WOW! So much has happened...

First off...let's start with the good things.

Jayson turned 4 on the 19th! I CANNOT believe that I have a 4 year old! It does not even seem possible that it has been that long since I first saw my beautiful baby boy for the first time! I remember everything about that day. The excitement, the nervousness, the love. The first time I was able to hold my little boy was amazing and sad at the same time. It came about nine hours after giving birth and realizing that he was having breathing problems. They were getting ready to transfer him to the NICU in Twin and brought him in so we could see him before they left. They let me hold him for just a matter of about a minute and I passed him to his daddy. That was it. Then they took my son and left. The next 8 days were miserable! To see him attatched to so many tubes and wires broke my heart! The nurses called him the "moose" because they were not use to having a "normal" sized baby in the NICU. Once we were able to bring him home, we were so overjoyed! And he has been bringing that joy to our lives every day since!

And We Have Success!

After yesterdays post about being so frustrated with my son not pooping in the potty, I came up with the idea to make a poo poo chart for him. Every time he poops in the potty, he gets to put a sticker on the chart. And once he gets five stickers, he gets to go pick out a new train (Thomas & Friends) at the store. He didn't really care for the idea at first. But after a few hours, he was determined to try as hard as he could! He tried several times last night without success. However, he decided that he needed to try a few minutes after I had put him in his room for his nap today. So, I decided to let him try. Well, for the first time in I don't know how long, HE POOPED IN THE POTTY! I immediately scooped him up and gave him a BIG hug and told him how I was very proud of him and let him put his sticker on his chart. He then proceeded to get back on the potty to poop a little bit more and wanted another sticker...lol. And I gave it to him. What was I suppose to do? lol He did get on the potty twice and poop twice...

Now all he wants to do is sit and try to go poop. I had to tell him that there wasn't any more poop in there right now. That his belly had to have lots of time to be able to make more. So He went into his room and two minutes later, was back on the potty. He told me that his belly had made more and that he needed to poop. lol Needless to say, he wasn't able to and I put him back to bed. But at least he is wanting to try now. Before, there was absolutely NO desire to even think about it. It was a flat out NO!

I am so excited that this has worked so far! I just hope that it continues to help and that it turns into a habbit for him instead of always needing incentives. IT WORKED!!!

Oh, the Wonderful Joys of Potty Training!

Well, here we are...in the wonderful days of potty training two kids! lol I knew these days were coming. And I've actually tried to hurry them along on several other occassions. But...Jayson has now been daytime potty trained for a little over a year now. And he WAS doing both in the potty for a little while. However, was is the key word in that last sentence. AT some point, he decided that he liked the comfort of pooping in his diaper at night or first thing in the morning better. Then, about two months after we moved into the new house, he decided that pooping anyway but the toilet was better. So, he started pooping in his underwear too! We have tried incentives, punishments, taking things away, and just taking him out of diapers completely! He was even staying dry at night! But he is still pooping his pants and his mother is about at her wits end!

Ava, on the other hand, has done really well with potty training. We started putting her in underwear during the day about three weeks ago. For the first week, she had an accident a day. And it was always only wet accidents. Since then, she just goes running to the potty when she needs to go or tells me that she needs to go if she is in for a nap. She stays dry during her naps. And has even worn underwear to church twice with no problems. She even goes poop in the potty...all by herself! I have tried to praise her infront of Jayson so that he will get the idea that it is a good thing and that he will get positive attention when he goes in the potty. But minutes later, he has pooped his pants again!

I am proud of both of my kids for their accomplishments. And I know that all kids are different. I just wish I knew what to do to help Jayson understand that he needs to use the potty for #1 & #2. But nothing seems to hit home with him. Hopefully this changes soon!

Fun at the Fair and Rodeo

It has always been a family tradition to go to the Cassia County Fair and Rodeo. At least on the Dayley side of the family. So I am trying to pass that along to my kids. This year, just like last, I took Jayson and Ava to the parade on Wednesday morning. Then to the fair for lunch and to wander around looking at all of the displays and animals. They had a blast! We also go to the rodeo on Saturday night. It is the last night of the fair and rodeo and they have the queen coronation. They also have the "wild cow ride" which is where a bunch of teams of guys try to put saddles on cows and ride them through a designated area to win. It is HILARIOUS! I'm not sure that Jayson and Ava grasped the concept of what was actually going on. But they were laughing at all of the craziness none the less. My parents, Sarah, and some of the other brothers and sisters usually try to come that night too. But for the last two years, it has just been the kids and I. We have missed having the family there to have fun with. But we make sure to have fun anyway!

I didn't get any pictures. But I am going to try to get better at that along with the actual blogging. I'm not going to promise anything. Because, it seems like when I do, I fail miserably! I am just going to do the best that I can! I know that it is very important to do this. Not just for me, but my kids and those that come along after we are gone.

Honestly meant to...

After my last post about my friend's little girl passing, I truly meant to start blogging more regularly. But, as it has a tendency to do, life became pretty hectic. Since that post, Ava turned 2, we've been out of town and we have a newer single wide in place of our old, run down single wide that we had.

Ava, my sweet little girl. Where has the time gone?! She turned 2 on the 17th of may. And it seems like she has been even more grown up since then! She is definitely her own little person. And she is soooooooo dang stubborn! But she is the sweetest thing you could imagine! She thinks that she is such a big girl now that she has her own room too!

Jayson is still Jayson. He is getting bigger every day. And becoming smarter and smarter all the time! I honestly don't know where he gets his memory from! If you say something under your breath, in passing, he will remember it months down the road! Even if it is never mentioned in between!

And as I mentioned, we have a new house! We were able to work out a trade deal with a guy that lived across the street from mom and dad in Layton. And Skip and Lola helped with the moving costs to get it to Declo. It is still a single wide. But it is a 3 bd, 1 3/4 bath with a laundry room and a bigger kitchen and master bedroom. It is definitely a lot nicer than the one that we were in! The old one didn't have any insulation to speak of...you could feel the wind blow through all the time. Anytime that there was a big windstorm, I would sit and pray, "Please, Lord, bless this house!" And just repeat it over and over! lol The kids had to share a tiny bedroom. And there wasn't very much of a kitchen. But, in the new one, Jayson and Ava have their own rooms and a full bath to share. It is much roomier. The old one was a 12x56. And the new one is a 14x66. I have a bigger kitchen with counterspace, a small laundry/pantry room, and our master bedroom has a 3/4 bath and a small walk-in closet! It needs some updating and some decorating. But a HUGE improvement! We have been so blessed in having this home become ours! I knew from the very beginning that this was meant to be and that the Lord was blessing our family with this new home.

Because you never know what is going to happen...

We had a little girl in our ward, Jayci Darrington, pass away friday due to a tragic drowning accident. She was 16 mo. old and she was the cutest little girl! She would run around in relief society and give everyone she saw the biggest grin! I loved watching her every week. I am her mom's visiting teacher and consider her a friend. I have tried to allow her time to spend with her family during this sad time, but have checked on her a couple of times. And I have to say that she is quite possibly one of the strongest people I know. She has had such strength through all of this! I really don't know that I could be so strong when faced with such a heart wrenching tragedy. It has definitely made me hold onto my two little ones more than normal in the last few days! It really kind of hit home where Ava is only 6 mo. older than Jayci. And in some ways, they looked a lot alike. At least in my opinion. Krissy, Jayci's mom, has opened up her blog for everyone to read about her special little girl. She was such a sweet little thing and she was loved dearly! Life is so short as it is! But to have someone so young taken so early just breaks my heart! The Darrington's are never far from my thoughts and I see Jayci in my mind's eye all day long. I hope and pray that the Lord will give them the comfort and the strength that they need to not only carry them through the next few days, but throughout the years to come. I also hope that he can heal the community that so loved this little girl!

I realized after this very tragic event this past weekend, that I really needed to start blogging again because you never know what is going to happen. And I don't want to miss out on any memories. I want to be able to look back at this blog and be able to remember all of the special times in our family and be able to pass them on to the generations to come.

A lot going on lately

Well, I haven't been able to write for a few days. I've had two sick kids, been helping mom & dad go through boxes at Grandma Larson's, and had company come into town today. But I figured that I had better at least do a small post tonight because it will be a week before I am able to post again. We are going to Utah with mom & dad tomorrow to spend the week. We will be attending Malachi's viewing and funeral in the next couple of days.