Going Private!!..Leave your Email Please!!!

So since the summer i have been meaning to make our blog private. To me its more of a online family journal that eventually i want to make into a book. I used to scrapbook but who has time for that..so this is my scrapbook.. and i find myself posting more and more personal info, pictures and memories from our life that i dont just want anyone on the web to see.

So Please leave your email address in the comments so i can invite you to our blog.

Thanks!   Rachelle :)

Also I couldn't help myself and had to post some pics of the boys. I totally forgot about these photos, i did a small photoshoot of the boys right before we were headed out to Alberta for a few weeks back when Nixon was 3 mths old.. i cant believe he is more than doubled that now.. but anyways here are a few that i happened to get..

Nixon these days..and Can you spot the difference??

Well Nixon is growing so much these days, he will be 7 mths in 1.5 wks and this month he has had so many new things happen:

1st solids, rolling like a maniac all over the place, sitting up on his own, he even cut his first 2 bottom teeth this week and has been keeping me up all night between teething and being sick, poor little guy.

aww makes me sad to see him growing so fast, i almost need another one already....haha got ya!

Honestly i think he will be crawling soon, next month i swear.  He just LOVES his tummyso much, as soon as you put him on his back he just flips right over and cant keep still, he even trys to flip over in his car seat its pretty funny. He has even tried getting his knees up under himself and scoot alittle so i think he will be crawling soon. YIKES.. i am in for it. hopefully not though, knock on wood.. Elias didnt crawl until 10.5mths so i was lucky.. heres to hoping.

Heres some pics of his 1sts over this last month:

i just LOVE this pic, his eyes, his little smirk..

shirtless, the best, loving the little man boobs

man, does he LOVE the jolly jumper

for real, this is how he falls asleep, cuddling his little horse

i thought this pic was so funny.. classic pic of Nixon

loves playing in the tub

sitting up like a big boy.. he's becoming a pro now.

And lastly, Can you spot the difference??

                          Elias at 4mths                                                          Nixon at 6mths  

I sure can! I think for sure the biggest difference is that they both look so different, especially their stature.. just look at how much tightier that sleeper is on Elias and this is a 12mth sleeper from Costco.. we just make our boys big & tall! And also check out that head on Elias, why oh why could i have not had Nixon's head for my 1st baby..oh, just thinking about it..ouch!

But the one very similar thing about the two is how happy and easy going babies they have both been, Elias was always smiling all the time, and well we all know that Nixon never stops. Elias was a better sleeper, and Nixon is more of a mommas boy and a big cuddler.

It was so fun to come across this pic of Elias the other day and realize i had one of Nixon too.

The Potty Boot Camp..its works!!

OKay so if anyone knows me, they know the troubles i have gone through potty-training Elias :(
Lets just say we attempted pottytraing back in May and after not much success at all.. do to lack of potty training methods and pullups that just confused him more i decided to take a break for the summer since he was refusing to go at all.

Well summer came and went in pullups and all summer i had been prepping Elias that we werent going to be in pullups anymore. I was bound and determined to find another method, i mean there had to be something better than just going blindly into pottytraining.. i mean there had to be. So i researched and found something i thought would work ALOT better.. and boy did it work better, it worked AMAZINGLY!
The program i did is called The Potty Boot Camp by Suzanne Riffel http://www.thepottybootcamp.com/ , the website is kinda ghetto, they are remodelling the site but this program works!!! Better than i could have even imagined! The book consists of the most time-tested, best known methods of pottytraining all put into a simple, short, cookbook style book. It is so easy to follow and consists of about 4 days of pottytraining, the 1st day is the big kahuna.. where 90% all the potty-training is done, the author says most children will initiate going to the potty by the end of the 1st day.. i couldnt believe it but by the afternoon of that 1st day, Elias told me he had to go pee. And for the 1-2 months of training before the summer he had never said that to me even once!! So i was beyond excited. And then from day 1 on, he was telling me he had to go potty, dont get me wrong he had some accidents, mostly outside the home (when he would be playing with friends and forget to tell me) but he was telling me!!!  It has now been about 2.5 weeks and he is doing sooo good. It took almost about 1.5 weeks for him to tell me he had to go poo, and is now telling me all the time. He had major problem with going poo and would always run and hide, so it was the best day of my life when we were at the park and he told me he had to go (Karen & Krystyn can atest to that). Its a good thing i had my trusty "on the go potty" by Kalencom (the best invention ever, you can get it at "Cravings" here in saskatoon for $20 and its a potty that folds up and you can carry in your purse!). The author recommends this potty and it has saved many a poopy pants when we are out and about. And also one of the most amazing things is that Elias has never peed during his nap since starting, and has only wet the bed a few times at night, i still put a nighttime pullup on him but he rarely pees in it, unless he has had too much to drink before bed. Amazing eh??

So what else can i say but TRY THIS BOOK, i downloaded it for stinkin $5.00 and then printed it off (but the book would so be worth it to buy). I think the author Suzanne should get an award or something, because for real she is awesome. I was so stressed about this and she even insists on you emailing her  if you have any questions or problems and so I did and she was sooo good at emailing me back and giving me advice and options.
I was sooo desperate and i cant even begin to tell you how amazing it feels when Elias now at only 2.5 weeks into it, rarely has accidents, tells me all the time when he has to go and mostly now goes to the potty all by himself.. Just look at that picture of him, its say it all..

Don't worry i am not naive enough to think he wont have any more accidents, because he has had plenty and probably still will have a few.. but i know that this program works better than anything i tried and i tried alot, i mean ALOT of techniques.

So thats my speel on the potty boot camp, i am all about doing things easier and about reading up on any issues, whether its sleeping problems, discipline, nursing, and yes pottytraining. All i know is that i wished someone would have recommended this to me before i went through all the trouble... so here it is  my feed back, hopefully it will work out as well for you too!

Okay, sweetest pic ever! Can you tell how excited he is with that orange pop!!

The 1st day they get "special drinks" so they will drink lots of fluids and go potty tons, this was 

a pop leftover from Jer's father and son campout and Elias was beyond happy to have it!

Mother of the Year..haha

Okay so some of you have already heard this story, but i wanted to write it down because it was so funny and as mom's i think things like this probably happen more than we realize.

So the other day i was at the zoo with the kids and some friends, i took a bottle for Nixon to feed in case we were there longer than i planned and didnt want to nurse him, i dont give him a bottle too often and when i do i take a little ziploc baggie filled with some formula.. anyways he got hungry and so i made him a bottle.
As i was feeding him i noticed it looked really murky and kinda grainy. But i thought well its been awhile maybe i forgot want it looks like, then my friend Kwynne mentioned my formula looked weird and asked which kind i used. I said i know it does look funny, but i use Similac and i just put it into baggies and take them with me.. it was then that i realized i had already had a ziploc baggie in my purse and i just assumed it was formula.
A light bulb came on and i thought maybe just maybe it could be Rice Cereal.. hahaha. I dont recall putting rice cereal into a baggie to take anywhere, but i guess i must have.. anyways it was then that i realized he had been drinking Rice Cereal all along. I tried to take it away, but Nixon started crying and so he had liquid rice cereal that day instead of formula..

..ya i know.. Mother of the Year award!!

Okay People, I need your help!

I need to know which picture you all prefer.. the color or the B&Wchocolate??  I seriously can't decide and i need to get an enlargment on my wall before nixon is a year old.. haha

Thanks 

Not Again!!!

it was really foggy with all the powder in the air!

So i was getting ready in the bathroom this morning when i started to smell BABY POWDER.. immediately i ran into Elias room only to find him emptying the large bottle of Baby powder all over his room... by the time i had smelt it he had managed to empty the whole thing and was jumping around in as it covered everything..the whole room was foggy from all the baby powder and i wasnt the least bit pleased.

The day before he had been playing in his pop-up play castle with all his toys inside.. and so it was entirely covered in ALOT of baby powder.. 

let's just say i was NOT happy about cleaning all of this up.. it was on everything!!

I was hoping he was out of this stage of getting into things.. but oh no.. it always STILL one thing after the other with him. I guess you could kind of say it was my own fault since i left the cap open.. but i wont say that.

Family Pictures..finally!

So we finally got some family pictures done, it's been a long time coming. We havent had a family picture since elias was 3 weeks old. Its funny it seemed like i was always taking everyone else's family pictures but never getting any of our own.

While we were visiting me and my sister in law rebecca did photography for each other and that was really nice, but actually i wouldnt have minded just paying someone to edit them as well..haha, oh well i finally got around to editing them and here are a few of my favorites...

I am really happy with the results. Elias was kinda of a stinker, but Nixon couldnt stop smiling.. wish i would have gotten some taken with just the boys together too.

..let me know which family pic everyone likes the best because then i am going to get a nice canvas enlargement for my wall.

this one if my fave family pic for sure..

this is a classic pic of our family, elias doing his typical posing and nixon smiling out of control..haha

Also thought while i'm updating on the family pics, i would update on our lives for the past few months.

Jeremy has now gone back to school for his last and final year of Denistry..YAYAY!! i can't even believe it will be coming to a close.. that chapter of our lives. It hard to imagine life without being in school and as much as i am excited, i will be very sad to leave. Jer also took the American boards and passed, phew! We are thinking of going to Montana somewhere after graduation but who really knows where we will end up.. but i think we both would love to end up there. Jer is also doing PX90, or so i say P90X.. anyways its a pretty intense workout, but he is hoping to get back in shape and so i've been trying to help to by cooking healthier and trying to excerise as well. Between studying and school, he loves to make some time for golf as well.

As for me, well i am just loving being a mom to my two awesome boys.. i just love being able to stay at home with them, really. It has been nice to have some me time as well doing photography over the last few years.. but i have decided to put that on the backburner for now.. life is just a little too busy with two small kids and a husband in school, but someday i will LOVE to get back at it (even though i will still do the odd session). I look forward to finding new hobbies and spending more time with the kids.

Elias is such a big boy now.. i can't believe how much older he seems these days. He will be three at the end of November and is in full force potty training mode right now. He is doing super good, so we will see if it continues. In a few weeks he will be taking a gymnastics class with some of his friends. He is such an active little boy, i know he will LOVE this. Especially since he is too young for preschool yet i needed him to be in something..

i asked Elias what his faves are right now, this is what he said: color-green, toys- trains, playing golf & hockey, popsicles, bike rides, shows-Backyardigans Go Diego Go, Wakeboarding (of course), and yes Dora the Explorer, Nana & Papa, his buddies: Greta, Jost & Ben, fave food: he said "celery"..haha and of course Swimming, and using his flippers he said.

Nixon is 6mths old, ohh that makes me sad.. but he is so fun right now too. He has the biggest smile and the longest eyelashes i could just eat him up! He is rolling all over the place, and can sit up on his own for a bit. He isnt quite sleeping through the whole night yet 7:00-4:30 (feed once) and then back to sleep until 7:30. He seriously is the happiest and most content baby ever!!

(so was elias, i've been blessed that way) and he is now eating solids like a champ and loving it.

Well thats our life in a nutshell right now, hopefully we can get out and enjoy this hot weather while it lasts.. i am getting sick of being cooped up while pottytraining...