Jordan tells me "MORE"

Jordan is a trooper! Despite all the ailments and ear pain she has she just keeps on going. Tonight, as I was putting a little extra something in her tummy before bed she started to do the baby sign for 'MORE'. Now, I have been doing this to her for quite some time but she just looks at me like, huh? or laughs. Well, today she did it! At first I thought "do you know what that means"? And she would do it at the appropriate time. She wanted more of those sweet potatoes! What fun it is to watch her learn!

A treasure box

Ever since Taylor was a newborn she has wanted to be held to go to bed. She was miserable as an infant and never slept more than 20 minutes at a time during the day unless she was being held. We have tried repeatedly over the last three years to break this cycle to no avail! At one point we thought we were doing pretty good and got as far as sitting next to the door in her bedroom while she laid on her bed. Unfortunately, this could sometimes take over an hour for her to go to bed. When the tornado came and we were left in a house with no windows or carpet (I certainly didn't want to sit on the plywood and wait for her to drift off) we ended up sitting on her bed. That's where the back rubbing came into play. (Michael never sat on the floor. He preferred to sleep in bed with her). I have tried and tried to get her to stay in her room at bedtime. That didn't work. I told her she could keep her light on and read for as long as she wanted. That didn't work. I was nearing my wits end when I decided perhaps her litle stubborness just needed a little reward. So, the other night we made a 'treasure box' out of an empty diaper box. We decked it out with stickers and put stars over it. We even went to the extreme of using glitter. What a mess (Thank you Jamie)! Since that night, the little darling has been pretty good about going to bed. I have stocked the treasure box with a few 'rewards' when special stars are earned. So far so good. Right now, she has to earn 2 special stars in order to get a reward out of the box. We keep track of these stars on a little erasable board on the fridge. We hype it up as best as we can hoping she catches on and gets excited about how well she is doing. Eventually, she'll have to get a lot more stars to get a 'reward' out of it and then hopefully she'll forget about it. So far, two stars is about as long as she can wait or she'll tell me "I don't care" and go about jumping out of bed.

The other night I was so proud of her. She didn't go to sleep right away but she did stay in the room. I'd periodically go in and check on her and she'd want her back rubbed or scratched again. (I forgot to mention, that before I leave her in the room we take a timer in and set it for how long I will rub her back. She then knows that when it goes off that I am going to leave.) It took about 45 minutes before she finally gave up but she didn't come out of the room!

It sure has been nice to not have any tears at bedtime. Yeah, it cost me some items in a treasure box but mostly they are things she needed anyway. (Have you ever had your kid excited about getting a new toothbrush or batteries for some toy?) Shh.. don't tell her otherwise!

To our uninvited house guest

Dear Germs,

You have overstayed your welcome. We are tired of the coughing, sneezing, sore throat, fever, no one getting a good night sleep bug. Your generosity and willingness to share has gone over the top! You are being kicked out. You may not return. Please find yourself a new home! Preferably far far away!

The Mathis family

Oh, to be so flexible!

Jordan was just a little more than cranky so we stashed her in her bed hoping she'd take a little nap. Well, it did get pretty quiet up there and this is what I found! (I moved her and her nap was pretty short lived!)
Update: Turns out she came down with croupe that night and two ear infections! I'd be cranky too!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is not a big holiday in our house. Probably mostly because of me. I mean, who wants to hear they are 'loved' when everyone else in the world is also saying it? I'd rather something spontaneous. In fact, a surprised clean house or other such tasks would make my day!

But, since Taylor has been excited this year because of 'school' we went all out with breakfast! Heart-cakes for those of you who don't recognize our creation! Pink ones at that!
Taylor gave Daddy a book she even wrote her name in it. It wasn't a surprise because she pulled it out of the hiding place we had stashed it in several days previously and wanting it to be read. Note to self.. keep child in the dark about such secrets. I think she had the book memorized before she actually gave it to him!

Jordan all worn out later in the day. This 'loving' is rough! It was windy so we were protecting her little ears! Cute as a button!

Taylor update

On January 29th we took cupcakes to Taylor's daycare 'school' and celebrated her birthday (January 30th) with her best friend Kyler who was born on the 29th!

I wonder which one is Kyler!

Taylor, you are so much fun to be around. You have a very vivid imagination and it is fun to watch you learn and figure things out. You already know all of your alphabet and can even write most of them with just a little help on some of those 'hard' ones.

Jordan Update

Early in the morning on January 29th , Michael and I headed off to take Jordan to get tubes put in her ears!

Jordan is NOT a happy camper here. This is when they are all done and coming out of the anesthesia. She wasn't happy about being put into her carseat! She wanted to snuggle some more!

Since the surgery Jordan has made some amazing progress. She has learned to crawl on her hands and knees, sit up from any position, pull herself up to the furniture, and yes... even has started to take steps on her own! Really! Those ears must have been bothering her quite a bit to accomplish all this in just 3 weeks! She is a goer!

Poor neighbors

2008 ended quite blustery. This is a picture of our poor neighbors! I wonder what they were doing for the celebrating the New Year... Yard Work?

Cranky girls

Jordan had tubes put into her ears last Thursday. All went well. Or did it? Seems to me she is more grouchy than when she went in. Could it be her independence striking or a second round of the sickies invading our house? I'm sadly hoping for the sickies as that will eventually go away. Jordan and I have not slept for 3 days. I would have enjoyed sleeping more if she felt well. Poor little thing. I guess we're looking at another doctor's visit. The cough keeps waking her up which results in crying for mommy or daddy. Daddy plays the 'who can ignore her the longest' game and waits until I get up to take care of her before moving! I'm on to you Michael! Tonight is your night! It has not been decided if we will go to school and work tomorrow. It depends on how I end up feeling. I've had a bad headache since Thursday and a pretty good sore throat. I don't think there is anyone out there that would like for me to share this 'bug' with them! If you would like it, let me know and I'll send my kids over to your place while I take a much needed nap!

Last weeks adventure in being a home owner...

In the last year we have had our house almost blown over by a tornado, our furnace quit working on a morning it was -16 degrees outside, and now we had the bake element in our stove blow up! What's next on the home improvement list? We did learn that hiring contractors is not fun so we did the fix-it repair on the stove ourselves