Wonderment

In case you were wondering if Sadie ever officially potty trained. . . YES! The other day she asked if she could sit on my lap, "I promise I won't pee on you." No, in all the training she never peed on me, but I did remind her not to every time she sat on me.

In case you were wondering what Nate would say if he saw someone in a speedo. . . it's embarrassing for sure. We were walking to the bathroom at the pool when Nate wondered very loudly, "WHAT is him wearing?" The guy hears him and simply explains, "It' a swimsuit for swimming." Nate:"Yeah, but why it so small? And what is that round. . ." I apologized profusely and hurried him off hopefully before the guy heard any more. Definitely more embarrassing than the time Nate asked the very short lady at the Target returns desk, "Hey you small. Why you working?"

In case you were wondering what Little Ponies eat . . . I happen to know. Sadie and I were playing with her Ponyville set that she finally got to open when it was time for them to eat lunch. I told Sadie that ponies love to eat carrots and apples. She then tells me, "Noooooo Mom. Ponies like cupcakes, and lollipops and piiiiizzzzza." I plan on starting a line of children's toys where the characters only eat healthy foods. Healthy foods with organic labels. And they never have fun.

In case you were wondering what my sister is having. . . we found out this morning. And by "we" I really mean she. I know a lot of you have had the chance to meet my sister or read her hilarious blog and have been asking me if she knows what she's having yet. It's a GIRL!

2 out of 3

Monday marked the 2nd "1st Day of School" for the Rogers kids. Nate is going to 2 preschools this year (in an effort to get him ready to go 5 days, all day next year) and his first of the two started up this week. He actually went to Becky's last year too, so he wasn't nervous or weepy. Just happy to be freed from Sadie and me! He was so excited to get going that he picked out his outfit about 4 days early.

Picture taking sessions with Nate are always crazy because he can't stand still.

NATE! Look at ME!

Look at me and look HAPPY!

NO guns!

My sister's personal favorite -- Magic Hands

How about some teeth? OK, no teeth.

While he was at school Sadie played at the Ray's with Lindsay and I managed to get all my Visiting Teaching done. After school he went home with Brady and played the afternoon away. We're so lucky we got to keep the Krassows on our street.

So what. I am a rock star.

I got my rock moves! I really love that song, especially when my kids it.

Ellie is off at a Hannah Montana Rock Star party as we speak. Girl theme parties are so much more fun than boy theme parties. At least to this mommy.

In other Rogers' Rock Star-ness

Sadie is really doing AMAZING at potty training. Finally!! We haven't had any accidents in 3 days. Tomorrow will be the first venture-out-of-the-house-in-panties day for our day of McGuire festivities. Crossing my fingers because there's no turning back now.

Luke is really sleeping like a champ now -- he slept until 8 this morning!!! He is also settling into being just the sweetest little baby EVER. I love it when all the other kids are asleep and he just sits with me and we stare at each other. We smile and coo and I contemplate ways to shrink all of my children back to this age. . . We're not the only members of our little Mutual Admiration Society. Don't you think he is actually starting to look (dare I say) BIG??

And Nate starts his last year of pre-school on Monday. He is so ready to get back to school. OK, we all are.And yeah, that's a Halloween shirt and it's only August. What can I say -- he loves that holiday.

I love structure and routines, so I'm glad everything is finally starting to settle back down into a pattern. It's going to be a busy but fun weekend!

Teacher vent

It's probably just me, but I spend about the first month of every grade being disgruntled with Ellie's teachers. I don't know if it's a natural thing or it's just the teacher in me thinking, "That's not how I would do it."

The first few weeks I will call my girlfriends and give them my latest beef. For example Kindergarten:

1. Ellie wrote her name on her homework with a heart over the "i." Teacher CROSSED IT OUT! It's her stinking homework for heavens sake.

2. She had to pull a stick for talking in the bathroom. DUDE! It's her first week in school and she's never gotten to go to the bathroom at the same time as a friend before. Of course she is excited. She's never gotten a stick pulled again in her entire school career.

I signed all of my e-mails for the first month as "Madelyn Rogers." In my mind, it was some sort of bizarre punishment to not let her call me Maddy.

First Grade:

1. She wasn't getting her peg moved up on the reward board. Would she ever make it to Lunch Bunch? My daughter is perfect, how can she not be moving her up? She made it to every lunch bunch

2. Why does she hate my daughter's handwriting so much? It's the first week of school lady, relax on the penmanship, it's not the end all be all of the academic world. Ellie really does have sloppy handwriting.

3. WHY DOESN'T SHE USE E-MAIL!! It was so much easier last year when I could e-mail the teacher all day, we even called each other by our first names. We were BFFs, I will never like this teacher.

Of course I then went on to LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVE both of these teachers. In fact I would even say I ADORE them both and wish they were going to be around for the rest of my kiddos. They are amazing teachers and I know they loved my daughter beyond measure.

So this year I *promised* to myself that I would relax and give this teacher a little time before I made any judgment calls. And just like every morning when I wake up and tell myself that I'm not going to eat dessert, I can't resist!

Second Grade:

1. Ellie says she yells. Scout Burley says she yells. Why would a teacher need to yell?

2. The A/C in their class went out. No explanation came home, just a note telling us to send water bottles and dress the kids in skirts and shorts to stay cool.

Ummmm, it's Arizona It's a 110 out, I think I want to know when this is going to be fixed. So I e-mailed her wondering what was up and also why the passwords she gave for the book orders were wrong. She e-mailed me back a day later with a cut and paste answer about the A/C (which was out for a week and a half after I called the District and found out the PO was sitting on the desk of someone who was OUT OF TOWN so no one even knew) and no answer on the book order thing.

Over a week later, she e-mailed about the book order password thing. Thanks for being on top of it.

3. Today, after school, she e-mailed out her newsletter announcing that the kids would have their first spelling test on Thursday, August 20th. Yeah that's today. Thanks for the advance notice. Also, the first phonogram test will be on Thursday, August 20th. "Will be" or did you mean, "already was?"

Then she sent out a separate e-mail to 'ensure' us that the word 'attatchment' was just a typo on the newsletter. How about all the other mistakes. Like saying there will be no school on Monday, September 1st??

Gads, I feel like such a mean person getting all picky like this. I'm sure I'll love her by the end of the year, but why do I do this to myself the first few weeks? Is anyone else exceptionally hard on their kid's teacher???

Blah blah blog update

Apparently I haven't updated this recently. Main reason: no pictures. Who wants to read a blog with no pictures?? So I'll try to keep the sentences short in order to keep your attention.

*edited* Oh lucky you, after Luke ate, I pulled out the camera JUST to take pictures for your entertainment!

1. I am trying UNSUCCESSFULLY to potty train Sadie. Since Sadie is such a child genius, I thought once I set my mind to potty training her, it would be a breeze. Well it's been almost a week of my half-hearted attempt and she is such a child genius she's figured out to just whine for a diaper.

(Insert picture of Sadie holding Ponyville toy I'm trying to bribe her with, so she's never going to get here)
2. While I'm attempting the impossible, I decided to try to get Nate to stop sucking his thumb. The bribe: Star Wars Legos.

3. Dustin and I celebrated out anniversary at Kai -- where I couldn't even go to the bathroom by myself. I also ate so much food that I made myself ill, but that chocolate souffle was worth it.

4. Luke is sleeping great, but I am still waking up at all hours of the night. Last night I took Nyquil to help me sleep causing me to be the world's crankiest mother this morning. I think it sounded something like this, "Nate, you're chewing loudly." "Ellie! YOU'RE chewing loudly." "SADIE! YOU'RE SLURPING YOUR MILK LOUDLY."

cue cute pictures of Luke:




5. The Halloween catalogs are starting to arrive and Nate is in heaven. He's bummed because Sadie does not share his vision of turning our home into a haunted house.

And now you all luck out because Luke is awake, so I will abandon this really boring blog for now.

Ten Years -- Lucky Me

Today is our ten year wedding anniversary. Since we decided to count Cabo as our big celebration seeing as we would have a newborn when it rolled around, and we are forced to attend Curriculum Night at school AGAIN this year I still wanted to do a little something to celebrate the actual day. So please induldge my sappy little post.

When I married Dustin, I thought I was pretty lucky. Well after 10 years, I don't just *think* it, I KNOW I am lucky. There are just some things that get better with time and being married to Dustin is one of them. I definitely think the first few years of marriage are bliss, but love is even better after all the newness fades and the struggles and responsibilities come. I can honestly say I love Dustin more today than our wedding day.

In honor of our ten years, here are ten fantastic things that Dustin does to make being married to him so easy. And don't worry -- these may be sappy, but they're pretty light hearted. I'll save the deep and serious stuff for just the two of us.

1. He does 90% of the cooking. And it's really good cooking too. People are always asking to get a recipe of something he's cooked for them. Every now and then I may make a meal -- like Father's Day or when he's out of town -- but even when he's gone on a business trip, he'll usually cook up a few meals for me to re-heat. And now that he works from home, he'll even make me lunch if he gets a chance.

2. He jumps at the chance to help me with my day. If he doesn't have a morning meeting, he'll offer to drive carpool for me or make everyone breakfast. On Saturdays he's been known to take all of them grocery shopping so Luke and I can nap and clean. If the laundry gets piled up he'll take a basket or two to fold and iron my Church clothes.

3. Dustin is a great friend to everyone -- including my friends. He offered to watch a friend's kids so we could run a race last year while her husband took the LSAT and he's watched another so we could throw a baby shower. He's gone and jumped a few cars, made plenty of meals after friends have had babies, and he never complains if we end up with a few extra kids helping a friend out.

4. He doesn't sweat the small stuff. When I got my first (and only) speeding ticket, Dustin was out of town. I was so upset about the whole thing and when I told him, he just told me not worry about it because it happens to everyone. There have been so many times I've made a mistake and he never gets mad and he never harps on it. He just lets things roll of his back. I've never had to hide a receipt or justify a purchase and he's alwasy generous when it comes to splitting the bill or treating a friend.

5. He has no guile. I don't think Dustin has ever met a person he doesn't like. So many times I get riled up about a person or a situation and Dustin can always help me settle down. He has the incredible ability to focus on the real issues and see the best in everyone.

6. He works hard to provide for our family. I'm so grateful for how hard he works at everything -- his job, his calling, taking care of our family. Dustin has never gotten anything but glowing reviews from everyone he works with.

7. He is willing to sacrifice sleep. He wakes up at 4:45 every morning so he can fit the gym into his busy schedule and is still willing to stay up to put Luke to bed, or make a late night run to the store for diapers, milk, or my Golden Spoon cravings.

8. He is partially responsible for the cutest kids EVER. I love my kids big brown eyes and sweet little dimples (except for poor Luke) that I know they got from their Daddy. Our first and our last weren't planned and Dustin always was so excited no matter what. His positive outlook and love for them from the get-go always helped me get over the shock and frustration.

9. He is a great Dad. Dustin knows all our kids' friends, their teachers names, their schedules, their favorite foods and toys. . . He's the one to take them to Urgent Care or the ER. He never complains about a night home alone with the kids while I go out with friends or when I was always running around for Church meetings. There isn't anything that our kids need that he's too busy for.

10. He loves me. Despite all my craziness and high-strung moments, he still tells me multiple times a day that he loves me. And I know he tries hard every day to make me happy

I know everyone thinks their husband is the greatest, but I think we can all agree that Dustin is pretty fantastic. I'm so very lucky because I'm pretty sure if I ended up with anyone else I'd be in trouble. I love you and thank you for making me so happy!

2 months today!

Since it's Luke's 2 month birthday today, you will be subjected to random details of a newborn's really uneventful life and some really bad pictures I took.

Like these from Sunday morning
Just hanging out waiting for Daddy to get home from meetings. Nate was so concerned as to what class Luke would be going to at Church.

The bad idea where I thought I should squeeze my kids into one tiny chair. Guess who got squeezed in the chair last? By the time I noticed Nate was a foot shorter than Sadie the kids were done.Nice glare from Ellie and Nate looks like he's in pain There's also Sadie with the mad-eye wink smile. In case you've never noticed, my kids have the weird genetic disposition to smile with one eye closed. My sister even made a collage of it:
Luke is sleeping pretty well at night. I say "pretty well" because the kid is so unpredictable (and because the other 3 kids were all sleeping through the night by 2 months). He'll usually wake up once a night, sometime between 3 and 5 am. But then every few nights he doesn't wake up until 6 or 7. Guess who DOESN'T sleep until 6 or 7? Me! I'll usually wake up around 4 and just lay in bed waiting for him to wake up. The later it gets, the more I'm convinced he's going to wake up at any minute so it would be pointless to go back to sleep. And then I get mad at myself for not sleeping. Dustin thinks I'm crazy but I have assured him that all moms do this -- right?

He's smiling now, which is always so much fun because you realize they actually like you. I also enjoy his little Zoolander faces
The kids all love Luke and fight over who gets to sit next to his head when I'm feeding him. If it were up to me the answer would be NO ONE! They like to cuddle his hair and keep him distracted from the task on hand -- fattening him up! As soon as he is awake they all have to crowd around him and coo. Nate especially likes to force toys into his hand so he can teach him to play. I think he's just so excited to finally have a brother. Doctor's appointment is later this morning. Cross your fingers that he's at the 10th percentile for weight.

*update* OK so he weighs 9 lbs 13 oz. So so tiny! But the good news is -- he is in the 10-25th percentile (previously he was at exactly the 10th percentile, so we moved up a notch). This means he's off the high calorie stuff while we figure out if he can maintain his weight on his own. He's also on some reflux medicine to see if that is what is causing his aversion to eating (there are some other indicators of reflux as well). I've never had a baby so tiny, but he sure is cute!!