Oh boy..

So, where have I been? Well, from Thursday - Sunday my house was a sick house. PUKE CITY. Jonathan started the whole thing on Friday morning 2am.. I will spare you the horrible details and just say this: Jonathan puked for 36 hours straight about every two hours.. fun. Alissa started Saturday then Sunday Alissa and I both were having little conversations with the porcelain queen. Sigh.. then on to Monday when Matt got jealous that we were having all the fun and joined in too! My days might be a little off, but you get the general idea. Not fun.

So moving forward I think I will expunge the last few days from memory. There is much more to report.

Oh, but before moving forward I do have to add how terrible I feel because Grandma Davis and Aunt Bethany came down with this same thing yesterday which means Grandpa is not far behind. Judging by the rest of us and our recovery time that puts him down for the count Thursday.. and whats Thursday!? That's right. Turkey day. Sigh.. So it looks as if our Thanksgiving plans are about to change. We are going to go to Tom and Debbie's house and join their festivities! Thank you guys!! :) We will probably still have Thanksgiving dinner at the in laws, just postponed a bit.

In case you are wondering we are all fully recovered now and my house has been fully sanitized :).

Jonathan update: He is growing so fast!! Physically and mentally!! He has well over 50 signs now, I completely lost track.. a few of his new ones: Where, Old, moon (kind of), sleep, poop (story with this one!!), and also points to most of his body parts when asked. He has started to put two signs together (ei where ball, where daddy, no more, ect ect). He is also verbalizing more.. but not a bunch.

So the poop story!! Hehe.. this kid just blows my mind sometimes. He is going to be much easier to potty train than Alissa was, because he is starting the process now!! For awhile I have been signing poop when I catch him "in the act" and recently he started signing poop every time he goes (poop is signed by grabbing at the nose with your pointer finger and thumb, there is a less "PC" way of signing it, but anyhow). I was shocked the first time he stopped in his tracks, looked at me, and signed poop. Sure enough, he then filled his pants.. coooool. As if this wasn't enough, I was laying in bed with him a couple days ago and he frantically started signing "poop" -- ok.. but that wasn't enough this time. He started voicing "UP! UP! UP!" then signing, "poop, help, poop" and pointing to the bathroom. So I'm having one of those, "What is it Lassie" moments.. because isn't he too young for this?! Umm.. ok.. so Twilight Zone stuff.. I pick him up and walk him to the bathroom. He then points at the toilet and I am not kidding started pulling at his clothes so I would take them off. WEIRD! So I am all dazed but oblige him and put Ali's potty seat on the toilet and drop his drawers. I plunk him on the potty and he just has the biggest grin ever. I then think to myself, "If this kid poops, I am going to have the most awesome bragging rights" Hehehehe.. Wanna know what happened? ;) This is where it gets interesting.. he looks at me and with the biggest proudest little boy face signs, "Poop.. Daddy" Oooohhhh boy. NOW I understand. No, my son is not a genius potty training himself. He is simply wanting to sit on the potty.. um.. like Daddy.. not that he has actually seen that (Daddy is more private than THAT common!!) But that night on the way to bed Jonathan was signing "Where Daddy" and he happened to be on the pot.. so I signed poop.. lol.. he must have put two and two together and THAT is why he frantically wanted to sit on the toilet. Just like Daddy. Maybe next time eh? Oh well, I'm not even close to ready to potty train yet.

Ok.. so as I am writing this, Alissa wakes up crying. So I go into her room and ask what is wrong. She keeps saying, "I want a letter" What? I ask what she means and she says "Like a word" and starts babbling about letters half in and out of consciousness. Yikes.. I guess almost-four year olds have bad dreams about letters? Darn you Cookie Monster and your "Letter of the Day" LOL... too weird. She is back to sleep now.

Matt says that there was an email send to his co-workers yesterday from the background investigator asking if anyone has any info for him (standard practice) so the ball is rolling..ever so slowly.. on the new job.

Well, I'm going to close for now. I have some awesome pictures to post, but haven't taken them off my camera yet.. oops. I'll get back to that soon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

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OOps.. apparently I had my settings wrong and people have been unable to leave anonymous comments. This should be fixed!! So if you don't have a blogger account and would like to leave a comment -- please do! :) Thanks.

--Me

Grrr..

I'm typing one handed right now. Why? Well.. Alissa and I made corn muffins tonight. I went to take them out of the oven with my handy dandy oven mitt.. and I got burned THROUGH the oven mitt!!! What the heck?? Sigh.. so my fingertips are blistered on my left hand -- lucky me!! Enough gripes :) On with the day.. Got some potentially great news!! I got a job!! YIPPEE!! I'm going to be babysitting a friend's 2 year old little boy. I called her today and asked how much she was paying for daycare and told her I was researching because I needed to make some extra cash for awhile.. then she suggested I watch him! Cool.. that was easy. So we are going to meet tomorrow evening to iron out the details. What a blessing!! It definitely helps my stress level to know I will be able to bring some income into the family while Matt is in training. Jonathan has a few new words, most notable: "Wheelie" My moms dog!! lol.. The kids stayed at my mom's last night while I went to ASL class and when I went to pick them up Jonathan was just saying "Wheelie" over and over. LOL.. he loves that dog. He also started saying no by shaking his head.. allll the time. My dad was holding him and I said, "Wanna come see mommy?" And he shook his head "NO!" Hehe.. I just know he will start chattering soon.. I love this age!! Learning so many things every day. Alissa insisted tonight that we have soup.. ok.. odd request from her. So I made chicken noodle soup. Then it all made sense!! She wanted to pick up the bowl and slurp it up like the Beast in Beauty and the Beast... lol. Fun times. This is a bit scattered, but oh well.. Jon is cutting a couple more molars and he has not been a happy camper about it. Craaaaanky boy. Sigh.. I'm glad this teething thing only happens once. I am NOT looking forward to the teeth falling out thing, yikes. It seriously gives me the willies watching teeth wiggle around. BLAH. I used to dream my teeth were falling out, umm.. wonder what THAT means? Haha.. luckily I haven't had a bad dream since I can remember.. in fact I think I have had nothing but pleasant dreams since being a momma. Maybe its because since becoming a momma I have always had at least one angel sleeping next to me. :) You know, on that note.. it's kind of funny. When I was preggo w/Alissa I had a crib set up and had everything planned in my head.. how she would sleep in her own room and all. Umm.. The first night in the hospital she slept in that little bassinet thing until a nurse snuck in and tried to take her to the nursery -- YIKES -- I panicked and form that moment on (until she was about 2 1/2 lol) Alissa slept safe at my side. The crib was a nice ornament, but never used. I think she napped in there one time? Oh well. So when I was preggo with Jonathan I no longer lived with these false illusions and sold the crib :) I think I might have done things differently if Matt didn't work graveyard.. but not having him here at night, why the heck not? I am amazed how much my plans changed from my pre-momma plans. There are other things I do and have done that I never thought I would.. but that's for another blog.. my one hand is getting tired. LOL. I do want to add one more thing. We went to the indoor park this morning and it was such a great trip. Alissa and Spencer played together wonderfully! It was so nice to see her and her cousin getting along.. they have had a few squabbles in the past and I just can't say enough how great it was to watch them play together (even if it was fairly brief, they are kids you know). Soooo much more happened today, but I need a break.. until next time.

Good bye truck..

So I posted our pickup on Craigs List.. with Matt getting this new job we will be on a super duper ridiculously tight budget for a year. He is not allowed to work overtime during his training (yes a whole year) so we will be taking a huge pay cut during that time. So.. byebye truck. I'm hoping it sells quick.. we'll see. I feel bad that Matt has to sacrifice his truck, but it is really the only way. And he isn't complaining.. too much :)

Jonathan update: Ok, this may sound crazy.. but I swear Jon is consistently saying, "Uh-oh, spaghetti-os" Seriously.. its hilarious. He is really starting to interact more like a kid.. like when I gave him a bath today.. speaking of baths, he knows how to sign bath and I swear he would spend all day in the bath if he could. He is constantly asking for a bath!! Anyways.. today in the bath I would ask (and sign) finished to Jon, and the little bugger looked up at me and vigorously shook his head "NO!" That's a new one!! Too cute. So he had a veeery long bath to say the least..hehe. He is also starting to play with Alissa more. Whatever she is doing he wants to do too! Today she was spinning in circles to get dizzy and fall down -- guess who joined in? Although his spinning was hilarious.. picture him pivoting around with one foot anchored to the ground round and round. I love watching them play together. Jonathan is always giving Alissa hugs.

As for Alissa.. she is obsessed with letters now. She likes to point out letters in the books we read... but mostly she meticulously points out "A-L-I-S-S-A" she thinks it is great to find her name "inside" other words. Hehe.. Lately her game of choice is "Sleeping Beauty" where she creates a spindle.. pokes herself on it.. and will lay on the floor eyes closed until the prince (yeah that would be me) comes and kisses her awake. Fun game, except I was making lunch and she got real quiet and I figured she was reading or something.. umm.. a few minutes later I peeked and she was "asleep" on the floor waiting for her kiss. LOL.. oops.. slow prince.

Today we hung out with my dad. He was having a rough day because he just found out that his best friend/former roommate Dan passed away. Kind of bitter sweet.. life was rough on him lately and he was a Christian man so we know he is finally home and happy.

Our biggest adventure today was going to Winco and battling the weekend crowds for groceries. We made it home in one piece with lots of goodies. We have started on our tight budget so I will be making more trips to the grocer and less to Paddington's Pizza heheehe..

Alissa rode her bike for awhile today until her fingers froze, it wasn't raining and I figured it will be awhile until she can ride again so what the heck. She loves her bike! It is going to be a bummer when she can't ride this winter. I have a bike trailer that Jonathan rides in so we can all go out. Mommy rides in the street and Ali follows on her bike. Lots of fun.. I originally envisioned Alissa and Jon both in the trailer, but she prefers to ride all by herself. Fine by me.

On a side note.. Matt is sick :( Poor guy. At least he has a couple days off to recoup. He has to turn his background packet in tomorrow and then we will finally have some kind of timeline as to when his new job really begins. I personally can't wait. I'm all about living vicariously through him. He better bring home some great stories (and leave out the bad ones hehe).

Anywho.. I'm off.

OMG -- Happy B-Day to me!!

Ok.. just a real quick blog. I am so extraordinarily excited right now. For those of you who know me -- you know my hero is Dr. Laura. Dr. Laura (if you didn't know) is a radio talk show host. She talks about marriage, family, kids.. pretty much anything you might have issues with in your life she gives advice. She is a huge advocate for stay-at-home mommies. I absolutely LOVE Dr. Laura. In fact, the "I am my kids Mom" comes from her and her show. Anyways.. My birthday present?? THANK YOU MOM!! Dr. Laura is coming to Portland on January 19th AND I GET TO GO!!!!! This is more exciting to me then any concert or pretty much any show.. pitiful I know. But to get the chance to see Dr. Laura in person is going to be SO AWESOME! Hehehe.. I just needed to vent a little of my excitement so I can sleep. Life is good. I can't WAIT!

HALLOWEEN -- finally.

So here it is. Halloween! Jonathan was a big fat purple dinosaur with wings..lol.. everyone said he was like the kid in A Christmas Story all bundled up with his arms way out because of all the fluff. It was hilarious watching my chubby little dinosaur run around. Hehe.. Alissa of course was Batman. She was a little under the weather still so we went TOTing in our neighborhood, a bit at my mom's, and by the time we got to Grandma Davis' she was pooped. It was good times. Oh.. the scary guy with the mask? That would be Grandpa George in his fire suit (for drag racing). Jonathan wasn't too sure about that whole thing.

Today was fun. We went to AC Gilbert house for Alissa's science class. We missed last week because she was sick :( This week was all about animal habitat. Alissa's favorite project was experimenting with bird beaks and how they pick up food. They had tweezers, tongs, what Ali called "monster claws" (the plastic thingy works kind of like a syringe but when you depress the top a four pronged metal claw comes out), and they got to pick up little rubber worms, fish, seeds, and other bird food with these items. They also got to use stamps of different animal feet on a paper with different habitat to put the right feet in the right place (swamps, trees, woods, etc). Oh yes! Another favorite - she made a bird feeder with a large dog milk bone with a string tied to it.. painted with lard (peanut butter works too but allergic kids) and rolled in bird seed. Lastly they made bird masks with paper plates glue sticks and feathers. It was a great class.

When we got home I put Jonathan to sleep and Alissa and I made lunch.. hehe.. I love allowing her to pick the menu -- some interesting things. We made spaghetti sauce with rainbow swirly noodles for our main course... our sides were apples (from the neighbors tree hehe) and then we made from scratch biscuits -- bear shaped!! Hehe.. Alissa used bear cookie cutters to make them and they turned out great. I hope it doesn't mess her up psychologically though.. when she says, "Mommy, can I bite his head off?" Umm... "Sure, why not". Oh boy. She thought it was pretty funny.. hope that's not a bad sign. :)

Tomorrow we pick up GG to bring her in to town one final time. She flies out to Arizona Saturday to stay warm for the winter. We are going to miss her :(

TAH TAH

Matt got his response letter today...

I told you he had his interview.. well.. got a letter in the mail today from the county. And the first word on the letter: Congratulations! That's right. Matt got the job!!! YEEHAAAWW!! I am so extremely happy for Matt because this is what he has always wanted. To be a "real" cop. Sure he is a sworn officer now, but there is something about being an enforcement deputy and being out in the action every day. Of course, I have mixed emotions about it.. but right now I am just very proud of him because he has worked so hard to get to where he is in such a short amount of time. He is such a dedicated man, and works his tail off so that he can support his family. I just love him so much and I am in awe of all that he has accomplished for us. On the other side of things, I am not thrilled about the fact that his line of work will place him in so much danger. Especially since attending the funeral of his friend who was killed in the line of duty. But I am comforted in the fact that Matt will have excellent training, he has great instincts.. and it helps a LOT that he is an awesome shot!! :)

In other news.. Jonathan has two new signs -- candy (guess why lol) and giraffe. He has also learned how to climb on top of the kitchen table bench and stand up -- that is an accident waiting to happen. He is a bit sniffly today but seems ok beyond that.

Alissa is much better today though still not her old self. Yesterday we went to the Disney Princess on Ice thing in Portland. Luckily we left REALLY early because I got lost in Portland -- which is why I NEVER drive in Portland.. because it is inevitable that we end up somewhere I don't intend to go. Thank God for Debbie's parents!! LOL.. I called Debbie and she gave me their number (they live in Portland) and they were kind enough to guide me over the phone to my destination. A little embarrassing, but sure beats being lost. Turns out I was going the wrong direction -- who knew?! So anyhow, after a 45 minute scenic detour we made it to the Rose Garden with time to spare. The show was awesome!! Alissa dressed up in a Sleeping Beauty dress and has her princess jewelry and crown.. too cute. Of course she was still under the weather so not as enthusiastic as she would have been -- but she still enjoyed the show. Her favorite was Maleficent the witch from Sleeping Beauty and the dragon she turns into. We let her pick a souvenir and she picked this fire breathing dragon light up thingy (which was about 4x too expensive) instead of all the cutesy princess gear -- that's my girl. Funny story about our seating arrangement. The group that went was: Myself, Alissa, Jon, Grandma Davis, Bethany, GG. When we got to our seats we discovered we were in the nose-bleed, super steep.. make you dizzy section. I wasn't looking forward to seeing the show from so high up, and besides with Jonathan being as squirmy as he is I was sure I would spend the whole show worried about him falling. So, went to the ticket counter with our plight (you know, 82 year old grandma, babies, pity pity) and got our tickets exchanged for better seats. Now, I was hoping for something out of the top level, but not expecting ring side or anything. We ended up in row "C" -- 3 rows from the show!!!! WOW!! It was AWESOME! We could see everything up close and personal. Thanks, Mom, for always teaching me "The squeaky wheel gets the grease!" I love to squeak!! ;)

So back to the show.. I was shocked at how much Jonathan enjoyed the show -- he was clapping and pointing.. waving.. just REALLY loved it!! The fact that both kids stayed awake through it was a small miracle in itself (it was 7:30 - 9:30). When we hit the road after the show both kids were sound asleep for the one hour drive home within 10 minutes.

I forgot to post about Halloween!! Sheesh.. this is getting long. I will post about Halloween when I get the pics of the kids from my mom, I was too lazy to grab my camera :)

Here is a random pic of the kids.. just because I feel this thing is incomplete without a pic..hehe