Catching up...

It's hard to believe it has been 9 months since the last time I posted to this blog!  Needless to say it has been a VERY LONG 9 months and so much has happened/changed.  So just like old friends, let me try to catch you up...

December 2012....Probably will go down in history as the hardest December on record.  Between sick baby, sick mommy and choosing to stay in New York for Christmas the Holiday spirit just didn't seem the same.  Perhaps the sweetest part in all of it was the mail man coming to our door every day for a week with package deliveries from friends and family.  The little man even asked if the mail man was Santa :).  Since Christmas consisted of just the 3 of us, we created some new traditions and spent Christmas day with some very precious friends!  

As I said, baby was sick!  Poor little man just had one ear infection after another...it was a rough month!

January 2013....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  To be honest I don't really remember how we rang in the new year, deep down I think 2012 had been a rough year and I was just glad to see it end.  January was filled with bible studies, conference planning, trips to the museum with little mans best friend Macy and lots of play dates.  I was blessed to have some of the best mommy friends!!  The only down side was a continued sick baby :(.  We spent the last week of the month moving into our new rental right next to our church!!  We loved all the space and the HUGE yard.

February 2013...Little man had his first Valentines Day Party!  We invited all his toddler buddies, along with their mommies, over for a fun and food.  It was truly a great time and something we will continue doing.  We also started a new tradition of Valentines Day Date as a family.  Not to worry, the hubs and I got out for a date that weekend.  We continued to struggle with ear infection after ear infection.  I praise God for such an amazing doctor who helped us work through this rough time.  Little man saw an ear specialist who confirmed tube surgery was necessary.  We were not thrilled with the demeanor of the specialist we saw.  We continued to pray and God showed up!  Our wonderful doctor called to see how it went and was not thrilled.  Scheduled us in with a pediatric specialist in March!

March 2013...Was BUSY!!!  We saw God move in great ways in our student ministry through the PINK Conference.  The best part was having Grandma come for the week to spend time with little man and also getting to meet a new buddy Noah!   The day after we said goodbye to grandma we boarded a plane to Omaha, Nebraska to visit good friends.  Not surprising to us, little man ended up with yet another ear infection while on vacation.  Thankfully God worked in mighty ways and we were able to get in to an actual pediatrician instead of going to the ER!  

Shortly after returning home we celebrated Easter!!  We took the little man to a farm to hunt eggs, meet live bunnies and ride the train.  He had a blast!!!  We spent Easter Sunday with our dear friends the Fortney's and celebrated with a traditional ham dinner.  

April 2013...Met with the pediatric ENT specialist who confirmed the little man would need surgery for tubes and potentially adenoids.  We loved her!!  The reality of his sickness hit a low during the hearing test.  During the testing it was difficult to see him not respond to any low sounds due to muffled hearing.  The results came back and he had little to no hearing in the lower register.  Our sweet doctor informed us he had probably been hearing that way since 18 months old.  

April also brought so MAJOR change as the hubs accepted a position as associate pastor at a church in Omaha, NE.  We spent a good majority of April packing and preparing for surgery and our big move.  

May 2013...Was nothing short of INSANITY!  Right off the bat the little man had surgery to put in tubes and remove his adenoids (which were blocking 70% of his nasal passage).  Daddy had strep over mothers days and mommy...well we discovered my sickness was all related to a severe mold allergy and mold in the house we were renting.  And all of that in the first 15 days of May!!  We began looking for temporary housing until we moved, SO thankful for great friends!!!

We also visited Thomas the Train with our little mans buddy Andrew.  I headed to Nebraska in the middle of the month to find housing.  Shortly after I returned we finished packing and the trailer arrived.  Little man dubbed it our "Conbraska Truck" and it brought a weekend of toddler fascination!

June 2013...We said some of the hardest goodbyes to some very special people, loaded up our lives and headed to Nebraska!  Along the way we took a much needed family vacation...with a toddler...and a dog...and a packed out van?!?! :)  I'm sure we will recap all the fun in our summer bucket list blog, stay tuned!  A huge highlight was seeing our very dear friend and prior student Micah!  We arrived in Nebraska and stayed with our great friends for 2 weeks while we waited for our rental to be ready.  We explored spray grounds, shopping malls and generally just worked on getting settled.  We made so great new friends and had play dates at the zoo.  

July 2013...We began doing some major unpacking and enjoyed seeing things we hadn't seen in seven months due to our last rental being furnished.  We celebrated fourth of July by walking in a toddler parade, bar-b-que'ing with new friends and MOST insane fireworks display I have ever seen, pretty sure the entire city was lighting them.  Our travels took us to Oklahoma for a wedding and to Kansas City for the little ones first experience at an amusement/water park with our students!  Much to the joy of the hubs the little man LOVED the roller coaster, but even more exciting was how much he adored the water park :).  I have never had so much fun as spending the day just the two of us.  We rode rides together and splashed around, it was just to much fun!!  

August 2013...That brings us to the present month!  Things have slowed down and we are just enjoying the end of Summer.  In just a short month we will be starting a very busy Fall!  The little man will taking violin lessons, swim classes and tumbling.  We are also attempting this thing called home school.  He is not old enough yet for pre-school, but there will be plenty to do at home!  No doubt the fall will be filled with pumpkin picking, zoo trips, museum fun, family visits and even a trip for mommies birthday.  I can hardly wait!!    

Hope you stick around for all the fun!

Blessings!!!

Mommy Moments...

As our little man is getting older, and more vocal, there are so many little things I don't want to forget.  It's the little things that happen on a daily basis that remind me just how blessed I am.  I call them my mommy moments.  Today was one of the funniest and most precious...

While getting ready for bed, he made a loud noise and scared me...

Me: "Jaed*n you scared mommy"

(Putting his hands on either side of my face)

Jaedy:  "Oh, shhhhh, come here mommy.  It's okay mommy" (giving me a big hug :))

Conversation...

Jaedy:  "Be gentle with mommy"

Me:  "Yes, why are you gentle with mommy?"

Jaedy: "Mommies a girl.  Awe, jaedy gentle (hugging my neck)"

Me:  "That's right, gentle with girls."

I truly love how he is learning what it means to treat girls gently and I certainly LOVE being the recipient of all the hugs and kisses along the way :).

Blessings!

A Zoo of a Birthday...

For the little man's 2nd birthday we decided to hold his party at the zoo.  Since the zoo is one of his favorite place, we knew it would be the perfect place to celebrate.  The zoo staff was absolutely wonderful and handled everything for us, including decorations, food, crafts and even a demo of 3 live animals!  We brought in a cupcake cake complete with "Emmo" and "Big Birdie" (as J would say) and party favors for all the kids.  It was a very memorable party...

The kids all loved their animal sippers!

A zoo party isn't complete without Zoo Tatoo's!

Showing daddy his Zoo Tatoo!

The first animal demo was a Tortes! 

The party host did a great job telling the kids all about the animals!

All the kids got a chance to touch the Tortes.

Next they brought out a snake.  Lets just say mommy stayed on the other side of the room!

The boys really liked the snake!

The Chinchilla was a hit!

Daddy helped J pet the Chinchilla, he loved it!

Even the adults wanted to pet the Chinchilla.

Such a cute little animal!

Time to sing!

J could hardly wait for cake!

Presents!!!

After the party we spent some time walking around the zoo.

J enjoyed finding every puddle to splash in!

Counting Down to 2...

It's hard to believe but we are approaching baby J's 2nd birthday!  One of the most precious parts of passing my birthday and approaching his is that both days hold such special meaning when it comes to our little guys adoption story.  It was on my birthday, just 2 short years ago, that we met the precious young woman who chose to give us the most amazing gift (you can read more about that here).  September 7th, 2010 will forever be far more than just a birthday.  That day lead to baby J's birth, the beginning of an amazing relationship and the end of a journey (you can read more about that here).   We have seen God's hand's all over this little guys life and we truly believe there are those out there who need to hear his story.  

So in honor of baby J's big day, I am going to try and finish his story this year.  Please bear with me as life is a little crazy these days, but I will do my best.

Blessings!

In A Word Wednesday...

Just a few I don't want to forget...

• Exki-ded = Excited
• Mommy Jaedy dry pants! (every time he goes potty)
• Pee Pee potty, keep pants dry.
• Aww, Roxy girl love you.
• Mommy Janson, Daddy Janson.
• You go od-er der (over there).
• Robbie do's basketball, Hunter do's baseball!
• Very hot! (every time I'm using the stove)
• Love you moon a back.
• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...20's....9,10, 40's...yay counting (still not sure where he got 20's and 40's)
• Wochte Dog.  Wyan Wochte swimmer.  (He named his stuffed dog Lochte Dog after Ryan Lochte.  Guess we watched the olympics just a bit :)). 

The little man has started singing and praying on his own now, it does take a little help when he get stuck.  I wish I could bottle his little voice and how precious he sounds.  We still cannot get him to do it on camera, maybe soon.  It sounds like this...

Bedtime prayer:

Now way me, down seep, pway woord, sole keep. Jesus watch me, fru night, keep me safe, mornings wight. AMEN!

Dinner prayer:

God is great, God is good, and tank Him, for food. AMEN!

He really loves when he gets to the amen, he throws his hands up and yells "AMEN".  He loves to sing Jesus Loves me and I am quite surprised at how well he sings it.  

The biggest accomplishment (other than potty training) has been learning to count to 10.  He has a hard time with 3 and 4, but gets them eventually.  His favorite time to count is going up the stairs.  He counts each step.  

Blessings!

Poo at the Zoo...

I'm not quite sure what it is about the magical power of the Zoo, but today the little man went the big #2 on the potty!  I know it's not a big deal to the average joe, but to this mommy we are ecstatic!  What we thought would take months to learn has taken a week.  He followed up his big poo at the zoo moment by doing the same at the church later in the afternoon!  I am still in shock that I have a 22 month old using the potty and to no credit of my own.  He is doing this all on his own and I am so very proud of him!

Way to go little man!!!

Blessings!

Potty Time...

Well it seems I blinked and summer raced by!  In the midst of all the business of trips we decided to give potty training a go.  This was definitely not something I was looking forward to, but knew it was time.  How did I know it was time?  Let me back track for a moment...

In April the little man went for his 18 month check up, which was all fine and good until the pediatrician chose to alter the course of life (okay a bit dramatic I know)!  The conversation went something like this...

Pedi: "He is a very bright little boy"

Me: "Thank you"

Pedi: "I am really shocked, he talks more than most of my girl patients.  With an extensive vocabulary it is a good indication you are probably ready to start potty training."

HOLD THE PHONE....POTTY TRAINING...AT 18 MONTHS!!!  

Let's just say shock doesn't begin to explain my expression, at one point in time I think I actually grabbed the table for stability.  PT had not even begun to cross our minds and starting at the age of 18 months...does this seem abnormal to anyone else???  I agree he is a smart little boy, but potty training?  The handsome hubby and I talked it over and decided with a busy summer ahead we would wait until after vacation, thus buying me the time I needed to prepare myself.  That may seem a selfish statement, but all the parental advice I had received from family and friends was that we needed to be all in if we were going to do this.  And while I do believe at 18 months he was interested, I don't believe he was quite ready, I know now that there is a world of difference between the two.  

So we purchased a potty seat and just let the little man play and explore it.  I spent time reading every possible piece of material I could find on potty training a boy, I talked to moms of boys, read little man every storybook I could find on using the potty, watched potty videos and attended a few potty training classes with him at the local library.  

Fast forward to last week.  We decided right after vacation we would do it, begin potty training!  As soon as we arrived home I spent the weekend preparing for the big day.  We talked about it with our little man and pumped it up.  By Sunday morning I felt like a broken record.  As we were getting ready for church I was about to give the little man a bath.  Daddy stripped him down and he ran in the bathroom.  The little man looked me square in the eyes and said "pee pee", you can guess what followed.  I quickly picked him up and put him on the potty.  He finished peeing and was SO proud, that's when we knew it was definitely time.  After church we took him to the store to pick out his big boy underpants...I have to say that's when the reality hit me and the disbelief that we were doing this at 22 months!

We woke up Monday and began the potty process I found in a great blog post by a fellow pastors wife.  You can find it here.  We chose not to use Pull-Ups at all but rather just start training in big boys underpants.  For nap time and bed time we started by using the Bum Genius cloth diapers I had purchased and never used.  We called them night time pants to keep from calling them diapers.  If you would like all the little details let me know, but I will spare those who don't have little ones with my potty process.   

I wish I could say it was an easy day and he picked it up right away, but let's just say the equation looked more like this...

Strong willed child + even stronger willed mommy (x) potty training = a barrel of monkeys!

It was an exhausting and frustrating experience for both of us.  By Monday night dinnertime we hadn't had a single success.  I told daddy perhaps we weren't ready and we talked about holding off a few more months.  Feeling completely defeated I took the little man up for a bath and bed time.  Out of no where he looked me in the eyes and said "Mommy, go pee pee potty".  So on the little potty he went and suddenly he did it...he began to pee!!!!!  I jumped up and called out to daddy "He went potty!!!" and we began cheering.  All the stress from the day was washed away when his precious little face lit up with a huge smile of accomplishment.  We laughed and cheered.  But that wasn't it, after bath time he asked to potty and once again he went and he hasn't stopped using the potty since.  The next two days were a little rough, but by Thursday he had it down pat, telling me every time he had to use the potty.  Thanks to daddy he actually began to use the big potty on Friday and now prefer's it to the little potty.  

Potty training has definitely left me feeling like an unaccomplished individual as funny as that sounds.  Teaching another human being how to do something, that you yourself have no recollection of learning you just do it, is an extremely daunting task.  But it is SO worth it.  Sure not having to purchase diapers is a blessing, but seeing his face light up each and every time he uses the potty on his own is the greatest accomplishment to me.  I am not always going to be the one who helps him learn how to do big things, but boy am I one proud momma to have had the chance to do this along side him.  

For more details on how we did it, shoot me a comment below.

Blessings!