Time is Flying By - This is LOOOONG!!!

Lots of thoughts and things to blog...I hope I can keep all of my thoughts straight. Thanks in advance if you read the whole thing!

Let me begin by saying how amazed I am that I have a four year old. While the thought of this somewhat jars me awake, the idea of having a FIVE year old next year completely blows my mind. I mean, seriously, it was just the other day that I found out that I was pregnant with our first child, wasn't it? Now, he's four, are you serious??? Four has proven to be quite interesting so far. It all started on his birthday...the tantrums. People call it the "terrible twos" - really?! I seriously think that four has been harder for us, and we're only two weeks in! I am not sure why tantrums and tears seem so much easier than talking it out, but in the mind of my four year old, it does. I am constantly having to remind him to use his words and tell me what's wrong. And then, to deal with the situation. Learning that life ISN'T fair and that things don't ALWAYS go like we want them to is a very tough lesson to learn!!! Heck, sometimes even I don't always understand it or like it! (that's when God reminds me that He's in control and He sees the big picture I cannot see) There are times when Nathan does use his words, and it's all I can do not to laugh because he is so passionate about everything. He often says, "I'm grumpy" or "I'm mad," but they're said with such gusto and conviction, it's just downright hilarious.

Nathan is growing well; still a bit on the skinnier side. He only weighs 34 lbs. He's 40 inches tall - about 75th percentile. (I think these numbers will mean nothing once his almost 2 year old brother goes for his check up in a few weeks. E-man is HUGE!) He did great on all the doctor's tests - hearing, vision, fine motor, blood pressure, etc. Because he turned four, Nathan got to move up to children's church - instead of the nursery area - at our church. He was so excited. He calls this "Daddy's class" since Sean works in there. He has been wanting to go to "Daddy's class" for over a year now! LOL Just to brag on my little man...in children's church, they have memory verses each week. This week, their verse is Matthew 7:11: "So surely your heavenly father will give good things to those who ask Him." We started working on this Tuesday afternoon, and by Wednesday evening, Nathan could say the whole thing by himself! My mom is trying to get him to say it in front of the whole church on Sunday. I'll try to videotape it if he does!

Elijah will be two on December 5th...wow, that means he turned 23 months yesterday. Wow! 23 months ago, I almost lost my life to the undetected uterine infection. I praise God daily for bringing me through that and for restoring my full health! I know that our next baby will be a testimony of God's great healing power. Anyways, back to Elijah...he does not look like he's only 23 months. Most people look at me in shock when I tell them that he is not even 2 yet. He is the size of a 3 year old. I promise, I am not exaggerating or just bragging here - he is huge! His best friend is 4 months older than he is...and Elijah TOWERS over him!!! Tonight, we were at the movies and in line by another couple who also had a little guy. Turns out, their little man will turn 3 in December. Um, yeah, well, he and Elijah were the same size...and Elijah will turn 2 in December. We're preparing for a fun Sesame Street/Elmo birthday party for him so be looking for those pictures coming next month.

Elijah's vocabulary has exploded! Sean and I were talking about writing down words he can say (as we did with Nathan around this age), and then we realized that he repeats everything. He says everything! Of course, some is only understandable to us..."drink" comes out "rink," and "pop-porn" is not a naughty show - "popcorn.":) We are full blown potty training! We have been in Pull-Ups for several months now, and I decided last week that it was time to move to underwear. Elijah hadn't been keeping the Pull-Ups dry, but my thinking is that he doesn't do this because he doesn't have to. Pull-Ups are just diapers sorta made like underwear - probably not much difference. While wetting the Pull-Ups used to bother Nathan, Elijah is soooo much more passive, he doesn't really mind. So, earlier this week - I think it was Tues. - I decided we'd just go cold turkey with underwear. Several of the moms on my mommy board (www.dallasareamoms.com) have done this with great success. Well, by Tues. night, I felt like a definite failure in this area. He had wet at least 5-6 pairs of underwear (which are a size 4 b/c Nathan's old 2-3T's look like Speedos on him). The ONLY positive thing from this attempt was a protest from him when I tried to put Pull-Ups on him when he went outside to play with Deuce. Fast forward to today...I put him in undies, and we only had 1 accident all day (okay, it was only about 4-5 hours but still a HUGE improvement from the other day). We're going to keep this practice up and hopefully get this potty training done soon. Save me some money not having to buy those diapers! Then, I can spend more on the food to feed this kid!!!

We have had a fun, but busy week. Of course, Tuesday was election day, and although we already voted (on Nate's birthday - 10/28), many places were giving out free food. Sean picked up a free Starbucks coffee on the way home from work - I don't drink coffee so he didn't get me any. After dinner, we all got into the van and headed to the Ben and Jerry's here in McKinney for a free ice cream. Nathan got strawberry on a cone (which broke and wound up in a cup - and he will tell you about this if you ask), Elijah got strawberry-banana yogurt in a cup (he tasted everyone else's too - "Bite!"), and I got chunky monkey (don't remember what Sean got). That was a special treat since we rarely go OUT for ice cream (why? when you can get Blue Bell at home) AND we rarely let them have it that late at night!!!

I babysit for First Baptist Church of Frisco for their MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group on the first and third Wednesday of the month. The church is 5 min. fom Sean's work so we always meet him there. AND he works in Frisco Square, which also includes the Frisco Library. So, we eat lunch outside at the tables at the library and then go inside the library to read and check out books. It's also neat because my friend (Jaclyn) is a children's librarian there. Nathan always likes to go see my "friend." LOL So, this week was our Frisco Wednesday. But, we didn't get to see Jaclyn because she went into work late that day. :(

I have a subscription to a parents' magazine called Cookie Magazine. It definitely keeps me up to date on the latest styles and trends for kids. ('cause you guys know I need all the help I can get in this area; now, if I just had the money to keep up with the Joneses) Well, last week, I got an email from the magazine about an advanced screening they were having tonight at North Park Mall for Madagascar 2. Completely free! Nathan has been looking forward to this movie all summer so he was pumped that we were going. Sean and I were pumped that all 4 of us were going to the movies for FREE! Elijah was excited but not sure why - he just knew that we kept talking about a movie and popcorn. (He loves popcorn.) We left as soon as Sean got in from work and arrived about an hour before the show. We were about the 5th-6th family in line and got fairly decent seats - clients of Cookie were there too so it was pretty crowded by the time we got in. The boys LOVED it. Elijah danced every time music came on - he is such a lover of music and the arts. LOL It was a very cute movie! What's so ironic is that Nathan's first "real" movie was Madagascar. I took him when I was about 4 months pregnant with Elijah. They were showing it at the summer movie club here at the local theater. Tonight's viewing of Madagascar 2 was Elijah's first "real" movie! (Sean had to take him out at Ratatouille - our first attempt with him. That was a year ago.) Kinda cool. :)

Tomorrow is another exciting day. We have a birthday party to attend around lunchtime for one of Nathan's best friends. Then, after Sean gets off from work, he and Nathan are going camping with the men from our church. Nathan CANNOT wait! I hope it's all he's dreaming of! LOL In the meantime, I am taking my best friend out for fondue tomorrow night to celebrate her birthday, which was earlier in the week. We have friends who are watching her two boys and Elijah for us. On Saturday, Elijah and I have a busy day planned - his 2 year pictures, a carnival with our MOPS group, groceries and dinner with Mawmaw/Chee Chee (possibly Megan = my future SIL). We're having dinner out with our other best friends on Sunday. So, yes, we're staying busy, busy here, but having loads of fun. Hmmmm...I wonder if that's why time is flying by...you know it flies by when you're having fun. (although I'm beginning to think that it's flying by because I'm getting old!)