So What Is Jadon Saying Nowadays?

As any proud parent, I'm just amazed at what Jadon have picked up in his vocabulary. Some of the words that he has learned, I have no idea where he got them from. I'll ask Fiona if she taught him or if his grandparents taught him and they didn't. The funny thing is he has this funky accent (I think most kids have one). For example he'll add an '-a' sound to some of his words such as "food-a," "bread-a," or "bed-a." Strange kid. Anyways, here are some phrases he has been saying on multiple occasions:

"No like eet!" - He says this a lot.
"Bye, Bye. See you later."
"Oh man!"
"No haircut, just bath." - He says this just about every night (sometimes on the verge of tears). We give him a haircut once every three weeks or so and he thinks he's going to get one every night.
"Put baby sitter (sister) in timeout." - He says this when they cry.
"Tinkle, tinkle in a tar, how wa wawa ar you." - He tries to sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are."
"Hi dadda, hi dadda, hi dadda, hi dadda...." - This can sound cute at first but after he has said it a million times, it can get annoying.

Finally!

No more kids in our bedroom! I don't think Fiona shares my joy in that freedom (she actually misses them!). Last night was Natalie's turn for sleeping-through-the-night training. We moved her bed, temporarily, in Jadon's room (he's sleeping at his grandparent's). I think it went well. She woke up at 1:30 am and fussed but I think within an hour she was back to sleep. Fiona went to feed Natalie at the 5:00am feeding. She was out of her swaddle, unpacified, and sleeping (yahoo!). My goal is to get both girls sleeping together in their room by this Friday.

All In!

This past Saturday I was invited to a Texas Holdem Poker Tournament hosted by Kelcey. There were 32 participants (I believe). I had a great start taking an early chip lead at my table that lasted for the first 20 minutes or so. Then within the next 5 minutes, I was ousted. I thought that the player I was going up against was bluffing with an Ace showing on the 'flop.' I paired my ten on the 'river' and I went all in. He called and had an Ace in hand. Then the turn card came up with another Ace. I lost three Aces to my two pair (Aces and Tens). Ouch. This has been the third one (fourth if you include playing at a losers' table) that I have been in and in all of them I have crashed and burned. In all of them, I tend to start off really well and then trying to mimick some of the modern day poker heros of Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen, I try to change my play and push for all in. Let's just say I'm a rookie and they're professionals. I am 0-2 when I do that. Both times have led me to sleepless nights thinking what I could have done better. I think that I could do really well in the tournament, I just got to be more patient instead of trying to go for the kill. Oh well, better luck next time.

New Level Of Sleepiness.

With the initial onset of having kids, I have reached new levels of sleepiness. I vaguely recall that happening with Jadon, and I am once again reminded of these new found realms this morning. Now that I have moved back to my room, it's like having a newborn again. Vanessa seems to be sleeping through the night but we still have to contend with Natalie. Last night (or this morning), Fiona fed Natalie at 3:00am (and pumped) in bed all the while I had to try to sleep through that. That whole process took about 45 minutes and after Natalie was done eating, she wouldn't go back to sleep. So it was hitting about a little after 4:00 am and I figure that I might as well get up (since I have to wake up at 4:45 am and prepare to go to work). I napped a little bit on the couch until 5:20am but that didn't seem to help that much (actually that probably made things a little worse). So now my eyes feel a little heavy and hazy, I'm yawning like crazy, and it's tough to concentrate on my work.

Training Days.

This past week has been highlighted with the training of our kiddies in certain areas in their lives.

JADON - For the past few months we have been trying to potty train Jadon, but it wasn't until this past week that we saw results. Believe it or not, it's a huge brew-ha-ha and to some it may not seem like a big thing but for us (and probably most parents) it was. Last week Jadon was sitting on the potty and he actually peed! But like a typical male, he pretty much missed most of the toilet. I'll give him an 'A' for effort though. We rewarded him with some Dairy Queen ice cream. I told him that if he went poo-poo in the potty that I'd get him some toy cars. I think he took that to heart because on Saturday towards the tail end of his dinner he said that he had to go poo-poo. Fiona asked him if he wanted so sit on the potty and he said he did. So I took him to his bathroom and sat him on his seat and I closed the door (for privacy) and within five minutes there was a little log in the toilet. Jadon said "Go poo-poo, pee-pee, in the potty. Get ice cream, get new car!" So I did a ceremonial flush and Jadon waves and says "Bye bye poo-poo!" That was just a crack up. Fiona and I were so ecstatic about this event and we just praised him throughout the night. So when we headed out to celebrate it was getting kind of late and I was thinking that we might not have time to go get ice cream and go to Toy's R Us to get Jadon his promised present so I turn to him and tell him that we might not have enough time to do both tonight. So I ask him "Jadon, do you want a new car or do you want ice cream?" His response "Want ice cream AND new car." It's so neat to be able to ask him questions and he replies back in an actual sentence.

NATALIE - She isn't really in any major training at this point. We are just concentrating on her gaining weight. She should be hitting the 10lb mark soon. Natalie is doing quite well on solids and Fiona seems to have found the right consistency in making cereal to maximize the amount of food she eats.

VANESSA - Last night we started to train Vanessa to sleep through the night. Fiona has been reading some book that she bought to see what is the best method to go about doing it. I finally moved out of the girls room back in to my own room and Vanessa moved from our room to her room. So it was Fiona, Natalie, and me in one room and Vanessa in her own room. We have Jadon sleeping over at his grandparents while we train. Suffice to say I did not get the sleep that I was normally accustomed to. Well Vanessa slept for a bit and then woke me up with her crying at about 12:30am (Fiona said that she had been crying prior to me waking up). We pretty much let Vanessa cry without any intervention. She must have cried for well over an hour. When I went to check up on her this morning (5:00am) to feed her, I caught her on her belly, wimpering. It was such a heart wrenching sound to hear. It's tough to let one of your kiddies just cry and cry but it has to be done. Hopefully Vanessa's training won't last too long.

One For All, All Get Sick....

Last Wednesday Jadon came down with a cold. It's the middle of summer, how the heck does a kid get a cold in 90 degree weather? To top it, pretty much by the next day everyone came down with the same thing. We traced it back to his Sunday school. During the winter times, it's seem like a 50/50 chance that he gets sick. At that time we decided to not put him through Sunday school until the sick season passes and summer comes along. I guess we'll have to rethink about putting him in that. So let that be a lesson to those who are thinking about or about to have kids: Your kid gets sick, most likely you will get sick too.

On a side note: Fiona has gotten the most sleep (uninterrupted) in the past eight months, a little over 3 hours. Woohoo!

Weight Issues.

First the good news:

Natalie - 9lbs 9oz (a gain of 4 oz from last week)

Vanessa - 13lbs 2oz (Finally broke the 13 lb barrier)

The bad news (or potentially):

Over the past month I have picked up a running exercise regiment. I run/walk about a mile 6 days a week. In the beginning, I weighed myself and came in at a staggering 184lbs! My goal is to get down to 175lbs. Over the course of the month not only did I run/walk, I ate less at meal times (compensated with a little more snacking) and have been eating less junk food. I weighed myself yesterday and it came in at a shooking 189lbs! Say what?!?!!? I think the scale is whacked! I have never gained 5 lbs so fast so something is up. In the past, I told Fiona that eating healthy (vegetables etal) and exercising only contributes to my getting more flabby. I guess it's time to go on my old diet of chicken fried steaks, other fried foods, and lots of soda.

Weight Update:

Great news!

Natalie - 9lbs 5 oz (She has gained 6oz in one week! She has been doing a lot better the past two weeks. And it seems that she enjoys eating cereal now. Fiona keeps increasing the amount every day and it's becoming quite scary)

Vanessa - 12lbs 15 oz (Still the same. She doesn't seem to like eating cereal at this point so we temporarily put off feeding her solids until next week.)

Jadon the Unsociable?

There's two sides to Jadon's interaction amongst people. Towards grown ups, he seems very friendly and sociable. He randomly says 'hi' to people who walk by him and he smiles alot. When it comes to kids his age and younger, he is a scaredy-cat nut case. He avoids them like they have the plague. He doesn't want to be touched and his posture shows it. He will hide behind my leg and if the kid is really friendly and wants to play with Jadon, Jadon begins to cry.

A few days ago a kid, who was a little younger then him, was making friendly overtures and chasing Jadon. He didn't like that and started bawling. The worse thing about it was Jadon looked like he even took a swipe at the kid ( I had to lecture him on that one; I should have put him in time-out but I left him off with a warning). I just hope it's a phase and that he'll grow out of it. I don't want him to grow up being a loner.