Ringing in 2010!

It's a new year! 2010. Wonder what this year will be remembered for. If I were able to get a sneak peek at the highlights of this year, I wouldn't want to know. I'd rather just wait and see....which turns out to be a good thing, because I don't know of anyone who has the ability to tell me what's gonna happen anyway.

I think staying home this time of year and watching morning television can be somewhat depressing....or frustrating maybe is a better word. I'm a faithful fan of the Today show, and whenever Grant drags me out of bed for the final time in the morning (there happen to be usually three times every morning I'm drug out of bed ya know), that's the first thing I do....turn on Matt, Meredith, Anne, and Al. I also kinda like the Martha Stewart Show. I say "kinda" because I really just usually enjoy what she presents on the show, and not so much "her." I would enjoy the show more if she would talk less. I know it's her show and she can do it however she wants, but I reallly find her somewhat (a lot really) of a know it all. No one likes a know it all, Martha. But any-who, both shows were doing a play on "New Year: New You" last week of course. All those New Years resolutions, blah, blah, blah. Some of the things they present are interesting and encouraging, but some of the stuff is just ridiculous. Martha had this doctor on the other day that was teaching the viewers and guests how to do this detox thing where you don't eat for 4 days, you just drink these smoothie things made out of steamed kale and other things that didn't sound appealing and looked even worse. I kid you not the smoothie was gray with black and dark purple chunks in it. WHO in the WORLD would enjoy doing that for four days?! Okay, WHO COULD do that for four days, let alone enjoy it?! Then after the four days of detox you're supposed to eat healthier of course. Examples they gave: lentil soup and tofu salad. SERIOUSLY?! Now I'm all for eating healthier. Especially right now where losing baby weight is on my mind (and my tummy and butt :) ) I want to make healthier choices. But instead of drinking kale smoothies for four days, I bought baked potato chips at the store. Guess that's probably not gonna get the job done, but it's a start, and it's not as INSANE as making smoothies out of steamed kale.

And really, I don't want a "new" me...I like me. I just want a slightly improved version of me. So I'm not calling them resolutions, just like last year. Last year I called them "goals." This year, I'm calling them "improvements." This year I want to improve myself to pre-baby condition of course. I think this may prove more difficult than last time. I'm really concerned that my belly button is going to be permanently disfigured this time. Oh well. Can't wear a two piece forever. Also on my list, is being more thoughtful. I have a friend at work, Sara, that is seriously the most thoughtful person I've ever met. She seriously put a card and some little goodie in my mailbox at school every day Landon had chemo. How sweet is that?! Her, along with everyone else who has shown us so much support this past year has inspired me to be more thoughtful of others. I'm going to work really hard on at least mailing birthday cards to people, and doing thoughtful little things for people who have hit a bump in the road. I also want to prepare more for the future financially. We're off to a good start on that. Met with someone last week about setting up college funds for the boys and looking at our retirement plans.

Landon's already tackled an improvement for this year. We've been working REALLY hard on using the potty. And I don't want to jinx it, but I think we've turned a corner. We had two snow days this week, so he was home with us Thursday through Sunday. Thursday night, he went number two for the first time on the potty. Later that evening, he also went the second, third, and fourth times. It was kinda like he pulled the cork out. :) We left the house for the first time yesterday and went to Grandpa and Grandma's for a couple of hours. He was not into using the "big" potty there, yet though. We'll work on it. He did wear big boy pants to the sitter's today and only had ONE accident. NICE! We're getting there. You'll notice a few pictures of Landon showing off his big boy pants this week, and here's a video of him showing Abby how to use the potty. The funniest part is watching him try to p ull up his underwear. Probably should've helped him, but he said he didn't want help. I was too busy giggling.

And speaking of giggling...here's a picture sure to be a classic. Our method of potty training has been putting him in big boy pants (or a pull up at the beginning) and setting the stove timer. When the timer goes off, he goes to the potty. One day last week, Chad had Landon in the basement when the timer went off. As I was sitting on the couch feeding Grant, I see Landon fly by on his way to the bathroom. Pretty soon, Chad comes upstairs and says, "Is he still in the bathroom?" I forgot that I even saw him, he had been so quiet. Chad went back to check on him and came back for the camera. Oh yes, he had fallen asleep. This is even funnier because we have a picture of my brother Michael, doing this exact same thing. He was more hunched over and was sitting on the big potty, but still.....sleeping on the potty is just funny.

I mentioned earlier we had two snow days this week. Normally I'm not too excited about snow days. They're just days we have to be in school longer in the spring. This year however, I'm a fan. The more snow days we have, the more days I get paid. Let It SNOW! Kelly and Scott I'm sure do not feel the same, since they don't have a sitter and those poor suckers have to work regardless of road conditions. We kept Abby Thursday and Friday this week. Her and Landon had a hoot of a time. Here they are coloring at Landons' new table and chairs...courtesy of Grandpa Larry and Grandma Chris for Landon's birthday. I also got the finger paints out on Friday, thinking Abby may like that. She didn't want anything to do with it, but Landon had a good time.

Saturday, I had both boys by myself all day for the first time. Friday night I wasn't feeling so good about this since Grant was screaming at the top of his lungs over a belly ache and Landon was throwing ANOTHER fit about not wanting to sit at the table and eat. Two kids is a little bit of a shock to care for. You think it won't be that big of a deal, but it's amazing how quickly you forget how high maintenance they are when they're really little. And Landon has turned over a new leaf of testing the boundaries of every rule. (On Sunday he was in his room three times in 30 minutes for being mouthy. Yikes) However, Saturday went really smoothly. I even managed to get them both to sleep at the same time for 15 minutes!!! Aren't you impressed? I was.

In other news, Grant's had some issues this past week. I called the doctor's office earlier this week about him spewing. The kid was like a faucet. It looked like he was puking up everything we put in. I finally gave in and called on Thursday, and our pediatrician recommended supplementing with a formula made to treat acid reflux. It's definitely seemed to help. We're not all covered in baby spit up the entire day, and the laundry has been cut back drastically. AWESOME. On Saturday, he started sounding really rattly. It wasn't a surprise. I had a cold earlier and Landon ended up with this nasty cough. I tried to keep Landon out of Grant's face, but you can imagine how hard that would be. Saturday, Grant really scared me because he was gagging on all of the drainage in his throat. Scary stuff. I called this morning, and they wanted to see him. His chest and ears are clear, so hopefully it's just a virus that will run its course, but gosh darn it I just feel bad for the little guy. His nose is so little anyway, I can't imagine how rotten he feels not being able to breathe. The handsome little bugger is up to 9lbs and 4 ozs though. Chad says he'd probably be 15 if he would've kept down everything that came up last week.

Couple more videos for you. Landon showing off his big brother skills. Happy New Year to ya!