Happy 3rd Anniversary!

We went to a party on Sat night with other grown-ups and had a great time! Unfortunately I got really sick afterward and am still not 100% 3 days later...but it was worth it!

The Real Housewives of Pflugerville (Last night many of went for a Twilight marathon that lasted from 6:15pm to 2:15am! It was lots of fun!)

Today is our 3rd anniversary. It's been a wonderful (extremely productive) three years and we hope for many, many more happy years together to come!

Bodie

Well, we are suckers and ended up at the Williamson County Animal Shelter and came home with a souvenir. Some friends had posted on their FaceBook statuses that the animal shelter had taken in 30 dogs in 48 hrs and were overstocked. They are a kill shelter and were hoping to get many of the dogs adopted out before they had to make tough decisions. We had talked about getting a lab over the years, but weren't currently in the market for one, but with what was about to happen we decided we could fit one more dog in our lives. Because he had been there for over a month he was only $25 instead of $75. Also because he's black they have a special fund where they'll reimburse you $75 toward a training class. I guess black dogs are hard to get adopted...who knew.

Bodie is lab mix, maybe with Border Collie because he has a white patch on his chest and some on his feet, but he has a lab head and tail and is as big as a horse! He was a stray and had been at the shelter for 10 weeks. We think maybe his number was coming up sooner than later. He was the only dog in the place not barking when all the others were having a fit....he quickly remedied this when we got home. He is around 1 yr old and 65 lbs and is very sweet and calm. Marley is completely oblivious to him, but Sophie is scared to death by him. She's been on her best behavior this wekend (or maybe it was the trip to the pound that showed her what life CAN be like). The boys like him but he's a little too rambunctious when he gets to playing so they keep their distance. He's got this massively deep, booming bark that will scare away anything that comes near him. He has a lot of potential and we can't wait to see how well he fits into our home.

So if you have a little space, please go check out your local shelter.

Grandma Betty & Grandpa Joe Visit

I thought this was funny...Evan has a wrench and it looks like he's working on the car.

We went back to the Dinosaur Park last week. We had a good time and found some fun Little People Dinosaurs, mommies and babies, to bring back home with us.

Grandma Betty and Grandpa Joe came to help out while Daddy went to Buffalo for his 20 yr High School reunion and a family party. We had a good weekend and Connor really enjoyed the visit!

Evan had fun too!

I know you're not going to believe me, but this was the best shot I could get. I tried 5 different times to get them all looking the same way with their eyes open and this one (with the finger up the nose) was the best I could do.

Connor went to the dentist for the first time today. They let him sit on my lap and then lay down backwards in to their laps to do the cleaning (brush his teeth quickly) and exam (look fast in between screams of "No!"). He actually did pretty well though, but I'm sure it'll be a few years before he's ready to sit in the chair...can't say as I blame him.

Then when we got home Connor was being kind of mean to Evan. He was squatted down in his face and making mean faces and saying "No Enan!" So Evan decided to just crawl into him and head-butt him and knocked him back on his booty! It was really funny and very deserved. I'm sure there will be many more of these little exchanges in the future.

Field Trip

This morning we went to Jonestown, TX to check out the Angel Valley farm stand. It was a bit out of the way for us and they were the only farm represented so I had to remind myself this wasn't a farmers market, but a farm stand.

We got potatoes, tomatoes, green beans and a large garlic. It was a lot of work for me to get both boys into the stroller and keep Connor busy and Evan in sight while I tried to gather what I was looking for. I must admit I was a bit disappointed by the layout and the amount of work it was for me personally. I'm sure it was much easier for other people though. I'm hoping that we won't be disappointed by the produce. I've already put the potatoes in the crock pot with the roast so we'll see tonight.

While I was waiting in line to pay, the lady in front of us said, "Oh how sweet! He's eating the tomato just like an apple." I, of course, had no idea he was doing that and quickly grabbed it from him since you pay by the weight. He had a few bites of it and then tossed it on the floor of the car. I started to feel worried because I hadn't had a chance to wash, but then reminded myself that the worst thing that was probably on it was dirt since it came from an organic farm.

While I was driving there I saw a sign for a farmers market. So on the way home we stopped. It turned out to be the Cedar Park Farmers Market right by the Gold's Gym off 1431. This was huge...comparatively...and had probably 20-25 stands. They had everything from grass-fed beef, chicken and eggs, milk to popsicles....and at decent prices. I know the eggs were $4 a doz and the ones I got from Greenling yesterday were $6.59 and the ground beef was $5.50/lb and what I got yesterday was $7.50/lb. So I'm thinking it may be worth my while to visit this little find each weekend.

We got some peaches and Connor again had to have one right away...I think he enjoyed the little trip. This Farmer's Market is just the right size with lots of variety to make it worth the extra drive! Also I must admit that I felt cleaner after leaving there. I always feel dirty after leaving the grocery store from the carts being so gross and I didn't have that feeling after leaving there today!

Evan Sleeps

It only took 5 days for Evan to sleep all night (until 5:30am) in his bed! He falls asleep nursing. I put him in his bed. He rolls over...see ya in the morning Mommy! He's even been taking naps in there. Today he wasn't so into his afternoon nap. He decided to jump back up after I put him down and he started to cry when I tried to leave the room. So I laid on the floor across the room and waited, and waited, and waited for him to finally fall asleep. It took about 30 min but he just read his books and then laid down and went to sleep. So he knows how to do it (I wish he'd remind his brother) and he'll let me be by the door now. In the next week or two I should be able to just put him in there awake and leave and he should be able to put himself to sleep! That's amazing for a kid who a little over a week ago was waking up every two hours to nurse and wouldn't sleep any where that was more than an inch away from Mommy..EVER! The Sleep Lady did it again! Why would anyone try the "cry it out" method when this one is so much less stressful for everyone...I admit there was some crying on both sides the first night, but at least we were together and I could comfort him through the whole short process. Good job Evan!

New Blog

I started a new blog...Grass Pfed. I am using it to chronicle my research into organic food and greener living. I've always yo-yo'd back and forth with healthier eating vs easy eating, but now that we have the boys I think I need to make a real effort to teach them healthier ways of eating. I don't know if organic foods are really the way to go or just the current fad to scare parents into spending more on food, but I suspect that the hormones fed to animals and pesticides used on crops can't be good for us (or them). I also hope that by spending our food money on local fare, we can help our local economy while getting healthier food.

So if you'd like to check up on what I find, just check the Blog List on the right hand side of this blog!

World Record

We're pretty sure Connor was going for a World Record today....in
puking! He started puking a little before 4pm and by the time I called
the dr two hrs later he'd puked 16 times. In all this evening I think
he was up to 21 times in 4 hrs!

We took him to the after hours clinic and the dr was concerned that
maybe he'd swallowed something and that was his body's way of trying
to get it out. So they did a chest x-ray and found nothing. He started
feeling better while we were there. He didn't talk during this whole
torturous ordeal but started asking for juice and was very excited
when they gave him a Pedialyte Popsicle...which he threw up on the way
home. But he seems to have stopped puking and we're hoping it was food
poisoning which would mean the rest of us won't get it!

Also between his 3rd and 4th round, Marley decided she wanted to join
the fun. She puked all over the breakfast nook and into the family
room. I promise you wouldn't believe how much it was! So Dave is steam
cleaning the carpet at 10pm so we can let Evan crawl on the floor
again tomorrow. Poor baby was locked in walkers and bouncy things or
moved to the front room for the whole evening. Let's just hope all
this is over and never ever comes back!

Sarah
Sent from my iPhone

Wild Man

Evan has been crawling for a month now and he's just a wild man! He can get anywhere! He loves to crawl over to whatever Connor is doing and get in there and make him scream. The other day he crawled over to Connor made him scream, turned around and went to Marley and smacked her (she growled at him) then went to the couch where Sophie was sitting and pulled her tail. He can pull up on most things and is starting to cruise around things.

He's getting picky about meal time too. He wants to feed himself and smacks the spoon when I try to feed him. I think I looked just as bad as he did after this episode. He still doesn't have any teeth so it's hard to find things that are hard enough that he can pick up but soft enough to gum.

Connor wanted to get in on the picture taking! Connor has moved into Pull-Ups which he calls underwear. He is also voluntarily sitting on the potty. We haven't actually used the potty yet, but he's interested. He can even get his "underwear" off by himself and sit on the potty alone! Big boy! He's also grown 1.25" in the last 3 months! He's turning into a boy!

We started sleep training with Evan. He gets mad when I set him in the crib, but the first night he only cried for 34 min before rolling over and falling asleep...on my hand. The second night was 30 seconds and the third night he just went to sleep. We did do some naps in there too so he's getting lots of practice in going to sleep in there. The problem seems to be staying asleep. The first two nights he was done around 2:30 am and I brought him in, but last night it was 12:30. I tried to let him cry back to sleep but 45 min later and I just brought him to bed. Poor little guy is so sad in there. So we're making great strides but still have a ways to go...but he's only 8 months old! He's also too busy wreaking havoc during the day! So he's not nursing which means he wants to "fill up" at night...which is our main problem! We'll get there soon though I'm sure.

San Antonio

We went to San Antonio for Memorial Day/my birthday weekend and had lots of fun. We went to the Zoo. It was really hot and crowded so we didn't stay too long.

Then we went to a dinosaur exhibit. That was lots of fun. We also did a boat tour of the Riverwalk. Connor thought that was cool too....but again very hot and crowded. We stayed on the Riverwalk to make life a little easier. We were able to walk to restaurants and do a bit of sight seeing.

Then we went to Sea world. Connor was very excited to see Shamu. The hotel had a picture of Shamu on the elevator that we had to look at A LOT.

We missed the first Shamu show so we decided to get our souvenirs first. I think Connor would have been ready to go with just this stuffed Shamu. He sleeps with it and sometimes says "Oh Shamu!" and squeezes it really hard. Evan on the other hand isn't too interested and spent most of the time at the park dangling Shamu over the edge of the stroller and dropping him.

The penguin house is my favorite. Connor wasn't too happy about this giant penguin though. It kept trying to turn his head so Dave could get the picture, but each time it touched him he almost jumped out of my arms.

We finally got to see Shamu!

It was a long day, but lots of fun!

We also got to see some of my friends and family that live in San Antonio. We packed a lot into a couple of day and had tons of fun! Can't wait to go back!