Lately....

Grrr! I'm so frustrated, my camera won't let me upload pictures! Or the computer won't. I'm not sure which. The USB port, I think, because our webcam isn't working either, which means no Skype. LAME! I have actually been remembering to take a few What I Wore Wednesday and Small Style pics and can't use them! We also have other fun trips and such that are stuck in my camera!! Hopefully that gets resolved soon.....

Wow, midway through October already! Once Halloween hits in our family, the time goes into warp speed, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and before you know it, Baby Jakiah will be here!! That is crazy! I'm feeling really good these days, but bigger and bigger. I swear, I'm going to outgrow maternity clothes that fit me all the way up last pregnancy....maybe because he's a boy, maybe because it's the 2nd pregnancy, who knows why? I know part of it is that I am carrying him a little different than Kalaya too. Other than getting bigger and feeling lots and lots of movement from this little guy, I feel totally normal. Appetite is fine, sleeping pretty well, etc. I know that sleep may be affected soon, he's getting bigger and as a tummy sleeper (sigh...), I know my days are limited....I've been padding with more and more pillows, which is helping for now.

Kalaya is busy busy these days! We just started swim lessons last night and she LOVES them. She is probably the oldest in the class (it's the baby and me style), but it's perfect for her. She follows the teachers' directions exactly and gets so into it. I hope to post pics soon! It's a fun time for the three of us.

We went to the pumpkin patch on Sunday, again, hopefully will post pics soon! I can't believe this is already our THIRD YEAR of the pumpkin patch/Halloween and that next year we will be visiting as a family of four. Crazy! We went with two of her little friends and they had a blast. I scored her Halloween costume at a consignment store last week and it is sooooooo cute! I can't wait to show pics. And, it is really nice and warm and was really inexpensive! I'll do a special WIWW for Halloween. Stay tuned!

It's funny. I just posted last week about co-sleeping and literally the next day, she requested to sleep in 'Kalaya's bed'. I think a big part of it is that I finally got her room in order, and bought some new things to decorate it. (again, ANOTHER pic I want to post....as well as more 'after' pictures of the house!) I have been trying to avoid licensed characters as long as I can, but decided to cave and decorate her room with Sesame Street stuff, because I knew she'd want to spend more time on it. Again, pics will (hopefully!) be posted soon! But, she has started sleeping in her own bed, every night, with no problems. She did roll off the end her very first night, but it barely phased her and she was fine. Don't know if it will last, but it seems to be okay. We are SO glad we let her decide on her own when to do this. There's more room in our bed now, which is nice, but she will always be welcome back if she changes her mind.

We have been working on potty training much more than we have in the past. Since we're finally settled in (and most of our house is laminate, not carpeted....), I've been trying the 'diaper free' method. Everyone I know who tried this raved about it and said it was quickly a success. Well....not the case yet at our house. The point of no diaper is, of course, to let them learn to feel what it feels like when they have to go. That is not a problem for Kalaya, she gets that. She literally holds it all day, until the pull up goes on at nap or bed time and then goes almost immediately, reports to me and wants to be changed. She seems to just be being stubborn, we're not sure why. She will sit on the potty no problem, for extended periods of time, but not go in it. She loves watching 'Elmo's Potty Time' and totally gets all of the concepts, but...nothing yet. It is tiring, but I know we'll get there.

The house FINALLY is starting to feel like home. The inside is pretty much in order. Everything is put up, put away, organized, etc. There are a few more pieces of furniture we'd like to add over time, but for the most part, we're about there. We still need to order and install blinds and curtains, but everything else is about done. Because of the plumbing issue I posted about, we can no longer afford to upgrade our half bath to a full at this point. I'm disappointed, but I'm choosing to focus on the fact that we had the money to pay for the problem we had, rather than having to go in debt for it. Maybe if tax return time is good to us, we'll upgrade then. Though, I think we're going to try to find a way to purchase a second car (mini van baby!!) because we are going to need it!! We'll see. At this point, here are all of the things we have done or had done to the house: professional cleaners, painted all walls, doors, trim and ceilings, repaired large hole in living room wall, replaced family room carpet, paid a LOT to have a working washer and dryer, replaced all indoor thresholds, replaced flooring in laundry area, removed dead tree from back yard, had very large tree in front yard professionally pruned, attacked 4 foot tall weeds in front yard, fixed garage door opener, changed water dispenser/ice maker filter in fridge, had all ducts professionally cleaned, replaced light switches, had multiple electrical stuff done, furnace cleaned and serviced, had exterminators out to get rid of yellow jackets in crawl space (3 times...), had roof repaired, and replaced all gutters. We are still: having the gas powered wood stove (you read that correctly) serviced before we use it (today), having drywall put up over the large hole from the washing machine repair (tomorrow), having a french drain and trench put in the backyard to keep runoff from going under the house (Saturday), and ordering and installing mini blinds on all the windows. WHEW!!! Thank you very, very much to my parents for letting us live with them to save up, as well as my aunt and grandparents for some gifts along the way. Otherwise we would be up to our eyeballs in dept! Even with ALL this stuff, we still got an incredible deal on this house, I swear!!