Adan is 4 1/2

Adan is 4 1/2 today. Wow were has the time gone? Adan says, "Mom I am a big four now, I am so big!" Yes Adan is so big. Oh how my first baby has grown so fast. It was fun today, because I got to go to parent/teacher conferences today. I guess you can call it desperate to get out of the house! I met with Mrs. Beth today. It was so fun to hear her tell me about all the great things Adan is doing and learning. I am so glad that he behaves so well at school. She mentioned that he has great peer relations, listens to directions, etc.. Things that he does not necessarily do at home. I am grateful that at least he does respect his teacher and we can continue to work on the things he isn't doing at home as a continual learning process. Esspecailly since lately he has been telling Aaron and me that he is so glad to go to school because he needs a break from Mateo. He loves his brother but having him as his shadow has been an adjustment. Adan is really learning a lot at home and school. He loves to sound out words and spell words. He loves his friends at school and church. I know he is going to miss them. He is looking forward to being with his cousins in Utah though. Adan is my big 4 year old who is now 36lbs and 3ft 5 1/2 in. Thank you Adan for teaching us so much. You have taught us to be more patient, kind, loving and thoughtful.

Potty Success

Mateo is having potty success. I am so excited that Mateo is catching on. For a day I felt like giving up. I am not sure if it is because I have been in way more than I am use to or what, but I had a hard Saturday. Then on Sunday since I was unsure I was ready to put him back in a diaper. Mateo said, "Mom, I am too big for a diaper." hmm, I think he had heard his mom and dad say that a time or two when we were getting tired of changing diapers. So we put him in a pull up and away we went to church. He kept himself dry and clean for the day until about 5p.m. Unfortunately, my bad days weren't over and I got frustrated and put him in a diaper. Again he kept himself dry. WOW! Good job Mateo. By Monday we he turned the corner and only had one accident. So I am so glad that I did not give up because the last two days have been really good! Now we just have to work on the night time stuff, but I feel I can handle it. We haven't ventured to too many places, I will give us until Friday to make sure he is doing well still. Mainly because he is still a little scared to use the potty at times even when he knows he has to go.

Personality Test

I know that I have seen this before and taken the test, but since has been so long I didn't remember the answers, I knew I had seen the questions before. I enjoyed it and thought you might enjoy it as well. Since I usually do not send a big forward email to people, I thought I would post it on my blog to let people take it if they wish. Here is the link for those of you who would like to take the test. http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html

Mateo at 32 1/2 months

My goal was to start potty training Mateo when he was 30 months (2 1/2 years old). Well with 3 children to take care of and one of them being a demanding little one, I did not reach my goal. Well this was the week to take the plunge I guess with only 3 weeks left of school and less than 60 days before our move. At the beginning of the month we had some potty sucess but with a few family sicknesses and only one potty that ended. Mateo had done such a good job and was on track and earned Dora:Super Babies and on track to earn a second DVD Little Einstien's. So this Thursday which seemed no better day than to start we picked up where we started and he has since earned the Little Einstien's DVD. I am hopeful that we will have success overwise I don't see it happening until after Mateo's 3rd birthday. I am not sure if in Utah they require the kids to be potty trained for preschool, but I know that is going to be way too much pressure upon arriving to Logan.

Jacob at 7 months

Jacob thankfully sleeps through the night. Is great about taking naps, as long as we are at home. Loves eating solid food. Is majorally attached to his mommy. I am glad that Jacob likes to bounce around in an exersaucer that we borrowed from the Fox's. It gives me a break from holding him once in awhile. Jacob loves his brothers, enjoys their toys and their attention. He is still just rolling to get to things thankfully. He enjoys pushing his body up, but that is about it. If he waits to start vrawling until we get to Utah, I will be just fine. He can sit really well. he now has two teeth and is getting two more in. We love Jacob(or as the boys would say, Jakie).

Adan at the Safari

Today we went to the Safari in the high delta in LA with Adan's preschool. I have included some pictures from our trip today. We really enjoyed driving over with our friends the Kee's. We loved spending time with Adan's friends from school and their moms. I was very lucky to take Adan all by myself while Mateo and Jacob stayed with my neighbor. Jacob was good and didn't even cry! That was major progress for Jacob. Since he is my boy who cries unless his mommy is holding him.

Ready for the summer

This weekend we got a surprise for the kids. Since we are almost down to 60 days before we leave for Utah, we got new crocs. We are preparing for the warm weather this week. I also had to buy new clothes for Adan and me to prepare for the warm weather. Adan only had a couple of shorts. He recently has just had a growth spurt. He also needed new pajamas. I thought it would be fun to buy everyone crocs since Adan and Mateo's feet are out growing the current cros we have, and we only have one pair since one pair got lost. The boys were very excited at the new colors they got. Aaron's crocs were also wearing out and he couldn't wear them were things were slippery because the traction was worn down. I also got myself two pairs but they are the girly version. I am a women in a household with all boys (although I do have Jasmine) so I splurged a little.

A cute bunch of boys, a cat and a great bathroom!

The boys enjoy playing with Jacob when he is on the floor. Since I have taken a picture of them previously, Mateo thinks I should take a picture every time.


Jasmine enjoying the new furniture set up and waiting for the book group guests to arrive last night.



Our new bathroom has made a lot of progress in the last week. Aaron worked very hard after a very stressful day (he took the P.E. all day) last Friday before going out of town. He put up most of the tile on the wall and got the floor grouted. He was able to seal it upon returning and get the toliet in. We are all excited not to have to be sharing one toliet. There are still some finishing touches but here is the progree so far. I am really happy with the outcome thus far. We just have a few tiles to put up around the shower and the wall, grout and paint. The end of the project is in sight!

A super and a sitter

We have a superhero in our home. His name is Super Mateo as I like to call him. However if you talk to him he is Mateo. The cape is his favorite part. Mateo has a very strong knowledge of who he is and he is very quick to tell you who he is. What is funny about the whole thing though is if you ask him to do something and he doesn't want to do it, he'll either respond by saying I am Fireman Sam (or something else). When you say Fireman Sam will you go do this? He will respond with I AM MATEO (so somehow in his mind he doesn't have to do the task)! Or he will say Mom just a minute. (I think he has heard that a time or two from his mom).

Jacob has finally just started to sit. He really enjoys his new ability and is more content. So he is being left on the floor far more than usual. However when I leave the room he just starts crying uncontrollably. Jacob does that often or if Aaron is holding him and I am in the room he will just cry until I hold him. Also over conference weekend his two bottom teeth started coming in! He is enjoying biting things, especially his spoons when you feed him baby food.

We have had a great week! Aaron got home from Utah yesterday and we are glad to have him home. He enjoyed the trip and he was able to see all of our family in Utah.

I am most excited for his homecoming because Aaron is finishing our bathroom this week! We will post some pictures of the finished product soon.

Mateo can usually be found in one of his two SuperMan shirts.


Jacob sitting at 6 1/2 months

I love Spring

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. I really enjoy the Spring in Vicksburg. I have also been enjoying being able to plant some flowers and caring for them. I have managed to have some annuals grow since last September. They were only suppose to last until November but seeming since the winter is not too cold here they made it through and are growing so big now. I also planted daffodils for the first time and they are doing great.

Tornados in Vicksburg

On Friday two tornados hit Vicksburg. I didn't even know that adverse weather conditions were on the way. It made our weekend very interesting. Luckily we have a generator and it wasn't too bad. Except those couple of cold showers I took. I was glad today after 73 hours of no electricity to have a loved neccesity to come back on. I think the most frustrating part of having no electricity was the fact that the kids could not seem to grasp that we could not turn the lights on and off and night time was very frightening for them. Other than that, our generator made things go smoothly. However, I am very grateful that it is Spring weather conditions and we did not have to worry about needing an air conditioner, because that would have made the whole expierence quite different. We are very thankful for being able to go to friends house for the weekend to watch conference as well. I think that was a big sanity saver.
Here is our great generator that saved us lots of money. It also helped out several neighbors as well. We were able to run a 100ft cord to the Erekson's and they were just able to plug in there fridge.


I also wanted to include the delicious breakfast we enjoyed. We used our dutch oven several times this weekend as well as a camp stove and our grill!

Byrd boys!

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys!

The picture of Adan swinging is real. I love how I was able to capture this moment. He has become quite adventurous

Adan

Earlier this week we had a fun Family Home Evening at the Fox's that included some yummy homemade pizza. Since we now have neighbors that live the next block over, I decided it would be fun to have Adan ride his bike over while I pushed Mateo and Jacob. Adan really enjoyed getting to ride on the road.

April is already here

Well I have offically started counting down the days until we leave for Utah. With only 80 days to go I am feeling various pressures. The main one being, packing up the house. Since yesterday was the first day of a new month I decided I would start packing up things we will not be needing anytime soon. I mostly started packing because I have been trying to keep my house clean and it always seems that i am just moving clutter from one room to another. I wanted to have a picture worthy room with the book cases not just looking like a disorganized library. So I got out some of my cute baskets rearranged and packed up some things. The result, better organization and a feeling of things being clean.