A couple pics

Potty Training: last few days :)

Okay- mostly good with a few setbacks again! R talks about pooping on the potty a lot and we are learning that she needs to keep trying until she actually goes! We have had a few minor accidents with that but much success otherwise!! Being mindful of her needing to be mindful of her urges has been more challenging than I anticipated, but with so many extra hands, we are doing great!

Rebekah keeps us on our toes to be sure! She quotes her books in and out of context, which is always funny! She lovingly tells me where I can put baby Luke down when she feels he has been held too long (anything longer than 30 seconds) and even supplies options, such as bringing him his infant seat or jungle gym. She grabs her bag and says she's going on a date. She offers to take extra naps just in case she might get a popsicle out of it. We love her so!!

Baby Luke is also wonderful- he is such a tender little guy, altho he is growing like a weed! He is starting to have that really solid, satisfying weight to him that makes picking him up pretty fun! He has the most precious grin that covers his whole face and is a sweet gift from the Lord! he is still sleeping thru the night, tho sometimes he needs his paci, but he is content to go back to sleep and not to eat! Yea! I am still astonished at his nap capacity, tho I am not complaining! Again, he might need a paci placement here and there, but that boy can snooze- and loves doing it! I will say my favorite part is checking on him and realizing he is awake, but content...I sneak in and peek over the side of the pack 'n play and there he is, just gazing up at me and as he registers that he is getting "gotten," he grins with his entire body in such a way that I can hardly grab him fast enough! My children are such a blessing!

As for us, Josh and I came to Dallas yesterday for my uncle's funeral. He died quite unexpectedly of a heart attack on the way to the ER with his wife last Wednesday. He was an amazingly godly man and the service was a beautiful tribute to a life well-lived. He was married to my dad's sister (my dad is one of 11!) and they have a lovely 13-year-old daughter. She recorded a poem and song for him, both of which were extremely touching. No one could think of single bad thing to say about Ralph....that convicted me greatly. Anyway, we head back today and I am eager to get my hands on my babies!

Luke and Josh at Chick-Fil-A

We took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch today. You may not know that Josh worked there and managed for a while (3-ish years) during his high school days! he was a model employee, I am sure, and still loves the food! We went to eat, of course, but also to visit with his old boss. Luke enjoyed chatting with the 3 brothers sitting behind us while hangin' out with Dad.

Potty Training: Days 4 & 5

Much the same with a few setbacks...woke up wet from a nap yesterday, but not today. She has awakened dry both mornings, tho! Yesterday we had a funny one- she went around the corner and sat on the potty and pooped...yea, right? Unfortunately, she failed to pull her panties down! She was sure she should still get M&Ms! That is our biggest hang-up- if she could be naked all the time, we would be in great shape! The pulling down of clothing is the biggest obstacle...not that I expect her to do it herself- as young as she is, she will need help for a while...she just prefers being in the buff...

Potty Training: Day 3

(Side note- this is sooo typical of R- "I will not look at the camera until I've made my brother cry!" She bonked his head with her own...reminded me of a certain Far Side cartoon of the satisfying sound of coconuts colliding...amazingly she was fine...)

Yesterday was another great day! She says she needs to go and she goes! Still very proud of herself! The only new thing today was PANTIES! Nana got her Dora panties and R sure looks cute in them! Rebekah has had a flawless day, including waking up dry from her nap! Yea, Rebekah!

In other news, my new favorite thing is her peekaboo game...she now hides and says, "Where's me?" It is adorable!! This morning she asked "Where's my brother?" We answered "Getting his diaper changed!" Then, she asked, "Where's my sister?" Nana replied, "Just a twinkle in your daddy's eye...or maybe just a puppy down the road!" Funny. :)

Rebekah has started asking, "Where's Grace? Where's David? Where's Miss Amanda...?" With tears in my eyes, all I could manage was, "They're in Iowa, we're in Texas." She solemnly remarked, 'Texas is hot." And that was that.

Luke has become the world's easiest and most handsome baby!! He hardly ever cries and takes amazing naps. We are astonished at the amount of sleep he requires- takes after me! He has been sleeping thru the night, but seems to still really need the partial swaddle we do. Nana experiments in the am nap by not swaddling him (which is fine with me)- this morning he spit out his paci and sucked his thumb! Then, an hour later, she had to swaddle him and he went right back to sleep. I am sooo glad he was not my first or Rebekah's astonishing lack of naps as an infant would have really thrown me! When Luke is awake (maybe 5 hours a day- seriously), he is a DOLL! He grins at us and has started laughing pretty regularly! Nana was giving him a bath this morning and while cleaning his neck (made R scream as a baby), he chuckled so loud I heard him down the hall! I am even more smitten with my son than I could have imagined- more sleep truly does make a HUGE difference!

Luke's bath- his best smiles showed him in the buff too much, so sorry!

Potty Training: Day 2

Another great day! Naked Jones still lovin' being naked! Same plan as day 1- have her tell us when she needs to potty...

How it worked-

Rebekah woke up with a wet diaper, but had no accidents other than that. She POOPED on the potty 2 times and initiated it herself!!!! She was delighted with the extra M&M's she got for going #2! You should see how proud of herself she is! :)

Rebekah woke up from nap and this morning DRY!! She immediately went to the bathroom and was successful!

I'll keep ya updated! You can pray that when we do big girl panties tomorrow that she will be able to recognize the urge fast enough to tell us in time to pull down pants and get to the potty w/o too much incident. :)

Potty Training: Day 1

[deleted cute pic b/c it shows Rebes in the buff!]

About 6 weeks ago, my mother-in-law asked if I would help out at their VBS...I told her I would do it if she would keep my kids and potty train Rebekah! ;) I didn't necessarily mean that she had to start while I was at VBS...indeed, she did! I got to go teach kids (yeah!) while she kept both mine and started doing what I have been dreading!

The plan- go naked as long as it takes for R to start telling us she needs to go...we have a musical potty that plays a song when tee tee or poop hits the bottom. When we hear that sound, we rejoice and she gets M&Ms. (side note- Rebekah was smart enough to squirt water in to produce music, at which point we had to clarify what exactly warranted M&Ms- i.e. bowel movements, not just the music!) We leave the house as little as possible so as to avoid reverting to diapers (except at sleep times)...once R has established that she can predict her physical needs and has successfully gone a couple days, she can wear big girl panties and we can live life again!

How it actually worked-

Naked Jones loved being naked! She trickled once down her leg and hated it. From then on out, she sat on the potty and tee teed! By this afternoon, she was already verbalizing "I need to go tee tee!" I swear, she is like an alpha dog- she holds some in just so she can go again and hear the music! She LOVES the music! So, it all went great until we decided to go to a restaurant- my favorite Italian place that had a special tonight, of course! So, we put a diaper on...she told me at dinner she needed to go tee tee, but alas she did not produce any until the way home in her diaper. She did go again on her potty, much to her musical delight, and surprised herself 5 minutes later when she pooped on the floor. I guess we'll work on that one! We knew it would happen and it was easy to clean, so no harm, no foul! Anyway, Rebekah's favorite part- almost more than the M&Ms- is to hear the music- she throws her hands in the air and shouts "MUUUUUSIC!"

I'll keep ya updated!

And, yes, Luke slept thru again last night!!!

Rebekah's 2nd 2nd Birthday

We are having a great time in south Texas with Nana and Papa! Rebekah's whole face lit up when she saw her Nana and Papa! It has been great to see how much she loves all 4 of her grandparents. Papa got to meet our sweet Luke for the first time and see Rebekah for the first time since Christmas...it was sweet to see him love on our kiddos.

We celebrated Rebekah's 2nd birthday yesterday here at the house. Nana made a precious ladybug cake and had lots of great snacks and some special friends over. Rebekah loved her presents and all the attention. She played and swam a lot!

In other news, Luke has slept thru the night both night we have been here! He has slept from 10pm past 7am!!! He has kept his amazing naps, too! I am shocked at how much this kid loves to sleep- he doesn't even cry when he goes down, almost just seems relieved!

The pictures are chronologically backward- sorry!!!

A Turkish dress from Aunt Sarah...

Playing with Baby Emily and Duncan
Playing with Papa

Luke lovin' his Nana
My precious babies (of course b/c I was holding Baby Luke, Rebekah climbed on, too!)

Wow!!! Isn't he darling?


Nana's ladybug cake
Rebekah loving her birthday crown
Luke LOVES this sleeping position with Nana

Our handsome baby boy

Rebekah with her Grandi
Watching her DVD player for the first time (a gift from Mamama and Grandi)


On the way to Victoria, we stopped by way of College Station and visited our best pals, the Mortons. It was wonderful visiting with our friends and having all 4 kids "play" together.

Baby Luke with "Aunt" Shannie

Rebekah with Baby Abigail

Happy Birthday, Rebes!!

Happy Birthday, My Sweet One!

Precious Rebekah, today you are 2! Two years ago, I could not have imagined the JOY YOU would bring to my life! We have had our ups and our downs, that’s for sure, as we got to know each other your first months of life. I was so unsure in my role as your mother, and whether we would make it! J Thankfully, you have not only survived these past 2 years, but you have thrived! You are a blessing to everyone who knows you, I am sure!

Rebekah Grace, I love…

Your love of life and the laughter you bring to my everyday

Your sweet hugs and kisses and especially your birthday hugs and kisses

Your love of sweet treats

Your protective nature of your brother except when he’s being held by someone you love, too J

Your incredible vocabulary and ability to express exactly what you want

Your tender heart

Your adaptability to change

Your adventurous spirit

Your songs and dances

Your “Hi, Mama!” when you wake up

Your “Hi, Emiwee!” since you learned my name

Your love of the outdoors

Your naked swimming

Your southern drawl

Your counting (1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10)

Your love of your family and friends

YOU!!!!!!

You are the delight of my life and I adore you. I pray that one day soon you will know Jesus as your savior and my heart will rejoice even more. I love you, dear one.

Texas, the 4th of July, and Rebekah's 1st 2nd Birthday party

Hello, y'all! I am fully back into my southern drawl in this crazy heat!! Rebekah let me know the other day that her carseat was hot and had me blow on it...stinkin' hot weather! Anyway, we are safe in Texas at my parents' house thru this week and then off to even hotter south Texas to visit Josh's family for a month, then back to Big D (that's Dallas for you Iowans) 8/10-9/8, when we head off to Scotland!

Our drive down was great- we took Luke and he was a stud!! He either slept or smiled most of the way and my mom was awesome enough to take R with her on her flight, which both enjoyed! Other than the fact that Rebekah, Mom, and now Luke have had vicious coughs (Mom's the worst by far!!!! :( ), it has been great being here! I am LOVING the family time with my parents, Billy, Becky, Riley Jane (oh my gosh- adorable!), and my aunts/uncles, and friends! Luke is now solely on formula in bottles, so I have had lots of help even in the middle of the night! He is starting to regulate a little bit more, only getting up once to eat, which is wonderful. Sadly, tho, we have had some troubles with little Luke- I mentioned he is not nursing- crazy story there...I nursed R for a year and planned to do the same with Luke...however, he started getting really fussy while nursing most of the time and did better with bottles, so I was pumping like crazy. Then, I was pumping all the time and not as much as he was eating and getting pretty stressed about it (who me?)...b/c I was tired of spending so much time feeding him and pumping, I decided to give up nursing- (we had been transferring thrush back and forth, too_- to have the flexibility of the bottle. Sadly, he started getting really fussy while taking bottle, too. He also has had a persistent cough for a month (!) which could be related to reflux...even tho I didn't want to pay out of network, I took him in to see a doc here and he agreed with me that L might have reflux...we started meds last week and he seems to be doing better at eating. The cough persists, but we think it's sickness :( and we'll have to wait it out.

We celebrated Rebekah's 2nd birthday here with family this afternoon! She had a blast and kept saying Happy Birthday Party!!! It was really fun seeing people and for a no gifts party, she got quite a haul of presents- favorites were bubbles, books, Crayons, a backpack, and Tic Tacs!

Aunt Becky (who LOVES Baby Luke like her own) holding Luke in her sling...

Rebekah right before she pawed into her own cake...

We joke that no one would guess that Riley Jane is Becky's and Rebekah is mine!



We went to my aunt's for the 4th...we didn't get a pic of Luke's swim trunks, but his swim shirt says "King of the Beach."

My dad holding Riley Jane, next to my cousin's husband...
Riley Jane

Rebekah has been loving going swimming in the kiddie pool in my parents' yard...


Rebekah goofing off in Old Navy...