Moving on?

We have done something crazy, and the sign in our yard is proof.

Dallas is a real estate nut and loves to look at what's out there.  I, on the other hand, don't like to shop unless I'm buying.  So, for years, Dallas has wanted me to look at houses "for fun" and I haven't wanted anything to do with it.  I am happy with my house, we have done SO MUCH to it and got it just the way we want it.  

But... a few weeks ago, something changed.  A few weeks ago, Dallas showed me a house and it just clicked.  I love my house, but I would really, really like to be in Yukon school district and would love a nicer neighborhood.  Not that ours isn't nice, our street is great, a few streets over though...  

Anyway, so we thought it through and made a plan for what we would do IF the house sold for what we wanted.  We both liked it, so here we go!  

It kind of makes me nervous, I really do love this house, but it's just a house and any where we live is our home.  :)  I would love for Arlen to go to Yukon like I did and my dad did.  (We are currently in Mustang school district...)  So, we will see what happens and if it even sells. 

Here's some house pics:

 We have COMPLETELY updated this kitchen, lots of hard work (and money)

The living room (minus a million of Arlen's toys that had to be stored away to make it look less cluttered...)  Next house, definitely needs a playroom!

 The den, or "media room" as Dallas likes to lovingly call it.

Pretty dining room (the before picture would shock your socks off!)

Love this guest bath.  Obviously it was done before we had a boy...  ;)

Our master bath that we FINALLY worked on.  It's not done exactly the way we would want it if we were to stay there, but it works. 

We have done so much to almost every square inch of this place, so it's hard to say goodbye to that, but hopefully our hard work will get paid well.  ;)

The house was listed on the internet today, so we'll see what the future holds!

Ahh!

Baby #2

Oh baby fever... the day after Arlen turned two, it hit.  I know I'm not totally ready for another baby yet, but it's definitely on my mind.  Arlen HAS to be potty trained - no doubt - before a baby comes along, and I'd like him to be a bit older.  He still gets a little jealous and isn't super great around babies.  For me, the age he is at (with the temper tantrums and stuff) would be extremely hard to be pregnant or have a newborn, I know a lot of people do it, but it just sounds tough!  My ideal scenario would be, to get pregnant October or November this year, putting the due date in June or July.  Arlen would have turned 3 in that time and I think he (we) could handle it by then.  ;)

That's my "ideal, perfect world" plan, and as we know, God has His own plans.  Arlen being born premature changed everything I knew (and didn't know) about pregnancies, labor, babies, everything...  I am in a situation where I didn't have a normal pregnancy and that makes my whole "birthin' babies" future questionable.  Should we even try?  Can I even carry a baby full term?  What if the baby comes early again?  What if they are even earlier and have problems?  Could I live with myself if I put my baby's life in jeopardy? .... So hard.  It's something I will never know ahead of time, I just have to trust God that if He blesses me with the gift of another baby, He will take care of us.


Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of Arlen coming early and what we had to endure.  It was hard, the hardest thing I have ever been through.  I blamed myself for "doing' that to him and not giving him a "normal" start of life.  I know there wasn't anything I could have done different or changed, but the guilt was/is there.  That being said, I don't want to go through that again.  Especially having a child at home already.  


But God was my rock and strength and peace during that tough time, and He is the reason we made it through.  I have total faith and trust that He will always take care of us, no matter what happens.  I leave our future baby birthin' in His hands.  What better place?!  :)


Now, for fun, when I get that crazy, gotta have a baby right now! feeling...  I watch this at 3 in the morning...

Such a cute and tiny, little guy!  He was just a few weeks old here, probably around 5 pounds.  I like to try and video everything, the good and the... not so good.  ;)

So, for now, I will relish my wonderful sleep at night, love on my amazing son and husband, and wait for God's perfect timing!

The terrible, teething, two year old tot

That title sounds like a nightmarish Dr. Seuss book... and I know all about Dr. Seuss books, I read "Hop on Pop" (or pop pop pop! like Arlen says) about 18 times a day.

I have heard about the "terrible two's" many times in my life, and THOUGHT I knew what that meant... I had no idea.  A few weeks after Arlen turned two, I started figuring out that idea.  I love that little boy more than anything, but Oh. My. Goodness. what a turkey!  One minute he is sweet as can be, then boom! the world ends because he doesn't get his way or his train won't stay on the tracks and it's all craziness from there. 

I read in a parenting magazine a couple weeks ago about toddler tantrums.  It really put a lot in perspective for me.  Kids about 4 and under still haven't developed the part of their brain that controls reasoning, frustration, and stubbornness.  Not that they don't know right from wrong, but their brain just can't handle certain things at their age.  Which makes sense if you witness a huge, fit throwing, tantrum then 3 minutes later they are absolutely calm and perfect.  When adults are still reeling from it hours later, kids don't remember or care.

So when Arlen throws a fit, I just have to remember, he's just being two, he isn't doing this to hurt me, and very likely he will be fine in a few minutes.  It is extremely stressful though and makes going out in public a "please God, don't make me regret taking him out of the house!" thing. 

When he turned two, we started time outs.  He does pretty good with them.  Cries a lot, but stays in the spot for the total two minutes.  Some days he goes to time out every 5 minutes... but some days zero! 

Oh yeah, and the other part of the title... he still has two teeth that have to come in.  Teething with a baby is bad, teething with a toddler is REALLY bad.  They can express their emotions a lot more, they are a lot more irritable, and it's harder to comfort them.  One of the two is pushing through now.  I woke up to a crib full of throw up this morning.  He didn't have a fever, so I am almost certain it's because of the tooth.  He has done that before when he got his first tooth.  He won't eat and it extremely fussy.  I know he's in a lot of pain.  I have heard that if adults were to "teeth", we would have to be put under!  Hopefully they will come in quickly and we will be over the teething process.

My patience has been tested a lot this past couple of months, but I try to keep calm and stay in control.  Consistent discipline is important and praying for God to get me through it, is vital!  ;)

Because I always post sweet, smiling pictures of Arlen, here's one after a full blown tantrum.  That's life! 

(and he's still a cutie pa tootie!) 

Arlen's first professional haircut

I now know, and sympathize, with moms everywhere that have emotional break downs when it comes to cutting their baby boy's hair.  Arlen's hair has always been really fine and thin, so we haven't really had to cut it that much, my sister has just trimmed it up a few times.

I like the shaggy, Justin Bieber look, but Dallas does not.  We had a problem.  Plus, my sister moved to Alaska and took her hair cutting expertise with her.  I had to get his hair cut or trimmed or something, it was a little out of control.  So we went to Snip-Its.

Waiting for his turn.

He has no idea what's about to happen...

Doing good so far, and watching the tv right in front of him.

Uh oh!

Poor guy!  =(

Suckers!  Where were they at the beginning??

All done!

So handsome.

And such a big boy!

Getting his prize, Snip-Its is fun!

Overall, it went good.  A little crying (from Arlen AND mommy), but much better than me chasing him around the house with a pair of scissors trying to cut his hair!  

It's much shorter than I wanted, but he looks so cute and such like a little boy now.  My baby is growing up! =(

And I have noticed his hair does grow pretty fast, so maybe Bieber fever will come back soon (or another $22 trip to Snip-Its...).

First annual celebration of the survival of our fish

Last February, I took a little boy to Petsmart to buy our dog a new collar... and came back with a fish.  It could have been worse!  They do have cats, hamsters, and birds there...

The total bill for this fish and his "accessories" was not more than 10 bucks, I just KNEW he would be dead in a week (or less).  I have never had a fish or taken care of a fish or even cared about fish, but my cute little one year boy had a favorite movie at the time, Finding Nemo.  He was acutely obsessed with fish and loved to say "ish!".  I took him over to the fish aisle to just look at them, and the rest is history!

How could you NOT buy this adorable face a fish?!

This was the day we brought our little fish home, Feb. 16, 2010

It's been a year, a YEAR, since we bought that stinkin fish, and I just can't believe he has lasted this long.  We didn't even name him, we just call him fish.  I thought Arlen might like calling him Nemo, but he just said "ish".  And it turns out, fish aren't that fun.  They just swim around, Arlen gets bored pretty quick with him.  So that leaves me to clean out his bowl every week (sometimes) and feed him twice a day (if I remember) ;).

Needless to say, that purple fish is part of our family, so what do we do when family members have a birthday??  PARTY!

Arlen and the birthday boy/fish ready for the party

Yes, he even got a present. :)

I made cupcakes for the big day.

I think Arlen showed up for the cupcakes.  ;)

He got a fancy new fish bowl for his birthday!

Happy Birthday fish!

p.s. Don't tell Charley we did this, he's never had a party!  Poor doggy.  =(

My sweet Valentines

It's amazing how much more fun holidays are with kids.  Even silly holidays like Valentine's Day...  I have never been a fan of the overly commercialized, Sam Walton money making "holiday" - aka Single Awareness Day, but with all of Arlen's parties and activities, it was pretty fun. 

"We" did some Valentine crafts and sent them to our loved ones....

This one is Arlen's thumb prints making a heart.  Trust me, getting a 2 year old boy to sit down and put his thumb in ink and make hearts is NOT easy, but we did it!  AND it's a magnet.  :)

We also did some homemade Valentines for Arlen's mother's day out classmates and teachers...

for the girls... 

(those are Teddy Grahams and gummy bears)

for the boys...

and for his teachers...

(these are his hands, of course)  ;)

He even had a Valentine party with his playgroup friends and brought these cute, homemade, Hersey Kiss shaped rice krispie treats...

Playing at ABC's at the playgroup party.

Opening his Valentine present from Oma and Opa

Daddy got Reese's!

  

Arlen got Chick Hicks car and a fun car that holds snacks!

Plus a coloring book, crayons, and candy.  ;)

On Valentine's Day, we went and saw Great Grandma Oden at the assisted living home, and surprised a dozen sweet ladies with roses! 

This is my precious grandma.  :)

 Arlen did so good and the ladies just loved it.

Dallas sure knows the way to my heart, a sweet card and M&Ms!

 Opening his Valentine gifts from mommy and daddy...

Toy Story 3!!

Just like his mommy!  ;)

Checking out his V-day loot.

It was a pretty nice day on Valentine's Day, so we got to play outside for a bit.

That night, we had a pizza and movie night.

=)

We watched Toy Story 3 (Arlen's first time) and he was glued the entire movie! He loved it.  Can't wait to take him to see Cars 2 in the theaters this summer! 

Since Arlen has gotten bigger, it seems every holiday turns into a season!  But it keeps things fun and busy, just how I like it!  

Here comes Easter...   ;)