Life in General

It has been HOT here!  Summer has truly begun.  We bought an outdoor canopy for the backyard because we don't have a covered patio yet.  The kids and dog greatly appreciate it.  Although, it is so sweltering that even in the shade, you melt.  Sara (the dog) has taken to sitting in our patio chairs.  I guess she is too good for the ground.  I find her in them daily.  She's still a really good dog, I just wish I had waited until we started the new school year before we got her.  I am pretty much stuck here because she can't be left alone for long periods of time.  Plus, we crate her at night and if I were to go out of town, no one would be there to take her to go potty in the middle of the night and if Richard were to get held over at work...it would be trouble.  There go my big plans of beaching and relaxing, oh well....

This picture wasn't staged, I found them like this.  Too funny.

Miss Dakota has reached a whole new level of crazy and I am scrambling to figure out what to do with my little girl.  Needless to say, nap and bedtimes have been horrific so I decided that we would do away with her one nap so she would easily konk out at night.  Unfortunately, she would be so tired that her behavior problems would peak at her normal nap time and them she would crash later in the day making her less tired for bedtime.  Thus, we have reinstated nap time and I just have to deal with the bedtime battle 2 times per day.  I know you will say she will grow out of this, but I am skeptical!

She is definitely a sleeping beauty.

Potty training Dakota has been a breeze.  I completely underestimated the kid and thought this would be a 6 month frustrating ordeal.  It had been about a week and she is 100% potty trained.  She is very proud and loves to congratulate Taylor and I when we go potty as well.  Taylor thinks this is hysterical, after all she is an old pro at the whole potty thing, but she plays along anyways.

Oh yes, more Dakota adventures.  She has discovered my makeup bag and is sneaky and quick like a fox.  If I leave my bedroom door open ever, she will discover this, make her way into my bathroom, and I will find her like this:

The Cooper man got a much needed haircut and looks even more studly than before.  I love when he gets a cut, he looks like such a little man afterwards.  He is very good for his stylist and sits pretty still.

Gotta love that face, I seriously could gobble him up!

Cooper is also working on the whole walking thing.  He likes to push around his toy and gets SO excited that sometimes I think that he is going to hyperventilate.  He's getting faster and faster, but still shows little interest in doing it on his own.

We had some friends over the other day to try out our new $8 slip-n-slide.  The kids had a great time and the yard had a nice, long mud puddle through the middle of it by the time we were through.  I tried it out once and realize that it wasn't as exciting, or as long, as I remembered.  Cooper looked so cute in his new swim attire so I was taking some pics.  Taylor wanted to jump in on the action and I got a great shot:

Taylor is bored out of her mind and we are all looking forward to a new school year of mental stimulation.  It is difficult to take my little pack of monkeys places due to a certain child's impulses.  You should see the looks I get when I have all 3 at the grocery store.  I have Coop in a front pack (which he is quickly growing out of, plus he weighs a ton!), Dakota in the cart seat usually screaming or singing at the top of her lungs, and Taylor running laps around the cart as I try to push it through the store.  So, yeah, we don't get out much.  We will be able to take the puppy on walks as soon as she gets her last Parvo vaccination in about 2 weeks.  After that, I plan on throwing the littlest ones in the stroller and Taylor on a bike and going for walks in the morning before it gets too hot.  As I write this, I realize I should be doing this now with or without the dog.  Hmmmmm...I guess I'd better get on that.  We'll see how the morning goes tomorrow :)

The Kiddos

Things are plugging along.  The dog is doing really well, the kids are being kids, and my mono seems to be easing up a bit!  

Cooper was using and upside down laundry basket as a support for standing.  Somehow he slipped and whacked/slid his face on it as he fell and was gushing blood.  He cut the part of his mouth where there is that little attachment from the gums to his lip, cut his gum where one of his front teeth was trying to push through, and took a chunk out of his gum next to that.  Poor boy.  He handled it very well.  Once I got the bleeding to stop I was able to take a good look at the damage and decided I should call the doctor just in case.  The attachment cut was pretty deep and gnarly looking and I thought that he might need a stitch or two.  I was advised to go to Urgent Care to be safe and fortunately they said he was fine and it would go back together just fine.  This all happened yesterday and today it is dramatically improved.  Little ones heal so quickly.  

This picture has nothing to do with his incident, he is just cute.

My little Dakota has been having a really difficult go lately.  She just rages and tantrums like no kid I've seen before.  She has an extremely difficult time controlling her impulses and Cooper, or anyone else for that matter, feels the brunt of it.  I haven't found this kid's "currency" yet and some days I just don't know what to do for her.  It's like she's a tormented little soul and I don't know how that is possible at such a young age.  We are hoping that a lot of it, she will grow out of, but I don't know.  She has had a really bad spell lately.  Poor girl.  Maybe the move has really thrown her off, although she really seems to like the house and the freedom of the yard...I just don't know, I feel bad for the little lady.  On a positive note, we are potty training and she is doing GREAT!  I'm so proud of her and can't believe how well she is doing.  She is very proud of herself too and loves to run out (when she is done in the bathroom) and yell to Richard, "I DID IT!!!  I WENT POTTY LIKE A BIG GIRL!!!"  

A funny story to record for posterity...

After a yummy meal of hotdogs, Dakota and Cooper and I were playing down the hall in Coop's room.  I had to run out of the room for a quick second (I can't leave them alone for long at all) when I hear Dakota yelling. "Oh no!  Cooper's ding-ding broke!  His ding-ding is broken!  Mommy!"  In a panic, I run into the room expecting to see a disturbing scene.  Cooper was in his diaper still and all looked well so I couldn't figure out why she was freaking out so badly.  She handed me something and I couldn't figure out what it was for a second until I realized a small piece of the end of a hotdog had fallen into Cooper's diaper while he was eating.  As he crawled around, it became dislodged and fell onto the floor.  Poor Koty thought a piece of his "ding-ding" had fallen off and therefore must be broken.  I laughed and laughed at that one and was incredibly relieved that that was the outcome!

Here is my little monkey after decorating herself with chalk, 

she obviously wasn't as amused with her new look as I was!

I love this little man.

My little beauties all ready for church.

That's about it, the Summer heat is finally beginning so I need to figure out some things to do that will be fun and also keep us cool, otherwise I think everyone might become a bit stir crazy.  Any ideas?

Announcing...

We would like to announce the arrival of baby #4.  It's a girl and we have named her Sara.  She sleeps well, loves attention, and especially enjoys a good belly rub.  She is quickly getting into a good groove and is definitely a good looking lady.  

The kids are really loving her.  We decided to get a pet and found her at the county animal shelter.  When she was brought out for the first time, we were able to calm her pretty quickly and then she gave us her belly.  We figured that she would be a good girl and we were right.  She is extremely mellow for a 3-4 month old pup.  She likes to play in the morning and evening and the rest of her time is spend lounging around.  She sleeps in a doggy crate at night and is potty training well.  Sara seems to be almost all lab.  I don't know what else she could be mixed with as all her characteristics point to lab.  Only the white spots on her nose, toes, and chest give her away as a mut!

Trial

Well, I've decided to see if I like this blogger better than Xanga.  I've been having problems downloading and posting, so we will see if this is easier.  I am not very computer savvy, so the more simple it is, the happier I will be!  I'm going to try to get this all set up how I like it and then will decide if this will be a permanent change.