This month has been filled with activity for us! Let me tell you all what we have been doing this October!
Anna has graduated from sippy cup to big girl cup! I love the sippy cups with the lids because they create less mess! But, all good things must come to an end! I took Anna with me to the store and she got to pick out her own cups. She picked some red plastic ones and a red, green, and pink cup with a built-in straw. (Carter loves them!) So, we are proud of Anna moving on in her big girl ways, and dealing with the ocassional messes that come with it!
Our next accomplishment: Anna has been Pull-up free since this summer. She can usually go all night long without having to go to the bathroom, so I can now almost sleep soundly through the night again! Anna has had some accidents here and there, but for the most part she is accident-free! Hurray! I found that the best way for success is no drinks at all after dinner. We always remind Anna that her last drink is at the dinner table and she gets no more until morning. There were a few nights where I gave in and gave her a little drink, and guess what? She always wet the bed! Not only is drinking fluids at night bad for potty-training, but it is also bad on your child's teeth. We learned our lesson the hard way with Anna when she was younger. I would give her juice at night...ahhhh, I know, what was I thinking? So, Anna has parts on her teeth that have de-calcified, and so if we do not stay in perfect step with her brushing habits, it could mean bad news in the future! Our kids are learning now that water is their best friend!
Speaking of teeth, Anna had her first dental check-up this month! We talked it up to her for a week and when the day came, I was a little nervous about how Anna would react. Amazingly, she did AWESOME! She thought the chair was "so cool" and she got to watch cartoons while the hygenist cleaned her teeth. Anna felt very important too, because she got to wear sunglasses because the lights were too bright! She picked strawberry fluoride and bubble gum toothpaste. She got a bag that she kept calling her "special prize bag" and it had a new whale toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and flosser. She also got a coin for being so good, and she got to put it in a toy dispenser and pick a "prize". She picked the one with braceletts! (and she had to tell all the family about it afterwards!) The dentist wasn't too concerned about her teeth where there was some de-calcification, and told us to brush night and day and keep an eye on Anna's teeth. They noticed that Anna has an under bite already, and so we are in the process of getting approved with Anna's insurance to have a chin strap for her that she will wear at night, to slow down the growth of her bottom jaw, so the rest of her face can catch up! (unfortunately, this under bite problem runs in Russ's family...Russ had a bad problem when he was young, and his little sister Chels had to have some major work to fix her mouth!) Did I mention that Russ is NOT going to be a dentist? It's a shame!
Russ and I celebrated our fourth year anniversary this month, on the 23rd! Everything that could have gone wrong on the day of our anniversary went wrong, and so we joked that we sure won't forget that one! Our day was pretty much miserable! But by the end of our date to Craigo's we pulled through and ended on a somewhat more happy note! This is a testament to us and all of you other couples out there, that you can even have BAD days on your anniversary, of all the cruelty in the world, and still come home at the end of the day, having long endured the unpleasant things, and say, "Sorry, I can be better." Sometimes, marriage is not only about the good times, but also about how the two of you can get through the rough times. Russ and I love each other and we have committed ourselves to a lifetime together and an eternity to come. You gotta work hard for that celestial mansion up above! As perfect as we would like our lives to be, we are far from perfection, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the good days right along with the bad days. I have been married four years and by golly, it has been joyous and bliss, lovely and fun, crappy and stinkin hard!!!!, frustrating and madening as all get-out! I have been my best self and my worst self, I have cried many tears, laughed so hard I couldn't stop crying, jumped up and down in excitement and in anger, strangled pillows, slammed doors, rolled my eyes and even stuck out my tongue a few times! And this is what I'll say to the next 75 years of marriage, "Bring it on!"
Of thoughts about life and marriage, we went to Twin Falls to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! It was great fun! My aunts and uncles planned a party for them in the new church by the temple (which is stunning!) and all of my grandparents children were there! That was a first in a LONG time! My grandparents are amazing! They raised their own children and then raised me as a teenager, and are now raising my little sister Haylee too. I LOVE my family and I am the person I am today because of the influences of my grandparents!
We celebrated Halloween in Twin Falls too. Anna was a bumble bee and Carter was a pumpkin. We went trick-or-treating with my aunt Jenny and her kids. It was fun and surprisingly enough, Anna forgot about her candy when we got back to Nanny and Grandad's house! While we were there, Carter was feeling under the weather, and woke up Saturday night wheezing and coughing. It sounded just like the croup. I slept on the floor in the office where we had Carter sleeping, and he woke up every 45 minutes gasping, crying, and coughing! It was terrible! To me, it sounded like he was barely breathing at all! So, at 4 in the morning, I took Carter to the emergency room in Twin Falls, where he was given a breathing treatment and then an oral steroid to reduce the inflamation in his airway. He kept most everyone up at my grandparents house that night, so we all stayed home from church trying to re-cooperate! There is nothing scarier than a bad case of the croup!
Along with out travels to Twin Falls I got to attend my cousin's baby shower. Hillary is my age and we grew up together mostly attached at the hip! We were the best of friends...and sometimes the worst of enemies too! Hillary is having a boy in January and we all all so excited for her! It was fun to get to see my mom's side of the family and laugh and joke about all of our labor and birth stories!
Along the way to Twin Falls, we had to make stops in Pocatello, too, where Russ has had dental work done on his mouth! He got an infection under one of his caps, and so had to have a root canal, temporary cap, and will have a permanent one put on in two weeks. Did I mention Russ is NOT going to be a dentist? I did! Oh. Still...what a shame! After we re-cooperate from the loss of about $1,700, I have to go back and have a wisdom tooth removed! And what about dental insurance for those who make under the poverty level?
Along with with all the other events that have happened, I was doing the dishes one evening and happened to be in a foul mood, when the cup I was washing broke with my hand inside it! So...me being mad at Russ and trying hard to give him the cold shoulder (which I am told I do quite well) my pinkie finger got sliced open and started bleeding. Russ, much to my dismay, (because I wanted very badly to punsih him and keep ignoring him all evening) rushed to my aid to stop the unstoppable bleeding! Anna was VERY concerned and kept asking me if I was okay. We quickly got a bandaid on my finger, and then I wrapped it in a rag and held it above my head for most of the evening until it stopped bleeding enough that we could get another bandage on it! The best blessing about it: I didn't have to do the dishes for a few days while my finger healed! Did I mention that you use your pinkie finger for more things than you could imagine?
Well, we have had a crazy month and I now have the task of downloading all my pictures too that go along with everything! So, stayed tuned for lots of pictures! I had better go now, for Russ just left the room with pillow in hand because of my endless typing! Men just don't understand the world of bloggers! Who needs sleep when you can blog? Anyway, good night to you all!
Reese was born in West Virginia on November 21 at 11:58 in the morning. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. Isn't she adorable? Reese takes spot number 14 of the grandchildren in the Meredith family!!!
She is soooo tiny!!!!
Look at all of her hair!!! So cute!!!
Oh....fresh from Heaven. What a wonder and a miracle!!! Congrats to Rex and Jeigh for bringing another beautiful baby to this earth life! We love you!
Picture Tag. You find your 6th folder and post the 6th picture...and tell the story.
Thank goodness for big sisters too....so Carter can chill on a bed decked out in Strawberry Shortcake, in pink panties, catching up on some good 'ol Pink Princess reading! This kid has got it made!
Trick-or-Treating! Anna was a bumble bee and Carter was a pumpkin.
Anna had to show grandma and grandpa's new kitten Shadow her costume.
I sliced my pinkie finger while doing the dishes. The cup broke while my hand was inside. Two words: Dishwasher PLEASE!!!
Inhaling some vapors. "Whoooooo!"
I think this one inhaled a little too much of that "vapor"!! She's a special one, eh?
Laughing.....look at those cheeks......hmmmm....I could just eat him up!!!!
Pouting......no one does this better in our family than Anna!
This is my specialty....baking! These were oatmeal cookies, oatmeal & craisen cookies, and oatmeal, craisen, and apple cookies.....oh, seriously, they were the BEST EVER!!!!!
Eating up the BEST EVER cookies!
Here, have another one!
Crying....very LOUDLY.....Carter does this best in the family! Actually, he doesn't really cry so much...he just yells! He is becoming quite the little stinker!
Wonder who Carter learned how to be such a STINKER from? Hmmmm...hard to say!
Definitely not being a STINKER here!
Just "chillin".....as a mom, I love these quiet moments!
Russ's most prized possession....his very own home-made sweet pickles. Yum!
