Toofies and Tee Tee

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while...I have been in the bathroom alot lately! But for good reason :-) Abby decided last Friday to bring me every diaper that she had wet or unfortunately pooped in. I have tried several times to start potty training...but it was just so frustrating because little man is so needy and other mom's of more than one know sometimes you just have to suck it up and can an idea. So as grossed out almost 2 1/2 year old poops make me, I was willing to put up with it until Miss Priss decided she was ready. And I guess she was...we have been going to the potty in her princess potty since Friday night. So almost a week! It has been wonderful - except for the occasional poop on the floor or finding her putting like 10 wipes down the toilet! I finally conquered our biggest issue today (so far) which was actually wearing underwear. My child has been running around since last week without any panties on...even when we had company to cookout on the 4th. Luckily they love us and know we are weird anyways :-) So as of now...we are almost potty trained. She still wears a pull up for naps and for sleeping...since I don't want to have to take all the sheets off, clean comforter...you get the drill.

My little man Ethan is growing so fast! He is sitting up good and strong, and we think he will be crawling sometime during the next month. He is a little behind his sister who started at 6 1/2 months, but not too far behind. He also got his first "toofy" yesterday! It has been white under the skin for a while...glad that sucker is out in the open. Maybe now the little guy will chill out a bit :-)

Anyways, here are a few pictures of Ethan's Baptism and other silly moments! All for now! Tootles!

Our precious little Ethan




Our little family

Talking all the time! I wonder where he gets it? :-)



Playing

Sitting like a big Boy!


You guessed it...she is my child! Miss Priss and her love of dress up!

What we've been up to - Pictures!

Hanging out

Eating Ice Cream with cousins

Learning to sit up

Eating & Hamming it up...always :-)

I'm Back

We have been so busy around the Marshall house that I rarely get to check email much less post on the blog. While we were away the kiddos and I enjoyed a wonderful time at the beach with Mimi, Ethan turned 6 months old, Abby and I took Mommy & Me swim lessons, and we purchased a fabulous new...drumroll please...air conditioner...bombombom! haha! Life with 2 kiddos is hard and tiring, but we are making it work! Anyways, onto those crazy kiddos of mine:

ABBY - is two going on 12!
She is already flirting with boys ( i wasn't prepared for this to start so early)
She is sleeping from 9pm until 7:30 or 8am - thank goodness
Is a chatterbox! We can understand her almost 99% of the time!
Is funny too! Love to say thank you so much momma for even the simplest of tasks like getting her more juice, or saying all better whenever she does anything :-)
Eating anything sweet or carbs! She is a tiny little gal, but boy can she snack! Loves steak, chicken tenders, ,mac and cheese, green beans, bacon and the only child i have ever heard cry for broccoli!
Is starting to realize brother might be loads of fun one day...she will lay on her tummy and talk with Ethan and tell him Good Job brother! She loves when he laughs!

ETHAN - is 6 months old - Already???
He is such a sweet boy, but much fussier than his sister
He is sleeping from about 6:30-7pm until about 6 or 6:30am. Then normally will go back to sleep until 8 or so...I love that part!
He is napping about 3 times a day still...but they are for only about 45 minutes
He is razzing, cooing or making funny noises all day
Is starting to roll over in his bed from his tummy to back....this doesn't make him happy since its tight quarters for him to then roll back over to go to sleep :-)
Eating 8 ounces about 4 times a day
Loves real food....squash, apples, pears, sweet taters, zucchini, cereal and prunes
Weighs 18 pounds...yes you read that correctly...18lbs! Funny since his big sister was 19lbs at a year!Sitting up for longer periods at a time...stay tuned to see if he is like his sister and starts crawling by the beginning of 7 months.

Now we are just enjoying our time and planning on spending many days outside and at my parents pool! That is all for now! Pictures soon...I promise!!

What might have been

So I have been a bad blogger and I am aware of it! But it is crazy getting out a sentence much less an entire blog these days. Anyways, this one isn't about the kiddos, I promise the next one will be. This is about something unexpected that happened last night...it was truly a WOW moment! One I couldn't believe I was seeing in person or how much things could have changed so quickly...thankfully nothing terrible did happen.

Last night, I was about to enjoy the season finale of Desperate Housewives (sidenote: I NEVER get to watch my favorite shows anymore...at least when they are actually airing. Thank you Charter On Demand) anyways I sit down and the show comes on and I hear a loud LOUD bang! Of course I look out my window and there is my poor mailbox all catywhompass (not sure on that spelling..never have spelled it before..haha!) So I march on outside with my hands on my hips to await the moron who hit it. Well she got out and I heard a baby screaming, and I immediately felt sorry for her! I have been there when your child just won't calm down and you are more focused on that than doing what your supposed to be. But then after she got her kiddo out and walked over to my driveway I began to sense this wasn't going to be a fun converstation. She was just so upset and hyperventialting! I kept repeating it is just a mailbox when I realized she couldn't stand up straight. So I told her to take a seat on the driveway and calm down. I then asked her for her child and she gave her right to me! I knew then, what I had suspected! She was drunk! Part of me felt sorry for her, but seriously....my children sleep on the front part of our house! How could any mother do this???

Later as the cops were arriving, my neighbor and I were joking as to how she missed my trash can which was in the "line of fire". That's when my heart sank and the truth about really what might have been really hit me. Starting at the fire hydrant on the corner of my house...missing it by only a foot or so, were the beginning of tire tracks into my yard only about 15 feet away from where my sweet boy was sleeping! My sadness for this girl went from that to rage and anger in seconds. The tears came and I realized how lucky we had been. This girl had missed a fire hydrant, trashcan, coming into my house and instead of hitting the power pole that was just to the other side of my driveway (and the transformer too) she hit my measly bird poop covered mailbox!

I couldn't sleep for a few hours after I was already inside after talking to police. I don't know if she was arrested or if her boyfriend had gotten in trouble for his part, I didn't care. I just felt lucky, scared, exhausted, and sad for this girl and her child. Today, there was a knock on my door...and there she was. Much more put together and in control, with that same beautiful little lady with her. She apologized and said how sorry she was. Also that this was her wake up call!

I guess my point of this blog isn't to share a juicy, crazy, "really that happened to you" story, but to share it in order for you to help someone who you see struggling. I could have been rude or angry with her...I was of course but I didn't show it. I instead tried to be as compassionate and understanding as I could be. She obviously needed help...and sometimes it just has to slap us in the face to realize it!

I had my "a-ha" moment as Oprah would say!

I know it's late but Ethan wanted me to tell you that he hopes you had a "Hoppy Easter!" haha! This little guy is growing like a weed! He changes everyday and I am sure when I get home Sunday from my trip this weekend he will have changed even more!

We had a great Easter this year! What a good time to celebrate what we have all been given! Here are a few pictures of some of the festivites!

Looking for eggs with daddy at the Easter Egg Hunt

She shook every egg...looking for "monies" :-) or "clink clink" as she sometimes refers to them!

Abs and the Easter Bunny! She loved him! And was hysterical when we told her it was another little kids turn! What a great improvement from what happened with Santa this year!

As for Ethan and I...we chilled out and sweated while Daddy & Abs looked for eggs! It had to be the hottest day yet! Don't you just love this face!! haha!!

"Reading" his book from the Easter Bunny! :-)

The kiddos with their baskets! Glad they at least match in this picture (didn't plan it) since I didn't capture a good one of them after church in their actual outfits!

That is all for now! Hope you enjoyed this brief update! Life is hectic, tiring, fun and I should start doing a better job blogging again soon! Ethan has slept through the night the past week and a half! WHoohoo!! Tootles!

2 years & 4 months!

So this post is seriously delayed...but better late than never right?
Abby and Ethan both had their doctors appointments on the same day and at different times! I know you must think I am a crazy person, but I wanted to get them over with and Wednesday are the only day Abs has Mother Morning Out and that I had someone to keep E man while I took his big sister after school! To say I was worn out after that day was an understatement! Thankfully I got to leave the next day for a great trip to the beach to celebrate my bestie Kelly and her upcoming wedding! Anyways onto the stats and what these kiddos are up to:

Ethan - (1st victim of the day...haha!)
Height - 25 1/2 inches - 50%
Weight - 15.45 lbs 50%
Head - 42.5 also 50%

He got 2 shots - thankfully the combine 3 into a booster now...sissy didn't have it so lucky. He had a great visit, was a little touchy when Dr. D came in, but made it through. He is such a sweet boy. Still more cranky/fussy than his sister was but really loves to be held and loves kisses...and to kiss you back! I know he doesn't know what it means but he loves to open mouth slobber on you...I love it too!! He is rolling from his tummy to back like a pro and is close to rolling from his back to tummy. He loves to sit propped up or in his bumbo! I have a feeling he will be like his sister who not only started sitting unsupported at 6 months but started crawling at 6 1/2....we shall see. He is still sometimes waking up at night...but fusses a litttle then back to sleep. Waking at 5:30 or 6 (ahhh!) everyday! I cannot wait for him to give it a little longer for waking...5:30 am is hard on me :-) He has been eating solids for a few weeks now! Since he is such a big boy we started him on rice cereal a little earlier. He has had sweet potatoes, squash, apples and prunes so far! And he loves it!

Abby:
Weight - 23 lbs
Height 35 1/3 inches

She is such a smart girl! I was so excited that she had started liking the doctor again. I mean she has always loves Dr. D but since she could realize she got shots there she didnt quite have the same view of it. Well I was also excited that she wouldn't get shots again until she was 5...so they told me at our 18 month appt. But they have since added one more! So she had to get one! I felt terrible, but when I told her she could go see the "fishes" (fishtank) and get a sticker she was fine! She is growing like a weed and is just so intelligent! She can identify and say all her ABC's and can count up to 12 and indentify them too! She bust out with such funny things to say...this morning I told her she needed to take a nap today (we are having a problem with them now) and she says "that's a good idea momma!" The hardest thing now is when she says something borderline inappropriate and not laughing. Ev and I were talking the other night and she said no talking and then put her hands on both sides of my face and said "are you listening to me?" I tried hard to keep it together but she is just so quick to catch us off guard!

She is such a people person and man can she flirt! I didn't realize they could start doing that so early, but here she goes :-) We are working on potty training...not going bad or well...just kinda taking our time!

That is all for now!

MOOOOOO...Abby is Two!

WOW is all I have too say! My little sweet girl turned 2 Saturday! I still cannot believe it! We celebrated with a wonderful barnyard themed party and hayride with our family and some friends! We really had a great time - the weather was perfect!! Thank you for all who came to celebrate with us!! Here are some pictures from the big day!! Happy 2nd Birthday ABBY!! This kiddo knew that I have picked up the cupcakes for her party the next day! So of course she asked for one! :-) I will give her one everyday to see her smile like that!! Abby's cake (that she ending up not eating b/c she wanted a cupcake :-) go figure...haha!) The birthday girl in her new 2 outfit! Daddy & his Abby The barn goodie bags!

Cupcakes! TOO cute! Yummy too! They each had a different color and animal - some strawberry, chocolate & some vanilla!!

Eating her most favorite food...PIZZA!

Everyone singing Happy Birthday too her! She was singing too!

Blowing out the candles...with some help! :-)

Hot pink cupcake 1 - white shirt -0 :-)

Getting ready for the hayride

Maddie & Abby!! She loves her big girl cousins!

Feeding the donkey's apples & peppermints!

Her knew bike and helmet from Nana & Papa! She LOVES this thing :-)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Up next for us: Abby's 24 month appt & Ethan's 4 month appointments on Wednesday! Then some girltime for this momma & some of her besties at the beach celebrating our bachelorette Kelly! All for now! Tootles!