BIG news.

So we have some big news to share. It's the kind of news you almost are afraid to share for fear it won't be real.
I will be honest. This was all Kyle's idea, and I really didn't want anything to do with it for a while more. BUT, I am loving the idea now, now that it is really happening.
I will start from the beginning. I asked Kyle one morning if I could take a nap. He agreed to take the kids on alone for a while so I could get a little more sleep. I was awoken by a lot of noise in the bathroom. I could then hear Kyle coaching Gunnar on the toilet. When I finally decided I had "napped" long enough Kyle informed me we were potty training. I always thought potty training was something you discussed for a while in the future, then as a husband and wife team you undertook the whole concept and went forth. I explained how it wasn't a good time for our second attempt at this. I was leaving for the weekend, it was a Wednesday, and that didn't really give Gunnar a lot of time to get it down before my parents arrived, and really I thought I needed until Monday to prepare myself for the whole ordeal. Kyle then responded with "it's never going to be a good time." Which is probably right, there would always be something (plus I got a break from it all for two days, score for me).
So, I decided to play along with the game. I told my parents they had permission to put a diaper on Gunnar anytime it got to be to much, but they stuck it out, even with many accidents.
I am finally venturing out there and going to say he is pretty well potty trained! I haven't had to clean up poop in his pants the last 5 days. He usually doesn't have wet accidents unless we are 1) in the car, or 2) he gets to busy playing and I forget to remind him. Usually however, he tells us he has to go without any prompting.
I will say we cheat a little bit. I put a diaper on him at night time. The last two mornings he has woken up dry and will go potty as soon as he wakes up. And occasionally I have left I diaper on for longer car rides, daycare, and shopping trips. He still tells me when he has to go and I take him potty if I have one available. But even in his diaper he gets sad when he pees and actually starts walking funny like his pants are wet, even though the diaper has absorbed it all. One day I will get brave and completely do away with them, but they are to convenient to throw on him with Ryker wearing the same size.
Here is a picture of the proud (and slightly dirty) kid giving a thumbs up:

So round two has been much more successful than round one and here is why I think:
1)He is older and more mature, he is the big T-W-O now!
2)He not only knows when he has to go potty, but he can VERBALIZE to us that he has to go. He either says "potty" or "poop," starts running to the bathroom, or takes his pants off. Those are the cues for us. "Poop" doesn't always mean he has to poop, it is just his universal term for saying "I need to go NOW." He gets his point across.
3)With the assistance of a stool he can get to the potty himself. He doesn't need our help. He gets to practice independence, yet we are there for support. He has given us a designated spot we are to "sit" in the bathroom while he goes potty.
4)We figured out the whole public restroom thing. We just stand him up on the edge of the toilet or the urinal and he goes pee. He can so sit balancing himself by holding our hands or the side of the toilet. However, we use an abundance of toilet seat covers and toilet paper to avoid as many germs as possible. Plus we banish his toilet/urinal touching shoes from inside the house until they have been properly disinfected.
5)We are patient. We weren't trying to potty train in 3 days, we aren't using someone else's method, we are doing what works for us. What is less stress for us and what makes us all happy.
--We didn't use candy, treats, stickers, or any other gimmicks to get him excited or interested. It's all about a simple high five and lots of praise. We never punish him for peeing his pants, but it makes us sad and after about the fist couple days we have him help clean up any messes.
So, I know that there won't always be accident free days ahead of us, but we just take them in stride. He is doing some awesome and we are super proud of him...now to get rid of the pacifier!!!
Here are some other random pictures:
Ryker is a cruising machine.

 I know this is hard to see, but I couldn't turn a light on a wake the boys up. This is how our dog Oma and Gunnar sleep at night.

 Gunnar holding a worm while him and Kyle were planting some flowers outside.

I love Elmo, so here is what him and his dad have to share about potty training.

Women's Retreat

So, its official, I REALLY do have the most awesome parents in the world. Thursday night they drove four hours to our house and got here around 11pm. Friday we all hung out most of the day together. Friday evening Kyle and my dad went to a banquet together that Kyle had tickets for from work and I left around 5pm to go on Women's Retreat at the beautiful Cascades Christian Camp grounds.
I had a lot of mixed feelings about going. While I know people at my church, I really didn't KNOW anyone. On top that, I am breastfeeding Ryker and any bottle attempts up until the point of me leaving were pretty unsuccessful. I also wasn't able to pump as much milk as I would have liked, and was worried their wouldn't be enough.
I was pretty close to backing out of going, but Kyle really encouraged me to go. So, through the tears, I left. I felt bad because my mom had the boys for a few hours alone the first evening as they guys were gone, I knew she was capable, but I still worried.
I got to Women's Retreat and immediately realized that was were God wanted me to be. The women at at my church are wonderful. Our theme for the weekend was Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." What a great message and one I definitely needed. No matter what the situation or how hard the circumstances, rejoice! I also really had it reinforced in my life that its okay for everything not to be perfect. Between school, my kids, my husband, and just life in general, I often forget to take time for myself because I am so worried about everyone else. Its okay to let some things go and take time to breathe and relax.
Friday night was a bit rough for me, not only was I worried about my children at home, but I was in a room with a month old baby. So, as a breastfeeding mother hearings another lady's child cry in the middle of the night (or anytime for that matter), didn't make for the most comfortable of sleeping.
But besides the soreness and what felt like the constant need to pump, I had a great time. The messages were great, I learned how to play Bunco, which I did pretty awesome at, I went horseback riding, and time went by so fast I felt that we were always eating!
Saturday night, I decided after small group time that I would go home for the night. The night was going to just be more games, and in the morning we just had breakfast before leaving to get back to church. So I left around 9:45pm and was home around 10:30 last night. I was so glad to be home. To my delight everyone was sound asleep. I went and tried to get Ryker to eat, but he just wanted to sleep, so I ended up pumping. I didn't wake up until 7am, when Gunnar was so excited to find me back in my bed. I finally had to go wake Ryker up to eat. I know I slept better in my own bed knowing that if my own child needed me I was there!
So not only did I go on Women's Retreat, but my kids more than survived without me (even with bottles and a little bit of formula in the bottles too), my carpets got cleaned (thanks to my awesome dad), and Ryker finally decided to sleep through the night (2 nights)! He probably figured they would just shove one of those nasty bottles in his face and decided sleeping was a better choice.
I am so thankful that I went on this retreat and so thankful for the wonderful church and ladies in my church that God has placed in my life. Our church family is exactly that, a family! They love us for who we are and accept us even with our imperfections!
(I didn't take any pictures, which is so unlike me!)

Painting Fun

Some days, I am feel a little more brave than others.
Then I end up having to ask myself, "what was I thinking?"
I then respond to myself with a simple three word response, "it's all washable."

Look who turned 2!

 April 28, 2009 at 11pm I was beginning the process of being induced, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first child Gunnar. April 29, was a pretty uneventful day, the doctor just kept encouraging us telling us this was slow process and we must be patient. April 30 at 2:36am, Gunnar decided to make his appearance and the fun hasn't stopped since then. My little 5.5lbs. baby is now 24.4 lbs.
If you have met Gunnar, or read my blog you know Gunnar is a kid full of life. He keeps me on my toes. As we are now in what is referred to as the "terrible twos" I can only pray that our training and discipline will pay off and maybe they won't be so terrible. We know we have many challenges ahead of us. We will return to two areas previously addressed...the binkie and potty training. He went for almost 6 months without a pacifier, and then when Ryker was born he kept stealing it. We fought it for a long time, but moving, and not being settled for quite some time after the move, we gave it up and let him use it. If it made him feel better, we were all much happier. I am afraid, it will be much harder to get rid of the second time around. Potty training will also be revisited. I suspect in about a month or so. We will test the waters and see if he is more ready. If we had stuck with it the first time around he could have gotten it he had many accident free days, however, with me getting mastitis, and Kyle not able to assist as much as he can now, it wasn't much fun. I have high hopes for our next shot at it.
Some things about Gunnar:
-He can say 30+ words, and says a few short phrases. His favorite 2 words together are "don't push."
-He loves to ride his bike. He got a little trike for his birthday last year. He loves it and rides it everywhere. He will ride it to the park, down the street, in the house, etc. He is so good at it we got him a balance bike. It is a bit heavy and I am not sure he is ready for it, but hopefully here in the next month of so he master's it.
-He loves to read. When I take showers, I use the bathroom that is attached the the boys' room. I close the doors and let them play. It is safe and usually there is minimal crying. Most days when I come out, Gunnar will be sitting there with a book in his hands.
-He LOVES being outside. He doesn't care about the weather, or if he has shoes on. He recently has been sneaking out our doggy door. We had one big scare, but usually we catch him as he is doing it and he is quickly redirected inside.
-He loves going to the church nursery and daycare..as long as it isn't nap time. He gets so excited about getting to play with other kids. He goes to daycare some weeks none, and others for a few hours during the week, never very much, but he is so excited. He doesn't like one of the daycare facilities on post and cries as soon as we get in the parking lot, so I avoid taking him there if possible.
-Gunnar is a monkey. He climbs everything. People are always really impressed with his climbing skills when we go different places. He isn't afraid of much.
-He loves water. If he sees a puddle, it is instantly attracted and must go play in it. He also can't get into the bath fast enough. As soon as he hears the water running he makes a mad dash for the tub, I usually am able to get his clothes off in time, but he does jump in with his clothes on if he has too.
-He says "please" and signs "thank you." We are trying to teach him manners, and while he isn't able to say "thank you" yet he using his sign language to sign it. He also signs "please" but will often say the word along with the sign. I love when he says these to words without any promoting from Kyle or I. Teaching him to say "please" has really cut down on the whining and begging for things.
-He has a loving heart. He cares deeply for his brother and watching their relationship grow is such as  joy for me as their mom. He also is great about giving hugs and kisses, and he very polite to others.
Gunnar is a great kid and we are so happy to have him as part of our family. I think he is at a really fun age, but look forward to watching him as he grows and seeing the type of young man he becomes.
(Apparently we only took a video of him opening his gifts, so I might have to edit some of the boring parts out and add it later, but for now here is a cute picture of my 2 year old making bubbles, one of his favorite things to do.)