Girl time and THIRTY!

A couple of weekends ago I got together with some friends from college for our 3rd annual girl's trip. Although I know Whit from elementary and Marcy is from Mansfield, we all became close as Tridelts in college. We met up at Lakeway Resort in Austin for a weekend of relaxing, talking, and celebrating. We celebrated 30th bdays for the year, specifically Marcy's since it was the week before. I think we all surprised ourselves the first night out.....maybe we were trying to prove that 30 didn't mean we were old!! ;) I won't embarass any of us with those pictures! It was a great weekend and I'm so glad we got to spend time together and catch up.

Big Boy Bed

Noah has been sleeping in his little toddler bed, but we finally got a mattress and put him in his full bed. He was very excited to help Levi put it together. Of course he quickly figured out that we can now lie down with him after reading.....and he definitely uses that to keep us in there as long as he can! Oh - and ignore the red sheets. We have not figured out his bedding yet, but I at least got some brown sheets the next day!

He hates being under blankets or covers...but

for some reason doesn't mind 800 stuffed animals on him!

Pictures

A couple of months ago we had a friend from church attempt to take some pictures of Noah and his cousins, Riley and Hudson. Well, once we would get one kiddo focused, the other would be upset about something or running off to the other side. We tried, and got a few cute ones of the boys playing in water.

It went by WAY too fast!!

This summer has flown by! We have done so many fun things and made some great memories. It was tough most of the summer with Levi working and then having school at night 4 times a week, but Noah and I found plenty to do thanks to wonderful family and friends. Playdates, swimming, the zoo, Hawaiin Falls, The Children's Museum, a trip to Illinois, Going Bonkers, Lake Whitney, and Potty Training are just a few of the things that we filled our summer days with. But some of our best days were just at home, relaxing, napping and spending time together.

Once Levi finished up with school, my parents kept Noah for a few days while Levi and I spent some much needed time together. He then spent the night with Granna while we took a short trip to Shreveport with some friends. Since then, we have had the entire week off at home as a family before we all get back to work/school/schedules on Monday. We have played at the pool, had our first family movie night (Planet 51), and went to the Children's Museum. This is by far Noah's favorite thing to do, and he wanted to show Levi what it was all about. Here are some pictures from the last few days!! A little sad to return back to work, but SO thankful to have my summers!!

Swimming!!!

Putting on Daddy's shoes
Trying out P90X

Doesn't everyone work out in their underwear and shoes only???

Digging for dinosaur bones

art time with Mommy

Hmmmm....what should I buy....

Apples are always good!

Oh, and I knew this day would come. After Levi read the Noah's Ark story to Noah out of his bible the other night, Noah told me "I build that boat Mommy. I built that big boat!"

Pics from Potty Training

Here are some pictures to go with the post before -

getitng those fluids in!!

peeing with his new floaty on....????

Potty Training

After starting the 3 day potty training program on July. 6, I was thinking I would be posting a new blog on July. 9 or 10 to inform everyone that Noah was now potty training. Well....for us, it was more like a 3 week potty training program, at least. Don't get me wrong, I definitely believe in her (Lora Jensen) program and the way it works, but I also believe in my very strong-willed and stubborn child ;). Overall, he got the gist of it the first three days and knew what he was supposed to be doing. It has just taken us a while to feel somewhat confident going out in public, and we still are not there yet with the pooping in a public restroom! And maybe this is just a boy thing or a busy toddler thing.....but he waits until the LAST minute to inform you he needs to go "pee pee!" But he is only in diapers during nap and at night. He likes wearing his big boy underwear!
Summary:
Day 1 - I had 6 pair of underwear ready to go.....I was calling Katie by 9 am begging for more underwear because I had already washed them all once and needed more!! I seriously think we ran to the potty at least 200 times that day.....and changed underwear about 200 times!! We did have some success going in the potty, but he had no concept of holding it.
Day 2 - I did let him go without a diaper or underwear for about an hour, and he did not want to pee if he didn't have anything on. I think this is where he picked up the understanding of holding it, and then he started holding it as long as he could!
Day 3 - Decided standing up and peeing was more fun! Was pretty consistent in telling us he needed to pee.
Days to follow - finally started letting me know when we were in public and he needed to pee, or at least went when I asked him. Have had several successful poops in the potty at home. Other than that he waits until nap or nightime to go in his diaper or hold it, which has led to some constipation issues.

I was in no hurry to potty train, I just figured I would try this summer while I was off and had the time. My initial plan was to try the 3 day thing and then if he didn't pick up on it I would wait. Well....after dedicating that much time and it being so exhausting, I was determined not to go back. I'm hoping he continues to figure it all out. I would definitely say it has been one of the hardest transitions so far!!

Celebrations!

On Sunday....we celebrated our country AND the engagement of Tyler and Kelly!!

Congrats Tyler and Kelly!!!

Here are pics from the 4th:

fishing with daddy

the first fish
Brooks and Frankie

Brooks, Briggs and Noah

Brooks loved the boat and water!

Briggs and Riley

Eating some lunch

Noah, Hudson and Brooks

What a great weekend with family and friends!!