Jackson and the potty...

We have been having success with potty training lately. We've had a few accidents, but he is able to go an entire day keeping a pair of underwear dry, with the exception of nap time and bed time. Just now I was busy on a telephone call and Jackson stopped what he was doing, ran to the bathroom, went pee, flushed the toilet, pulled up his pants, and got up on the stool to wash his hands entirely by himself! We need to put the taller stool in the bathroom because the only thing he can't do is reach the facet controls by himself. I am so proud of this little boy!

Speaking of bathroom moments:
Yesterday while he was helping me to give Addie a bath he told me to wash her penis. I told him that Addie didn't have a penis, she is a girl. I thought I made out pretty easy because that was the end of the conversation. However, later in the day when I went to the bathroom he asked if I had a penis. I told him I did not, because I am a girl. His response? "Let me see!" Uh... not right now. :)

All about Addie...

Addie is just over a month old now and is really showing personality, we have witnessed some of her first smiles. She is still sleeping a lot of the day in between feedings and really likes to be held. All total means I'm not getting a lot done. She's still nursing about every two hours, though some nights she does make it three or a little more, I'm considering adding a formula bottle before bed to get a little more sleep out of her. We've had luck with sleeping by allowing her to spend the night in her bouncy seat, she seems to do much better when she can be sitting up a little bit.

When Addie is not in our arms or sleeping she does a fair share of tagging along in the Baby Bjorn where she is content to hang out and go along for the ride. This is how I unload the dishwasher, vacuum the floor, go shopping, for walks and have occasionally thrown in a load of wash with the Addie girl attached to my front-side. We are enjoying the newest addition to the family though the lack of sleep is testing us all.

Random thoughts...

Another post filled with my random thoughts from today:

Why pay someone $200 for a break job when my husband can do them for free? I think that's pretty cool.

I'm struggling to find time to eat. I don't want to use what little free time I have cooking.

On average I don't brush my teeth until 10:00 a.m. every day.

Jackson thinks everyone that comes to the door is the mail carrier. The Jimmy John's delivery dude told Jackson that he's the sandwich man. I wonder now if we will switch from mail carrier to sandwich man.

I am embarassed that Ron figured out the mouse features on the new laptop before me.

I need to look up my Spanish vocabulary. Jackson keep asking: "What's this in Spanish, Mommy?"

Addie has gas.

I think it might be my high consumption of dairy that is contributing to her gas problems. I don't think I can live without dairy.

Happy birthday grandma jan...

On Monday we visited Grandma Jan at her new workplace and took this photo while hanging out in the orchard. Today is Grandma's birthday, Happy Birthday Grandma Jan!

Renaissance festival...

On Sunday the family ate soup out of bread bowls, made magic wands, got heckled by pickle sellers, rode ponies and left with the king's nuts all at the Renaissance Festival. Addie cried for most of the car ride there but after that she snuggled in the Baby Bjorn and fell fast asleep for much of the morning and the car ride home. Jackson had a blast people watching and dancing in front of minstrels.

Captain underpants...

Jackson wore big boy underpants all day today and did not have an accident. Yay!

Sweet little sister...

I have been amazed everyday by Jackson's instant love for his baby sister. There are moments of jealousy of course, and he finds it entertaining to wake her when she's sleeping with high pitched screeching noises, but he loves her. When it's time for Jackson to give hugs and kisses before bed he always includes his little sister, giving her a peck on the cheek and a hug, sometimes an all too aggressive hug, but he means well. I can't wait to watch these two grow up together and hope that they are forever friends.

I'm cuckoo for cocoa puffs...

This is what happens when you drink the milk from your cereal BEFORE you eat the cereal:

Random thoughts...

I imagine there will be many posts of this nature: random thoughts from the day compiled haphazardly. There just isn't time or brain power to write meaningful posts anymore, but I don't want to lose track of what's happening in our world by not posting at all, so forgive me.

Ron has pointed out that I have an obsession with bags and referred to me as a "bag lady"

I hope that this is just a bad case of baby acne

I wish the library wouldn't supply my kid with a play area filled with pretend plastic food.

My child does not understand "pretend to eat"

In the days of H1N1 I almost had a melt-down while watching my child lick the plastic pineapple!

I am tired of watching Go Diego Go

I want Jackson to appreciate music and don't think it's crazy that I bought him a drum at a garage sale today

Jackson ate the corn dog outside, skipped the hot dog and ate the ice cream sandwich and I don't mind

My kid can pee standing up and now it's a battle to get him to sit down to poop... this could be a real problem

Baby care...

Jackson is adjusting to life with a baby sister, some moments are better than others. He does enjoy helping to give Addie a bath, he gets her bathtub and brings it to the kitchen sink for me, climbs up on the stepstool and is in charge of using the rag on her. On Sunday I caught him trying to put one of Addie's diapers on a doll, so I just had to take a picture.

Occasionally there are moments of jealously, like when I bring Addie into his room with me to wake him from sleep he will sometimes say "put her down". But overall Jackson is really taking to being a big brother and always remembers to give her a kiss on her head when he's off to bed at night.

To the apple barn...

This last weekend we made our annual trip to Aamodt's Apple Orchard. First we fed the animals, which is always one of Jackson's favorite things to do. Then he took his turn in the $2 trike riding area (an old tennis court). I still think $2 is outrageous for this kind of entertainment, but whatever. Then we picked out our Honeycrisps and sat for a snack.

We even made it in to taste some wines and purchase our two favorites. This was made possible because Addie was asleep in the baby bjorn and Jackson was content sucking on his carmel apple sucker!

Normal...

Jackson's count is now at 160,000! The normal count is 150,000 - 400,000.

My Girl...

We had a busy weekend and I will tell you all about it in an upcoming post. For now, I will leave you with what my baby girl looks like right now as I type:

At naptime...

Jackson thought that his head needed to be kept warm with the previous night's pajama bottoms:

Random thoughts of the day...

It's tough to compose a meaningful post anymore, there isn't time and my brain can't put more than one thought together these days. So here are my random thoughts today:

• I'm pretty sure gingersnaps are my favorite cookie
  
• Taking two kids to Michael's was over-ambitious
  
• Potty training has created a lot more laundry than I anticipated
  
• Pasta with soy cheese and mixed veggies was a hit for lunch
  
• I love that there is a Caribou drive-thru and I do mean LOVE
  
• I find it odd that Ron and I went to Best Buy with Addie while my dad had Jackson and I feel like I had a "date night"
  
• I am addicted to watching Shark Tank while feeding Addie when Jackson is napping
  
• Jackson has had two time-outs before noon today (this is not good)
  
• I had one gingersnap cookie for lunch today
  
• We bought felt and googley eyes for craft projects
  
• I was brought to tears as I drove down White Bear Avenue and saw part of the memorial service for the NSP police officer that was shot and killed this week
  
• It put a smile on my face to see all of the business' billboards that used the space to thank the officer
  

A nap...

See what I mean about it not being glamorous?

A bad word...

Jackson used his first "bad word" this week. He has taken to saying "Darn It!" when something isn't going his way. It's happened three times now, and he uses it in context. This isn't a great word to use and we discussed that it isn't something we want our 2.5 year old to say but what is a better option?? Shucks? Bummer? I'm not sure there is a better option and darn it is sure better than what I tend to say when things don't go my way.

Labor Day Weekend...

We really had a great day on Sunday to celebrate Labor Day weekend. We started the day off with a trip to Como Zoo to see the animals. Addie slept through most of the trip and Jackson enjoyed his time especially spotting the large cats.

We welcomed our friend Darcie for a brief visit so she could meet our baby Addie and had a nice chat.

Then we spent the afternoon at my cousin Tinker's for a BBQ and some good family fun. The aunts wrapped their arms around our Addie girl so we could enjoy some quality time with Jackson. We had fun playing in Tinker's yard with everyone... Jackson and Luke are really starting to play well together.

And to cap off the day we stopped at our friend's the Hoschkas for a little pool time. Jackson didn't have too much trouble falling asleep after this fun-filled day!

Addie at Three Weeks...

Addie has been a good baby so far. We are all still adjusting to the limited amounts of sleep we are getting, but are relived that she is a pretty good sleeper.

Going on a bear hunt...

Jackson has an incredible imagination: One minute he's a dinosaur eating books, the next he's using his bed as an oven and the very next he's going on a hiking trip. In this photo Jackson is wearing his Dad's hiker pack (with his friend bear hitching a ride inside), Mom's "hiking mittens and hat" and the red golf club there is his "hiking stick." It's pretty incredible to watch his imagination at work.

The dinosaur ate my homework...

At naptime we allow Jackson to keep one of the stories we have read to him while he tries to fall asleep. Well that is going to have to change.

Today when I went in to wake Jackson from his nap not only had he piled the pillows and blankets on top of himself and put his socks on his hands... a corner of the book was missing! M-I-S-S-I-N-G. I asked Jackson what happened to the rest of the soggy corner to No Bunnys Perfect. His response: "I was a dinosaur and I ate it." Ugh. What to say to that? I explained that it was not okay to eat our books and that we buy nice books so that we can read them not eat them. That ruining our books makes me sad. To which he responded: "But I was a HUNGRY dinosaur." Double Ugh.

No more books at naptime.

Today...