Why are we so happy at our house?????

BELLA SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!! Yep, she slept through the night Friday! It was the first night she did this without waking up since she has been home... 5 1/2 months! I was consistent this week and determined and it paid off. Wednesday was the WORST! She woke up 4 times during the night and cried for at least 30 minutes. One of them lasted 1 1/2 hours. She started off calling for me, then went on to Jeff when I did not go to her rescue. After realizing the Dad Dee was not coming, she called in the BIG guns... Brubi! That is what she calls Jake and she called him LOUDLY and PROUDLY. Luckily, he did not hear. I say luckily because, had he heard, I don't think I would have been able to stop him from 'rescuing" her. In his eyes, Isabella can do NO wrong and should have her heart's desire! Anyway... I was a walking zombie this week, but last night gave me hope that I was not messing her up by doing this and that it will get better. So... YEAH BELLA and YEAH ME!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!

We took the kiddos to the circus this afternoon. I tired to get pictures of Jake and his 2 buddies, but they would not turn their attention from the acts to take any. He used to be the perfect camera ham for me, but as he gets older, he is slowly becoming too cool for mom to take his picture when his friends are around. I know he will get over this, so I just deal with it. Here are a few circus pics and some from during the week hanging around the house. Enjoy!

I have not forgotten that Tommy tagged Jake and Bella and will list 10 things about them this week... I promise... I have joined the land of the living again!



loving on her Dad Dee!

I almost did not post this one for vanity reasons on my part (my eyes closed), but her face showed PURE happiness and I figured it was worth it!
Sorry for the view of chewed popcorn, she was laughing at her Brubi.
Again, mouth opened because she was talking to Dad Dee
She LOVES her playhouse!

PURE Sweetness!
She is in her red t-shirt and baseball bow in honor of Jake's baseball team. She wears this to all of the games!

She was modeling her new swimsuit for Dad Dee, and came across his hat...

THANKS!!!

Thanks for the advice about Firefox. It is SO much better than IE. I will now be able to post pics with ease and alot more often!! Here are some pictures Jeff took of the kiddos this past week while they were outside. There are also some of Jake at his opening season tournament last weekend. Enjoy!

Oh, Terry's precious little boy, Tommy, tagged Bella and Jake and they will be sure to respond this week... so stay tuned for some fun facts about them.

HELP!!! ...

Blogger is giving me problems. I have not posted in a month because I want to post new pics of my adorable kiddos, but I am experiencing technical difficulties. I get the first picture posted okay and then when I go onto the second and third, Internet Explorer shuts me down and tells me it needs to close and kicks me out.

Now, until I started blogging, I did not know much about computers... still don't. I am not sure what could be the problem, but I NEED it fixed because I have some of the CUTEST pictures to post!!!!!! If anybody has any ideas, please share them with me. Also, is there a way to post more than one picture at a time? It takes SO long that way. Just wondering....

Well, Jake started his baseball season this weekend. He is playing 2nd base and doing a fantastic job! He made most of the outs in his opening tournament game this past weekend and turned several double plays. I am one proud MOMMA!! I will share pics of him in action as soon as I am able.

We were home for Spring Break last week and Miss Bella got spoiled having her Mommy around. She is all out of whack now, though. She has definitely hit that toddler stage of being a TOTAL Mommy's girl! I told Jeff the other day, "we should have just named her Shadow." That about sums up our relationship and I would NOT have it any other way!! I did go "hide" in my closet the other day for some time to myself and heard her wandering around saying, "Mom Me!" She turned the corner and "found" me and was quite pleased with herself. I think she thought we were playing hide-n-seek. She started clapping and jumping up and down and squealing with delight that she "found" me. It was priceless.

She is getting better with her sleeping. We are not totally there yet, but it is much better. She is not very fond of her bed yet. I hope that comes soon. I must say, she is doing better than Jake did at her age, but I am to blame for that. I was younger and scared I would mess him up. I have learned that they are pretty resilient and that I am not damaging her by teaching her how to fall asleep on her own! I was scared she would resent me for letting her cry, but to my surprise, it did not make her mad at me. It actually made her the opposite- much happier! I know it is because she is getting better rest and so am I! I will keep you updated.

We only have 6 weeks of school left and I can't wait. I really enjoyed being home this past week. I forgot how much I enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom. My house was cleaned, my laundry done and my supper cooked when Jeff came home. I was much more relaxed and everyone was happier. Come On Summer!!!!

I hope I still have readers. I will be able to write more consistently once school is out. Working with 2 children has really been an adjustment for our family. I know that sounds wimpy, but I stayed home with Jake for 5 years and had an only child for 8 years. Along comes our 13 month toddler, in the middle of my school year and it really rocked our world. Things are getting easier now. We have a schedule going and Bella has truly adjusted well and so have we. Now, grant it, my house is not nearly as clean as it used to be, but there are more laughs and smile and giggles and kisses and hugs than ever before, so the trade off has been worth it! Tonight Bella and Jake were in the tub together and I was cooking supper. The laughter that was coming from that bathroom had me crying tears of sheer joy. Jake longed for and prayed for a sibling for so long and to hear him with his heart's desire, was more than I could contain. God has been so good to our family.

If you are still with me and reading and checking on us, please leave a comment to let me know. And if you know what I am doing wrong with trying to post my pictures, please leave me a comment, also.

YEAH!!!!

Here is a rundown of our last 2 nights with Bellaboo in her own bed:

After her last crying episode at 9:15 last night, she slept until 4:30 in the morning. She woke up crying and Jeff went to change her diaper. A few minutes later, he appears in our room with her in his arms. I did not want her to hear my voice, so I grunted and he figured I did not want her to come to bed with us. He brought her back to her bed and came back asking why. I told him I did not want to start training her to wake up in the early morning to get in our bed. It would defeat the purpose. She cried for 27 minutes and then fell asleep until I woke her up at 6:30 to get ready to leave for work!!!

Tonight: Jeff brought her into her room and she instantly started to wrap her legs tightly around his waist and hug his neck tightly, all the while shaking her head empahatically no. He put her in her crib and told her he loved her and "night-night". She cried and screamed and 7 minutes later it stopped instantly. I cracked the door to see what was going on and she was sitting down with her "dolly" loving it. Then she laid down on her other baby doll and put her cute little bottom in the air and actually went to sleep!!!!!!! I was amazed. 7 minutes!!!!

It is 2 hours later and I am pleased to report that she is still asleep! Now, I am not foolish enough to think it will always be this easy, but I will say I am truly at a loss for words that the first 2 nights went as smoothly as they did. The only difference between the first time I tried this a month and a half ago and now is that I am not going in to her when she cries. Of course, if she were to cry for more than 45 minutes, I will go reassure her that I have not left her. I really think that her seeing me and not being able to have me, made her REALLY mad and made it last longer. She has quite the temper!

Now, you may be wondering how it affected her interaction with me today. Well, it was actually much better! She was a lot happier and more content and did not get as irritable. I think she is sleeping so much better. I, too, was less irritable and much happier! :) Sounds like things are going to get a little easier around here.

I still can't post pics. FRUSTRATING!!!! I had some to post from Valentine's Day when we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. It was great. It is our family tradition to take Jake there every Valentine's Day Night and it was wonderful to have Bella with us this year! She has a blast and hopefully, I will be able to prove it with my cute pics one day. Also, back in January, there was snow in the next state of Mississippi one Saturday and so we decided to pack up Jake and Bella and go to the snow. That's right... we traveled a little over 1 and 1/2 hours to play in the snow for about 20 minutes and then turn around and come home. We stopped in a church parking lot and made snow angles and a 3 foot snowman. It was a blast! I will post those pics as I am able.

That is the latest in this household... stay tuned for more of the bedtime saga...

I know... it's been a long time!... again

Well, I know it has been a long time since I posted anything, especially pictures. Let me tell you, working full time as a kindergarten teacher and having 2 children has been difficult for me to learn! Can I tell you how much I am ready for summer vacation!!!!! Add to it the fact that I have a husband that has been battling bronchitis since we got home from Guatemala in October and Bella got a fever virus 2 weeks ago and then Jake had it last week, while Jeff was home sick with all of his crud. The only reason I am not sick is because there is no time for me to be!!

Bella is doing well! She is running everywhere and starting to say alot more. She now says "Bye" to everyone that leaves any room she is in. But she does not just say "Bye"... no, she says it like a true Cajun girl with a country drawl. It is so cute and if you do not acknowledge her, she will only get louder until you do! She started saying "Uhoh!" when she drops something. And she started calling me "Mom Me" (phonetically spelled) this week. It is SO adorable and melts my heart every time. She has begun to pull the chairs away from the kitchen table and sit in them like she is THE STUFF! The best thing yet, though, is her newest thing. She will see me while she is playing and stop and come up to me with her lips puckered. When I bend down to kiss her, she kisses me with this loud "Muh!" sound and then will hug my neck tight and touch my cheek to hers!!! Or she will stop playing and run up to my legs, wrap her arms around them and just pat them in a loving way and smile really big up at me and run off. Yes, I am reduced to nothing when those 2 things happen. We also found out she is really possessive of me. Jake came to sit by me yesterday afternoon while I was on the couch. He put his head on my shoulder and wrapped his arms around me. Well, Miss Priss did not like that one little bit! She went to screaming and grunting and pushing him. He loved it! It was pretty funny!

I am so proud of my Jake. He had many speech issues when he was younger. He has had 4 sets of tubes and because of the chronic ear infections, it caused speech problems. At one time, his speech therapist told me she did not expect him to ever become intelligible or learn how to read. Well, my baby proved her wrong. He prayed every night for Jesus to "help him with his words" and He did! My little man is a true man of faith!!!! Jake has been on the honor roll ever since starting school! Well, second grade ABEKA phonics has given him a run for his money this year. The weekly phonics tests have kept him off of the straight-A honor roll. Even though his speech is corrected, he still struggles with hearing certain sounds correctly. His goal this year has been to make an A on one of them. I am proud to say that after many weeks of hard work, Jake pulled it off this week and made a 93 A- on his test!!! Can we say PROUD!! We took him to celebrate at one of his favorite places to eat... Buffalo Wild Wings. He has also started coaches pitch and is practicing 3 times a week. I am quite proud of him.

I tried to post pictures, but every time I would get one posted, Internet Explorer would shut it down, so I will try again tomorrow night.

Here is the big news at our house...
We started Bella in her own bed tonight! I tried it before, but felt guilty and quit. I am determined to do it this time. Part of the reason I am posting it this time is so that I will have some accountability, so to speak. I know that sounds silly, but if I have to report how we are doing, it will help me continue. I must say, she did better than I expected tonight. I made Jeff do it, of course. ;) He put her in there at 8:15 and I left to go walking with my friend. I called him at 9:00 to see if it was safe to come home yet and he said she was asleep by 8:35. He then called me at 9:15 to tell me she was up and screaming. I came home (only for moral support, not to cave in) and she cried until 9:21 and then laid down and went to sleep. It is 10:08 and she is still sleeping. I am going to do it this time... we will all be happier for it. So... pray for my strength and for her heart. I haven't met a parent yet that told me it messed their child up, so I am trusting Bella will join the ranks of them that are okay from it. I will keep you all posted... hope I sleep tonight! :)

I hope everyone has a great week and I will try to post pics tomorrow night!

HELP!

Is anybody else having trouble posting comments on other people's blogs? I am and have been for the past 2 weeks. It is random... each night I check my blogs, there are some I cannot comment on. I click on the "comments" link and my computer does nothing. The strange thing is that it is not the same ones every night. If this is happening to you or if you know what I can do to fix the problem, please let me know. I am wanting to leave comments on posts and can't. It is frustrating me!!!

I've Been Tagged...

by Andrea, Maddie's mom.

1. I am TERRIFIED of spiders and heights. SERIOUSLY TERRIFIED-- I actually hyperventilate when I see one or have to be up high.

2. I hate having a dark house when I go to bed at night. I always leave the hall bathroom light on and my husband turns it off. I ALWAYS get up after he goes to sleep and put it back on. I cannot sleep without it.

3. I wake up every night thinking about donuts. It is really strange and I cannot figure out what it is, but I CRAVE them every night after midnight.

4. I HATE commercials on the radio. It is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.

5. I HATE feet. As a child growing up, I used to swear that my husband would HAVE to sleep with socks on. I have gotten over the sock thing, but still hate feet. The only exception is my children's feet... they are, of course, adorable!

6. I have never gone a day without toe-nail polish on my feet since I was a freshman in high school.

7. I am a perfectionist and a very symmetrical kind of person. If you have a crooked picture in your house, I will find it and fix it. I border on OCD and cannot function well if my house is not clean and in order, with everything in its place. I cannot stand to see specks of anything on my floors. The hand-held Dustbuster is my best friend!

8. I am a comfort-shopper. Shopping brings me comfort. You can imagine the damage I did during our adoption!

9. I have a purse obbession! No, seriously, it goes beyond just being a woman and liking purses. I LOVE purses, much to my husband's dismay. He would add that it is not a cheap one either... I love designer ones entirely too much!


I am tagging Jodie, Stephanie, Billie and Kristin.