Some of the things that Will says are so cute. One of them is that he says the word "forgot" backwards. He says "got-for." That is the only word that he says backwards and I mentioned it to my mom. She said I did the same thing with that word when I was little! How crazy!
And then... Dane rolled over for the first time last Tuesday! August 24th. When I told my mom she asked how old Will was when he rolled over for the first time. Hmmm, I checked his baby book and he rolled over on November 4th. I did the math in my head and they were literally within days of each other! How fun is that? 4 1/2 months.
So I guess that the apple doesn't fall far from... the other apples... either.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
House Remodel - Weeks 8 & 9
The last two weeks they hung all of the drywall and finally we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! You can really tell what the house is going to feel like now.
Here is looking from the corner of the living room up into the kitchen and hall.
Here is looking from the corner of the living room up into the kitchen and hall.
I am standing in what will be the kitchen looking down the hall and down into the living room. 
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Invasion of the Catalpas!
Our house is a renovated old farmhouse that Luke's grandparents lived in. We have 3 Catalpa trees on the property that Luke and I both love. Luke has said that his Grandpa planted the Catalpa trees because they attract the Catalpa Caterpillar (worm/sphinx). He enjoyed fishing and these worms/caterpillars make a great bait to fish with. Well, we've never actually seen these creatures, but enjoyed the story nonetheless.
This morning I went out onto the back porch to replace a security light bulb that had burned out. Oh My Gosh there were caterpillars EVERYWHERE! All over the back porch, on the side of the house, everywhere! I ran to get Will and have him come to look at them all. There were so many! I had no idea what they were. Then I wondered if they could be... So I ran inside and googled Catalpa Worm and sure enough - found pictures of these little guys.
Here was what our back porch looked like:
Then I went over to the trees to look at them and sure enough, there were more on the leaves!
This morning I went out onto the back porch to replace a security light bulb that had burned out. Oh My Gosh there were caterpillars EVERYWHERE! All over the back porch, on the side of the house, everywhere! I ran to get Will and have him come to look at them all. There were so many! I had no idea what they were. Then I wondered if they could be... So I ran inside and googled Catalpa Worm and sure enough - found pictures of these little guys.
Here was what our back porch looked like:
Then I went over to the trees to look at them and sure enough, there were more on the leaves!
Then I noticed the leaves on the trees. Or lack there of. They have eaten them all!! It looks like they've only invaded the tree in our back yard. Here is what the leaves on that tree look like. They're all gone!
And here is the Catalpa tree on the side of our house. I couldn't believe the difference!!
Come to think of it, when they were on the back porch they were all crawling in the same direction. In the direction of this tree above. I wonder if they finished with the back yard tree and were moving on to the fresh trees on the side of the house. Because now, there are none of these sneaky guys to be seen on the back porch. Only on the leaves in the trees. Maybe this is why we've never seen them before. They're quick! They attack with a vengeance! It's fun to live in a place with some history.
And here is the Catalpa tree on the side of our house. I couldn't believe the difference!!
Come to think of it, when they were on the back porch they were all crawling in the same direction. In the direction of this tree above. I wonder if they finished with the back yard tree and were moving on to the fresh trees on the side of the house. Because now, there are none of these sneaky guys to be seen on the back porch. Only on the leaves in the trees. Maybe this is why we've never seen them before. They're quick! They attack with a vengeance! It's fun to live in a place with some history. Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Potty Training Update
When we first started potty training Will things were going great! I thought that in a couple of weeks we would be completely trained and be able to put Will's diapers behind us. Especially when we made the trip to Michigan and he had a dry pull-up the whole time and let us know when he had to go and we would pull over. That told me he was capable and ready. I'm not sure what happened, but we've completely regressed and now I'm lucky if he goes ONE time on the potty in a day. We've done the potty chart, candy rewards, excessive praise, promises of more toys (aka bribes) - we've tried it all. This weekend we pulled out all the stops and put into place the ultimate system - the do or die of potty training. We put up all of his BELOVED tractors, trucks and cars. Not one is out to play with. The system? When he pees 5 times on the potty he gets one (of his choice) back. We KNEW this would work. He plays with them 24-7! Did it work? No, hasn't changed one thing. It's like he could care less. He doesn't care about the tractors and he doesn't care one bit about sitting in a dirty pull up.
Tonight he was in his room and said something about playing with a fire truck. I said "Fire truck? You aren't supposed to have any trucks to play with right now." I made a mental note to get the truck and take it to the back porch with the others. The night went on and I forgot to take it away. I was finishing tucking him into bed and reading him some stories and walked toward his door. As I was turning off his light he said "don't forget the fire truck!" Surprised, I looked at him and he was pointing to where it was sitting on the ledge near the door. Then he said "Throw it out on the back porch... with the others!" I said "ok..... thanks."
Yes, he may indeed start school wearing Pull-Ups.
Tonight he was in his room and said something about playing with a fire truck. I said "Fire truck? You aren't supposed to have any trucks to play with right now." I made a mental note to get the truck and take it to the back porch with the others. The night went on and I forgot to take it away. I was finishing tucking him into bed and reading him some stories and walked toward his door. As I was turning off his light he said "don't forget the fire truck!" Surprised, I looked at him and he was pointing to where it was sitting on the ledge near the door. Then he said "Throw it out on the back porch... with the others!" I said "ok..... thanks."
Yes, he may indeed start school wearing Pull-Ups.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
House Remodel - End of Weeks 6 and 7
I grouped last week and the week before together because a lot of the things they were working on ran over the course of 2 weeks. Here are some of the things that have been going on.
The 2 downstairs bedrooms had small windows that were up high - on ground level. The times have changed and now you have to have 9 cubic feet outside a window and only be 4 feet off the floor to pass inspection as a "bedroom" for egress purposes. So we had to get larger windows for the 2 bedrooms downstairs and they dug window wells. One more thing we've encountered that we didn't plan on. (Which equals more time and more money)
The new french doors that will lead to the back deck.
The boys shower is in downstairs in the new bathroom.
One of the boys' bedroom downstairs. New window. We also ended up taking about 95% of the house down to the frame, which we didn't anticipate having to do.
We had to have the entire house re-wired. Something else we didn't anticipate. Things like the wiring and the support that we had to add, you can't tell those things until you really get in to the walls. Apparently they did things differently back in the days when this house was originally built since they found electrical wires duct taped together and nails thru wires. Again, these changes equal time and money, but we are ok with it since this will be our "forever" house and we definitely don't want any corners cut.
New stairs going up.
This is where the front door used to be, on the 2nd floor. They bumped out the wall to be even with the front of the house and added a window. This will be our "office nook".
View from upstairs looking down into the living room. (new garage is farther back)
Front door is in!! View from inside...
View from outside...
All of the new windows are in (except the large living room window) Also the new metal roof is finished. (it's hard to tell in this pic but the color is charcoal - dark gray) You can also see that little bubble on the roof. We put in 7 tube skylights that will provide some (green!) natural light for us.
Finally the outside of the house is almost finished. There is still quite a bit of brick and stone work to be done, and the back deck. But most major things are finished. I think now it will seem to go a lot faster.
The 2 downstairs bedrooms had small windows that were up high - on ground level. The times have changed and now you have to have 9 cubic feet outside a window and only be 4 feet off the floor to pass inspection as a "bedroom" for egress purposes. So we had to get larger windows for the 2 bedrooms downstairs and they dug window wells. One more thing we've encountered that we didn't plan on. (Which equals more time and more money)
The new french doors that will lead to the back deck.
The boys shower is in downstairs in the new bathroom.
One of the boys' bedroom downstairs. New window. We also ended up taking about 95% of the house down to the frame, which we didn't anticipate having to do.
We had to have the entire house re-wired. Something else we didn't anticipate. Things like the wiring and the support that we had to add, you can't tell those things until you really get in to the walls. Apparently they did things differently back in the days when this house was originally built since they found electrical wires duct taped together and nails thru wires. Again, these changes equal time and money, but we are ok with it since this will be our "forever" house and we definitely don't want any corners cut.
New stairs going up.
This is where the front door used to be, on the 2nd floor. They bumped out the wall to be even with the front of the house and added a window. This will be our "office nook".
View from upstairs looking down into the living room. (new garage is farther back)
Front door is in!! View from inside...
View from outside...
All of the new windows are in (except the large living room window) Also the new metal roof is finished. (it's hard to tell in this pic but the color is charcoal - dark gray) You can also see that little bubble on the roof. We put in 7 tube skylights that will provide some (green!) natural light for us.
Finally the outside of the house is almost finished. There is still quite a bit of brick and stone work to be done, and the back deck. But most major things are finished. I think now it will seem to go a lot faster.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Adventures of The Paytons
Yesterday we went to Lowes to purchase the appliances for the new house with both boys...
Everything was going pretty well - according to the Standards of Parents With Young Children, of course. If you were non-parents you would probably have avoided our aisle at all costs. Will was running around and opening all of the refrigerators and hiding in all of the empty stove and dishwasher nooks. But he wasn't yelling and wasn't endangering the appliances, so it was acceptable. (Dane's car seat takes up most of the cart now, so unfortunately there's no room left to corral Will in there any more.) I had to use the bathroom so I told Luke I would take Dane with me. Well, Will wasn't having that and insisted on coming with us. As we were leaving the bathroom Will said he wanted a drink of water from the water fountain. Ugh - I hate those things. I always resist the urge to tell him absolutely not, and instead stand RIGHT next to him to make sure he doesn't touch his mouth to it. For some reason he's never able to drink out of them without getting water on his shirt. He happened to be wearing his bright yellow John Deere t-shirt - the same one that he would live in if I let him. As he stepped back from the water fountain I saw that as usual, the top 1/2 of the front of his shirt was sopping wet. He notices it and grabs at it, trying to squeeze the water out and at the same time stretches out the neck so it's wet and hanging loose. As we are walking back to the appliances department he notices an "opening" in one of the aisles and couldn't resist crawling back behind some tile. I tell him to come out and as he does I notice that he must have chosen to crawl behind the tiles that haven't been moved in decades because the amount of brown dirt/dust/debris that was on his hands and knees was phenomenal. I say "Will! You're filthy!" as I bend down to get some wipes out of the diaper bag. While I'm doing that he must have tried to wipe his hands off on his shirt. The result was a bright yellow (sopping wet) shirt streaked with a dark gray/brown color with a neck that was hanging down well below his neck. Somehow in there he had brushed his hands through his hair and spiked the front. Throw in brown knees and hands and it was quite a sight.
About that time I noticed Dane had pooped so I head back to the bathroom to change him when I realized we only had 1 wipe left - and this was definitely not a 1 wipe diaper. I go back to Luke and explain the situation. He takes Dane and Will out to the car (more wipes there) to change the diaper and I go to the front to pay (Luke forgot his wallet). As the guy from Lowes is walking me to the front (I guess when you spend lots of money you get an escort) he was saying "Oh, I'm glad we're done with those days. My kids are 13 and 15." I was thinking - not me! I absolutely love it. I can definitely appreciate the humor in (MOST) situations like this and I love our boys to pieces just the way they are... dirt, poop, back-talking terrible 3's and all.
Everything was going pretty well - according to the Standards of Parents With Young Children, of course. If you were non-parents you would probably have avoided our aisle at all costs. Will was running around and opening all of the refrigerators and hiding in all of the empty stove and dishwasher nooks. But he wasn't yelling and wasn't endangering the appliances, so it was acceptable. (Dane's car seat takes up most of the cart now, so unfortunately there's no room left to corral Will in there any more.) I had to use the bathroom so I told Luke I would take Dane with me. Well, Will wasn't having that and insisted on coming with us. As we were leaving the bathroom Will said he wanted a drink of water from the water fountain. Ugh - I hate those things. I always resist the urge to tell him absolutely not, and instead stand RIGHT next to him to make sure he doesn't touch his mouth to it. For some reason he's never able to drink out of them without getting water on his shirt. He happened to be wearing his bright yellow John Deere t-shirt - the same one that he would live in if I let him. As he stepped back from the water fountain I saw that as usual, the top 1/2 of the front of his shirt was sopping wet. He notices it and grabs at it, trying to squeeze the water out and at the same time stretches out the neck so it's wet and hanging loose. As we are walking back to the appliances department he notices an "opening" in one of the aisles and couldn't resist crawling back behind some tile. I tell him to come out and as he does I notice that he must have chosen to crawl behind the tiles that haven't been moved in decades because the amount of brown dirt/dust/debris that was on his hands and knees was phenomenal. I say "Will! You're filthy!" as I bend down to get some wipes out of the diaper bag. While I'm doing that he must have tried to wipe his hands off on his shirt. The result was a bright yellow (sopping wet) shirt streaked with a dark gray/brown color with a neck that was hanging down well below his neck. Somehow in there he had brushed his hands through his hair and spiked the front. Throw in brown knees and hands and it was quite a sight.
About that time I noticed Dane had pooped so I head back to the bathroom to change him when I realized we only had 1 wipe left - and this was definitely not a 1 wipe diaper. I go back to Luke and explain the situation. He takes Dane and Will out to the car (more wipes there) to change the diaper and I go to the front to pay (Luke forgot his wallet). As the guy from Lowes is walking me to the front (I guess when you spend lots of money you get an escort) he was saying "Oh, I'm glad we're done with those days. My kids are 13 and 15." I was thinking - not me! I absolutely love it. I can definitely appreciate the humor in (MOST) situations like this and I love our boys to pieces just the way they are... dirt, poop, back-talking terrible 3's and all.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Fair Time!
We made our annual trip to the Morgan County fair this past week. Just like last year, Uncle Mike treated Will to all the rides his little heart desired and he loved it! He had so much fun! The only ride he didn't like was the tea cup ride that spins around. His little eyes were so big and he was saying "I want it to stop!" Poor little guy. Watching him on those rides made my heart swell with love for him. Watching his raw emotion - pure happiness and excitement. I think it was also watching him do things on his own. It was letting him go just a little bit. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when I have to leave him when he starts school. And yes, I was that mom beside the ride, smiling and waving and calling his name like a crazy person every time he passed while snapping pictures. Thank goodness he's not old enough to be embarrassed by that kind of behavior yet. Sunday, August 1, 2010
Back to Work and Madness
My extended maternity leave ends today. I head back to work tomorrow - going up to the office. I worked a few hours last week catching up on email and getting things sorted out in preparation for tomorrow. I'm keeping my old schedule, two days a week from home, and one day a month in the office. I am so fortunate to be able to work this schedule and still stay at home with the boys three days a week. For me, this situation is ideal. I'm happy to send Will back to Chas' (his baby sitter's) and I'm confident about sending Dane. When Will was 3 months old I could not imagine sending him to a sitter. We are so fortunate that we found someone who we trust completely, and so I feel good about sending Dane now too. Tomorrow the boys will go to my Dad and Sharon's. (as Will has, and now both boys will, on the first Monday of each month) It will be a challenge to get up, get myself ready, get both boys ready, Dane fed, pump, get milk and lunches packed, work things ready and out the door by 7:30.
Things continue to be crazy around here. Even weekends that we have nothing "scheduled" seem to fill up and consist of packing up and going somewhere, getting home and unpacked and then packing up again to go to the next place. The house remodel continues to be crazy with errands here, picking out this and buying that, but it's been fun.
This weekend we got home from some being down at the house and again, unpacked and got the boys settled back at home. I had taken a shower and we'd been home probably about 30 minutes. Dane was in the bathroom with me and Luke comes in. We're talking and all of a sudden he says "Where's Rosco?" I shrug my shoulders as we both look at each other, confused. Luke: "Is he still in the car!?!" Me: "No, surely not!" We both rush out to the garage. Sure enough, poor Rosco was just sitting in the back of the Trailblazer. Sorry Rosco!!!
Yes, it's been busy around here. At least it wasn't one of the boys!
Things continue to be crazy around here. Even weekends that we have nothing "scheduled" seem to fill up and consist of packing up and going somewhere, getting home and unpacked and then packing up again to go to the next place. The house remodel continues to be crazy with errands here, picking out this and buying that, but it's been fun.
This weekend we got home from some being down at the house and again, unpacked and got the boys settled back at home. I had taken a shower and we'd been home probably about 30 minutes. Dane was in the bathroom with me and Luke comes in. We're talking and all of a sudden he says "Where's Rosco?" I shrug my shoulders as we both look at each other, confused. Luke: "Is he still in the car!?!" Me: "No, surely not!" We both rush out to the garage. Sure enough, poor Rosco was just sitting in the back of the Trailblazer. Sorry Rosco!!!
Yes, it's been busy around here. At least it wasn't one of the boys!
Dane
Our sweet sweet baby boy is getting so big!!!
Hanging out on the couch.
Look how high he's pushing up! (Note: tummy time often happens in the safety of his crib. He's still sleeping in his bassinet beside me, so his crib offers a "safe-zone" for play, away from the dangers of big brothers and large dogs.)
Of course knawing on that fist. Nom nom nom
Just hanging out with Pa-Paw in the Mancave.
Hanging out on the couch.
Look how high he's pushing up! (Note: tummy time often happens in the safety of his crib. He's still sleeping in his bassinet beside me, so his crib offers a "safe-zone" for play, away from the dangers of big brothers and large dogs.)
Of course knawing on that fist. Nom nom nom
Just hanging out with Pa-Paw in the Mancave.
House Remodel - End of Week 5
They are getting the roof ready to put on the metal roof - which should be in early this coming week.
They put in the stairs in the garage.
I never put up pictures of the new living room stairs - here are the stairs going from the living room up. They did this a couple of weeks ago.
Basement - they dug here for the new bathroom.
They also dug out the perimiter of the basement for the drain system. They were hoping to finish that this weekend but it may be finished early this week.
New back deck!!!!!!!! It will be screened in. If you can't tell I'm reeeally excited about this.
They put in the stairs in the garage.
I never put up pictures of the new living room stairs - here are the stairs going from the living room up. They did this a couple of weeks ago.
Basement - they dug here for the new bathroom. 
They also dug out the perimiter of the basement for the drain system. They were hoping to finish that this weekend but it may be finished early this week.
New back deck!!!!!!!! It will be screened in. If you can't tell I'm reeeally excited about this.
End of the house - garage. They are laying the brick.
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