Bad habits die hard

I have this "leftover" habit from college where I read multiple books all at the same time. I call it a "bad" habit because it takes me forever to finish just one book :) Here's a picture of my current reading list...


...all but two I am halfway through...eek! The other two I would like to read before baby #3 makes his/her arrival. You see, I spent a little over 10 years in college. Yes, ten. For the curious cats out there, I studied full-time for five years to earn my Bachelors degree (Texas and it's extra government/history requirements), I studied part-time for two & a half years for Nursing School pre-requisites and then again full-time for three years to earn my RN and Master's degree. So, over those 10 years, I continuously read multiple books for my classes. I suppose I haven't dropped the habit yet :) Here's my current reading list:

1. Bible (life application) by God
2. Boundaries (already read it once, needed a refresher) by Cloud & Townsend
3. Know the Bible in 30 Days by Lang
4. Understanding your Child's Temperament by Carey
5. Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey by Demer & Wheeler
6. Touchpoints (another re-read, keeping up with the development of each boy) by Brazelton
7. Your Journey Through Pregnancy (my insurance company sent me this, I'd like to read it) by UHC
8. A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (a book from Nursing school-another want-to-read) by Enkin et al

I try to read books to the boys, but with my scatterbrain self, I don't always think to read to them (does that make me an awful mom?!). Oftentimes the boys go get books on their own and bring them to us. I love it! Who knew that children at such a young age would be so interested in books? And Cole loves to choose books from the public library while Owen just squeaks and squawks as he wanders aimlessly among the shelves and tables and chairs. Cole's favorite book is Trucks (and he's learned what a fender, hopper, chute, etc. are on big rigs, cement trucks, etc). Owen's favorite book is a Mickey Mouse book (mostly because he gets to push buttons that make noise). I hope they continue their love of books. There's so much to learn and enjoy by reading! We're always looking for good books to add to our home library, so what are your kid(s) favorite book(s)?




And I just had to post a couple of cutie pie pictures...

pERgnancy

So, this week we realized that with each pregnancy, I have landed in the ER for some reason or another. With Cole, I had a very persistent pain one night that turned out to be gall bladder spasms. And with Owen, I came down with an awful stomach bug (actually thought it was the beginnings of horrid morning sickness...oh the irony) and landed in the ER for fluid and phenergan. And this baby, well, its no exception. On Monday, I tried my best to avoid going to the ER, even went to Urgent Care first hoping to resolve the issue. But alas, the Urgent Care doc (and my OB) sent me to the ER. Darn. After lots of tests and an 8-hour ordeal, it was determined I had an infection and was dehydrated from the awful morning sickness. The combination of those created some symptoms that indicated something else could have seriously been wrong. I'm so thankful that it was simply an infection and dehydration. So, I got some fluids, antibiotics and once again, anti-nausea meds. Anyways, we got a laugh out of my pERgnancy visits. And I would like to thank my family and friends who stepped up to care for the boys, feed us dinner and call to check on me this past week, I appreciate all the kind gestures and feel very loved :)

Talk about emergency (ok, not really), but Owen is my little daredevil. He pretends that he's going to propel himself down a slide head-first (I just know that one of these days he's actually going to do it too)! He climbs, he gets into things he shouldn't, he's stuck his finger in an outlet and gotten shocked...actually, he sounds like most toddlers, right?! Well, I was in the laundry room last week and kept hearing this odd noise. I peeked my head around the corner into the bathroom to find Owen, with one of those huge plastic straws (like from the cups you get at the fair or zoo) DRINKING WATER OUT OF THE TOILET! Oh. My. Goodness. It was one of those moments where I thought "do I call poison control?!" I had a mommy freak-out moment! I realized the toilet had been flushed, so the water was "clean" (ewww) and I don't use those things that stick to the toilet and continually have cleaner in them, so I figured he'd probably be ok and I didn't need to call the doctor or poison control. He didn't have any tummy issues or grow a third arm or anything...yet! But I'm still totally grossed out!
Here's my little daredevil chasing me because he wanted to play with the camera...and he's mad...


And you would think there is an emergency when Cole says something and we don't understand. You see, Cole in just the last couple of months began putting sentences together. I can understand most of what he says, but sometimes he has to say it two or three times for me to get it. And boy, when I don't understand it right away he gets M-A-D! He kept saying "I light on" or that's what I thought. He got impatient with me after a few attempts and finally went quiet and wouldn't talk to me. Kids! He tried again and I finally understood "I like some!" Aha! He wanted a bite of my snack :) That's part of being a parent, having to interpret toddler-speak and deal with the short fuse of a 2-year old!

Giving thanks

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

*I intended to post this last Monday, but I was far from feeling well and the post just wasn't appropriate at the time ;)*

So, maybe I should've saved this one for the Thanksgiving holiday, but why not celebrate a little early?! It is my second-favorite holiday. This week I would like to give thanks to the good Lord for getting me to the 16-week mark. I can't believe I am almost halfway through this pregnancy already! I also want to give thanks to my family and friends who have prayed for me, checked in on me, made me laugh and have supported me over the last 10-11 weeks as I experienced some super duper morning sickness (or "suckness" if you read my earlier post). *Fingers crossed* I believe I am past the worst of it! And for that, I am very thankful.

Here is me at 16-weeks with baby #3...there is no hiding a 3rd pregnancy :P

More about giving thanks: we feel it is important for our kids to learn manners *gasp*! There are so many kids (and adults) today that just flat-out do not have manners. We may be in the minority by saying "please" and "thank you" for the simplest things, however, I think it is very important to always give thanks for what we are given, no matter how big or small. It was a proud day for me recently when Cole began saying "please" and "thank you" without any prompting from daddy or myself!!! I had to stop and just let myself smile :) Now he gets VERY upset if he says "thank you, momma" and I don't reply promptly with a "you're welcome." I mean very. Upset. It's kinda cute, actually. And Owen, well, his first true words after "dadda" were "thank you, momma." That was the ONLY way I could get him to say "momma!" LOL! Now he hardly says anything besides "dadda" and "dis" ("this" as he points to what he wants). He's more focused on getting his waddle-y/penguin-like walk down to a science versus learning to talk! That's my boy!

Here is my sweet Owen, he grabbed the camera and I found some very blurry pics on there!


And here are my sweet sweet boys on their first day of Mother's Day Out...what a blessing that is for a SAHM!

Anywho, may you find your life full of moments and blessings to give thanks for :)

The Chesser Family Whirlwind Tour

It's been almost two years...actually, 22 months to be exact...since we made our big move from Austin, TX to Tulsa, OK. We didn't make a trip last year as we had hoped, and needless to say, we were long overdue for a visit! So, we planned a long weekend vacation over Labor Day and drove to Texas with the boys in tow. We left on a Thursday evening and arrived back home, dark and early at 2:00am on Tuesday morning. We stopped in three cities-Dallas, Austin, San Antonio-and visited with over 40 friends in our short trip. I would call it a success! We had a wonderful time and are so glad we had the opportunity to go back, catch up with some fantastic friends and visit one of our favorite places in the world...Longhorn Country! For being stuck in car seats in the car for some 10 hours each way, the boys did awesome! Want to know our secret? It was snacks, fruit boxes, toys (mostly those that made noise and lit up), books (also those that made noise), a very silly mommy (aka Me) and a DVD player (however the brand-new thing pooped out on us in San Antonio, so our trip back was sans-DVD player but we survived!). Also breaking up the trip on the way down there and then driving back at night while they were sleeping helped a lot. Along with catching up with friends, we enjoyed some much-needed family time and had some fun silly times together :) Here are some of the highlights of traveling with our toddlers:




~ Cole had some of the funniest things to say on our trip. It gets bumpy along Hwy-75 and one bump sent us bouncing up & down, and out of nowhere Cole replied with a loud "whoops!" Had us rolling! Later, as the sun set during our drive, Cole told us it was "getting dark and don't be skeered (scared)." So cute! He also told Craig to "not go faster." What? Is this really my kid? I love to go fast! And my favorite Cole-ism of the trip was calling our friend's dog "Grandpa"...his name is "Rambo" LOL!

~Oh the joys of a potty-training toddler. As we're attempting to enjoy a lunch with some friends and their little one (the boys were getting very restless by this point), I saw the look on Cole's face that says "I have to poop." I thought to myself "crap" (appropriate, huh!). We go running to the bathroom to discover the only Ladies room is locked. Crap. Again. So I said "to heck with it, we're going in the Men's bathroom." Must say that was a first. Whatever it takes when you have kids!




~And then there's Owen. My sweet, cranky, stubborn Owen. He refused to sleep the first night when we were in Dallas. Seriously, because of him, all four of us only got two hours of sleep that night. He was much better the remainder of the trip. I think he was just excited to be in a new place! And boy that kid can eat! He even ate the salsa at Chuy's (which is rather spicy!). It sure gave us and our friends a good laugh to watch the expression on his face! He is so ticklish too, if he started to get fussy in the car, all I had to do was tickle him and it made us all laugh! Such a contagious laugh and smile!

~Cole is obsessed with trains. Points out every railroad crossing or train that we see. Owen is right behind him in loving trains (although I think it's more to do with the fact that Big Brother loves them...so sweet!). Since we were visiting Austin, we decided to take them on a ride on the commuter rail. This was a huge project that Craig worked tirelessly on before we moved. The project finished up in October of 2009, but the rail didn't officially open until the following Spring, so Craig never got to see the finished project in action. Let me say it was a very special moment for him to see the commuter rail in person and to ride along with his train-loving boys!




~One of the best moments was when we were leaving campus and Craig says "someone is taking a picture of us!" Come to find out, a car behind us and in the other lane had backed up, the passenger pulled out her iPhone and they were taking a picture of our Oklahoma license plate that says "Hook Em." Yup, if you see that license plate around town, that's us!

It was a wonderful trip and we're so thankful to have seen everyone, we truly feel blessed to know each of you! Next time we will try to make the trip longer so we can visit with everyone and those friends that we missed this time around. Happy vacationing!