30 (after nursing Makayla one last time). My head hit the pillow but I did not get sleep for 2 1/2 hours more because of the insanely loud fireworks our neighbors were setting off in the street right in front of our house. And these weren't just little cracklers. We're talkin jump out of my skin "boom boom boom boom boom." over and over and over again. Oh I was getting so angry.

Many many thoughts were going through my head, some of them I am going to be honest I probably shouldn't share. I am thankful my children slept through it. Although I had determined if those incredibly inconsiderate teenagers (and adults might I add...who should know better than to be setting off FIREWORKS that late into the night) woke up my 2 year old son I was definitely going out there to give them a piece of my mind. I layed there and pleaded with God to send black, angry rain clouds to put out their bombs and fires! I contemplated calling 911. Surely there is a fireworks curfew (sadly I don't believe there is. I asked at church today). And speaking of Church, these people obviously weren't planning to go to church in the morning. They did not have a husband getting up at 5am to go work on the farm before we go to church. They must not have little ones that wear them out each and every day. And they must not have had their alarm set for 6am to spend time with Jesus and get myself and two kiddos dressed and ready to go by 8:45am. No, they are going to sleep in until noon! I told Kreg I wanted to set fireworks off in front of their house at 5am and see how they liked it! (Its a good thing we don't have any fireworks)

What I don't understand is how people could be so inconsiderate. You would think they would have gotten a hint when they were the only people in the neighborhood still setting off fireworks. Oh how I can't wait until we one day can build a house in the country. Awwww the peace and quiet of the country life. Its so delightful! NO neighbors! Oh that sounds nice.

I finally got out of bed, paced around the house at 12:30am (contemplating what to do). Seriously considering going outside to ask them if they were almost done. But I couldn't do it because I know those people need Jesus too and if I went outside my Christian witness would have probably been ruined. I didn't trust my mouth at that point. As you can tell, I like my sleep!

So what did I do? Well there was only one option left. I did what any young Christian mommy would have done in my position, I turned on and off our floodlights about 10 or 15 times in a desperate plee for them to stop with the madness. STOP MAKING WAR OUTSIDE MY BEDROOM! (our bedroom is right off the front of the house) Then I went and got the phone book to find the non emergency police phone number. I memorized it and headed back to the bedroom to get the phone (yes I was just about out of my mind at this point). I looked out the window one last time, for one last hope. And to my dismay it looked as though the hoard of teenagers were going home. And the dad of the house was sweeping up the street! Oh praise the Lord I can sleep at last! I don't know if they ran out of fireworks or saw my plee for help through the floodlights but either way if we are still in this house next 4th of July I'm taking the kids (and Kreg if he doesn't have to work) and leaving town for the weekend!

So let this be a lesson for all of us. Be considerate of others! And don't set off fireworks in front of my house after 10:30pm!!!

More Pics

More Pics from last weekend:

Aiden holding Makayla and I think she was actually ok with the idea.

Aiden and Luke watching my brother run a Rototiller. Apparently it was very entertaining.

The boys on their wagon ride with Mamaw. Mom said they each had a tractor and an airplane and every time an airplane would fly over them they would each fly their planes "way up high."

And me getting ready to eat some more cheesecake! I don't eat sweets very often. So when its my birthday I let myself enjoy. And most years I choose to enjoy cheesecake!

My Birthday!

As promised I have birthday pics to post. I had a great 27th birthday this year. I like to make my birthday last as long as possible and I'd say I did pretty well this year. For starters Kreg took me out last Wednesday (the night before my birthday). We had 2 reasons for celebrating early. The first reason being that we knew Thursday night was going to be busy with packing and cleaning (Kreg went backpacking in Colorado for 4 days with his dad and brothers and I went to my parents house while he was gone...he left last Friday evening). The second reason for our early celebration was that it was 4 years ago that day (June 24th) that we got engaged! So we went back to the Art Museum in Indy and took a picture in the gardens at the very spot where he proposed! Isn't he sweet. And it gets better...for my birthday he bought me a dress to wear and we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant downtown Indy (Mama Rosa's)...yum yum! We topped off the night with a little shopping and ice cream. 5 hours with no kids...need I say, it was a very nice evening! Then on Thursday (my birthday) Kreg and the kids took me out to lunch. In the evening Kreg's brother and parents surprised me with a cheesecake.
The spot where he proposed: 4 years, 2 kids, and a mini van later, here we are!

And my cheesecake the night of my birthday:

But the fun doesn't stop there....my wonderful parents let me celebrate all weekend long. We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (Are you catching on to the idea that I LOVE cheesecake....White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle...makes my mouth water!) and I got to open a present for each day that Kreg was gone! And oh my that was fun! My birthday didn't end until yesterday! I also got to spend the weekend with my college roommate. And there was shopping, pool time, and lots of great talk time involved.

Kreg had the camera while he was gone so I couldn't take any pictures of my weekend. But my mom took a few so as soon as I get those from her I'll post a few more.
Here is the studly backpacker himself:

And a few pics of the terrain:



I'm glad they had fun but I'm even more glad to have Kreg home again!