Catch Up

So I have fallen off the blogging wagon AGAIN. I have really really good excuses though.....

1) Eric's crazy work hours. Starting in June, Eric started working really long hours. His company, Emdeon, was going through their Initial Public Offering which means a lot of filings with the SEC. He wouldn't get home until after 10 and sometimes it was well after midnight. He worked really hard and I am proud of him. You can read more about it here (http://www.cnbc.com/id/32362316).

It really was a great experience for him and a good resume builder! So since he was working all the

time, that meant that I was working all the time too. When naptime or bed time came for the kids,

I crashed too! It was a good experience for me too. Now I know that I can do it all on my own if I

need to!

2) Beach Vacation. On the last week of July, we went on a wonderful week long beach vacation. We

went to Inlet Beach, FL with Eric's family. It was awesome. We had a big house with a pool that was

right next to the beach. The kids LOVED playing in the sand and warmed up to the ocean pretty

quickly. In fact, we couldn't hardly sit down because they wanted to go play in the water so much! Of

all the kids though, I think Matty liked it best. He was ready for us to just throw him in there and go for

a swim!

3) Potty Training. I decided if I wasn't well rested enough after a week at the beach, then I would never

be relaxed enough to tackle potty training. So Monday morning we jumped into potty training with both

feet. The first day was horrible. I cleaned up pee off the carpet, the hardwoods, Ethan's booster seat,

and our couch (not the leather one either!!!) I sat at the kitchen table and cried at dinner. I prayed

"Lord I know I probably shouldn't pray for something like this but I need some kind of hope please!!"

Then I heard Ella yell from the bathroom "Mama I poo pooed!!!" Finally it started to click. My sister and

her girls came the next day and that was a HUGE help! Everyone got into the cheering when they went

potty. Ella is now 98% potty trained. She still wears a pull up at night just in case. Ethan is about 85%

there. He is struggling with #2. He can't be bothered to sit and wait on the potty, so he usually is

running when it is too late. We are getting there though. We had a "potty party" on Sunday night to

celebrate all our progress. I made cupcakes. We lit a candle for each then sang "Happy Potty Day"

before we blew them out. We even had little presents.....Dora for Ella and Buzz & Woody for Ethan.

Since they are potty trained now they can be in the 3 year old class at their preschool. Since they have

an October birthday they miss the cut off so they would have had to be in a 2 year old class. I am real

excited they can be in the 3 year old class. They are so verbal. I would really rather them be in a class

with kids that are a little older than younger.