Look Who's...

Look who's Potty Training!  Notice I said Training... I wish I had said Trained though.  We have been putting it off for so long but the other day I told Ragen that we just need to suck it up and start Kree, knowing that this baby is coming at anytime I at least wanted to get a start on it.  It has definitely tested our patience but it is getting easier each day.  We thought we would never get through the first day of it because Kree did not like it one bit and we were in the bathroom with him hours at a time, bribing, singing, whatever we could possibly do to get him to go.  He finally went that night and we were so proud of him and he was so proud of himself.  Yesterday he did really well, had a pull-up on him all day and no accidents and would even pee in the toilet everytime we put him on. We even took him to the Dollar store and let him pick out a treat and now we will give him one everytime he goes.  He did manage to poop in his pull-up, I guess that will be a whole new adventure.  Later that evening we went to my sister's house and that was a little more of a struggle, he went a couple of times but he also went in his pull-up too.  I'm sure he was a little more distracted with all his cousins around.  Today we put Big Boy underwear on him and we are going strong... he has done really well so far.  So keep wishing us luck!

Counting the Days!

Yes this is me... hopefully ready to POP soon! I am about 38  1/2 weeks and crossing my fingers that this little guy comes soon.  My Dr is gone this weekend, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this coming week so I will see him Thursday and he told me if I want he would induce me that weekend, which I will totally take him up on it if this little guy hasn't come yet.  I'd much rather go on my own before being induced, but I have been soooo ready for sooooo long.  My Dr always manages to go on vacation when I'm getting close to my due date.  With Kree he was going to be gone on his due date so we had scheduled an inducement date a few days before, luckily Kree came the day before that. And now he is going to be gone again, so who knows what is going to happen.

Ragen is really hoping that he is not a Valentines baby but he very well could be.  We just want him to come and come healthy, we are excited to have another little boy around and Kree is getting more and more excited... sort of.

Just for Pam!

I had to add this just for my Mom!  I knew she would be thrilled to have her picture posted for all to see.  Kree has these sticker books that he loves. We had made a visit to Idaho Falls a couple of weekends ago, well Kree thought it would be fun to start sticking the stickers all over his face and body but even funnier to stick them all over Grandma... she was thrilled as you can tell.  Really she loved every minute of it as did Kree and then he proceeded to do the same to Grandpa... unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of that one.  So this is for you Mom!

A Whole Lot of Kree

I want to just write about Kree for a minute and all the recent things he has been up to.  I don't know what I would do without him in my life or I should say in our lives. He has so much personality lately and cracks us up everyday with something knew that he says or does.  It's those times that I wish I had a pen and paper to jot down all the funny and cute things that he does and says.  One that Ragen was telling me about the other day was: they were getting ready to go to the Ag show with some family and he immediately ran and got his overalls and wanted to wear them and then started stuffing his tools in his pockets and said that he was going to fix the tractors like the farmers.  I love it!

Lately he has been a momma's boy... I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that there is a little one on the way and he knows things are going to be different.  I don't ever want him to think that he is being replaced or that we wouldn't show him enough love and attention.  It will be interesting to see how he adjusts when his brother arrives in about 3 to 4 weeks.  Some days he seems excited about it and talks about how he's going to share his toys with him and his room, etc but then other days he isn't so excited and won't have anything to do with the baby at all.  He will be a good brother though... I know it, it may take some time but he will.

Just some of the many things he is doing lately (and I'm sure I will forget some and then remember them later)

• He is still into Tom & Jerry and lately wants to watch that, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast or Up
• Loves to try and fix things with his tools or pretend he is cutting our hair with his tools
• Calls his overalls his "lunch" or his "dinners"
• Is really into puzzles, cars and trains
• Is still a picky eater and is still a small/scrauny but energenic boy
• Not sure exactly what he weighs but probably around 28/29lbs, he has his 3 year check up in March.
• Is very stubborn when it comes to trying to potty train, hopefully soon before the baby comes, cross our fingers
• Loves to sing to songs in the car and even in church
• Loves to wrestle with daddy
• Likes to lick you and says "I gonna lick you!"
• Is still obsessed with his blanky
• Loves cheese quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches (he calls them cheese hamburgers)
• Finally starting to like brushing his teeth since Santa brought him a Thomas the Train battery-powered toothbrush, had his first dentist appt a few weeks ago and hated every second of it and has to go back in a few weeks because of a possible cavity
• Loves to try and dress himself now and actually does pretty well
• Thinks that Mommy has to carry him everywhere lately, pretty sure it has something to do with the baby coming as mentioned before
• Has to pick his own cereal out of the cupboard himself in the mornings
• Can sleep in forever in the mornings and is a huge night owl, mommy and daddy have not been very consistent
• Has to make sure I give him a hug and kiss before leaving in the morning for work and if I forget then daddy has to rush him outside to the car before I take off to do so... I love it!
• Has really gotten into books lately and amazes me on how much he remembers about books that we have read to him.
• Is starting to recognize  letters and numbers when he see's them
• Can spell his name
• Does a naked run before getting into the bathtub
• When Mommy or Daddy say a word that we're not supposed to that we have taught him not to say, he makes sure we know it and says "don't say dat!"
• Is becoming increasingly smarter and smarter when it comes to mommy's phone or the TV and DVD player.
• I love this little guy and these past 3 years have been so wonderful watching him grow and can't wait for many more.  We love you Kree!

Christmas!

A little late posting as usual but I would never have forgotten to post... especially Christmas!  I was especially excited this year because Kree is at that age where he is starting to understand things a little more and it's also Kree's last Christmas by himself.  Kree was so exciting this year, it was so fun listening to him talk about Christmas.  I think our favorite was when he would refer to Santa as "Ho Ho Christmas," as well as what he would ask for for Christmas,  "My Thomas Choo Choo and Tracks."  We eventually got around to taking Kree to see Santa and he did better than I anticipated.  I thought he would get nervous because he tends to do that but he walked right up there and sat on his lap, told him what he wanted and as you can see in the picture, told Santa how old he is "Two" even though he holds up five fingers every time.  We even helped Kree type a letter to Santa and Santa even responded... it was so cute.



We spent the first part to of the Christmas break in Declo with Ragen's family. The Thursday before Christmas was Ragen's Mom's birthday so we all got together for the Boise State Bowl game and celebrated her birthday... here are all the grandkids with Grandma.

Christmas Eve we all got together and the grandkids acted out the Nativity.  Kree started off to be a little stinker and wouldn't wear anything (he did the same thing last year) until he saw everyone else out there wearing there outfits and then he wanted to be a part of it.  As you can see in the picture he would only wear the head piece.

All the grandkids on Christmas Eve.

Of course we had to leave cookies and milk for Santa and Kree made sure he helped him eat one of the cookies before he went to bed.  Silly kid!

Christmas Morning... we ended up waking Kree up about 8am or else he would have slept in til about 10 or so.  When he saw what Santa brought him, he didn't show a lot of emotion.  He wouldn't respond to anyone when he was asked a question for a while.  He had to make sure that this wasn't a dream or anything I guess.  He wasn't interested in much else for a while, just wanted to play with his Thomas the Choo Choo.

Grandma and Grandpa Darrington with his new helicopter.

Mommy and her new shoes... I love them.  Ragen and Santa were very good to me this year.  My Santa gift was at home... a new elliptical... couldn't quite get it to Declo.

More gifts,  Kree was very spoiled this year and he probably will be forever because his Mommy and Santa LOVE Christmas time.  Here he his with his new puzzles... he loves puzzles.

Kree and Daddy both got some binoculars this year.  I love this picture of them both looking through them.

Ragen has been wanting a Levi blanket, so I was able to make my first quilt with the help of my talented mother that is... Thank you Mom, love you!  Ragen loved it... hopefully it stays together, j/k!

That same day we travelled to Idaho Falls to have Christmas with my family.  Here's Kree helping Grandma and Grandpa open their gift from him.  He made them a clay handprint of his hand, he was so excited to give it to them.  Grandma and Grandpa Darrington received one as well.

Kree opening more gifts... I don't know where I'm going to put them all.

This year for my mother we all gave her a wooden clock that my brother's did most of the work on but all of the grandkids pictures are on porcelin  and they all are representing the numbers in some way.  Kree is number 10 and has tape on his belly shaped in the number 10.  Our new little edition will be number 11 on the clock so we will add him later.  It turned out really nice.

Overall it was a very nice Christmas.  It's hard to believe that this time next year we will have 2 little rugrats around for the holidays.  Can't wait!

Our Home-made Christmas Tree

This year we had to be creative when decorating for Christmas since all of our stuff is in storage.  We were able to get our little Christmas Tree but that was about it without digging through everything.  So I thought it would be fun to let Kree and us make some decorations this year. We don't ever spend Christmas in our own place so we thought this temporary solution would work to make sure Kree had a Christmas Tree leading up to Christmas.

Here are Kree and Ragen stringing lights. Everyday Kree has to go turn on the lights now, he loves it!

Stringing fruit loops, although I think Kree ate more than he strung.

A little Christmas snack.

Making some handprint Santas. Kree didn't like putting paint on his hands but he loved to put the glue on for all the other pieces.

Handprint Santas, Mommy, Kree and Daddy Santas. Ragen wanted to make sure the Dew can was in the picture.

Candy Cane Reindeer

The end result, our Homemade Christmas Tree.  We also made some colorful snowmen, a clay handprint of Kree... you can't see it really well in this picture but it actually turned out cute, and then of course our colorful star on top the tree.  It was fun, although I think Ragen was getting tired of me making him do these crafts, but it was good family time together and they were all very simple.

 I always love Christmas but I am especially excited this year, mainly for Kree.  He's starting to understand a little more.  He calls Santa... "Ho Ho Christmas," I love it!  When you ask him what Santa is going to bring him he will always without fail say "Santa, Ho Ho Christmas... Thomas Choo Choo," it is so cute!  I think he is going to love Christmas morning and I can't wait for it.  Maybe I am excited and little emotional (I will admit) because it will be his last Christmas with just him.  Sounds lame but it is sad, maybe it's the extra pregnancy hormones. Christmas is definitely my favorite time of the year.

THANKSGIVING

This year for Thanksgiving we headed to Sin City to visit my brother and his family.  Kree always loves to go visit his cousin Lili and it's always good to see my brother and his wife.  It was a short trip but worth it.  We decided to drive and my parents and little brother and his wife came as well. 

We arrived there on Wednesday evening late and couldn't wait to get some sleep so we could stuff our faces the next day.  Thanksgiving day was nice and wonderful food.  We had a good time, eating, visiting playing games, and eating more.  The next day we did some shopping but not early, we took our time.  Kree and Lili were able to play on some toys in the middle of Town Square, a big shopping mall outside in Vegas.  After doing some shopping Kree and Lili were getting tired so Mom and Shantai decided they would head back to the house with the kids and the rest of us would head off to do more shopping.  Unfortunately we got a phone call shortly after that they had been in a car accident on I-15 in Vegas.  Some guy had run into the back of Shantai's car pushing her into the guy in front of her.  It was bumper to bumper traffic so it was crazy.  We rushed there as soon as we heard.  So Kree was in his very first car accident, thank goodness it was nothing too serious.  Kree was apparently shaken up at first but by the time we got there him and Lili were doing ok and playing in their carseats.  Mom and Shantai were still shaken up and flustered.  The guy behind them got cited and Shantai had to have her car towed.  I am so grateful that they were all ok. The next day we did a little more shopping why the guys went golfing, took the kids to Dinosaur Park and they had a blast.  What a fun park for kids, hectic but fun. Then we went out to eat and rested before we headed out Sunday.  It was a nice trip and always good to get away.  Plus Ragen was able to have his homemade Thanksgiving meal.... the first year we were married we had Thanksgiving with my family and we headed to St George where Taylor and Shantai were living at the time but there place was too small for Thanksgiving so we headed to the Cracker Barrel.  Ragen was very disappointed and has never let us live it down since.



Dinosaur Park

This was at Town Square on the Choo-choo train





Thanksgiving Day

The kid's table

Dinosaur Park

Ragen had to have some fun too.

Best buds!