June

We've been back in Texas for about a month and we're SO happy to be back! There's no place like Texas! Richie hasn't been sleeping well since we've been back. I've tried and tried to get him to sleep through the night but I think it's a lost cause until we get settled because we're about to leave again in a week and a half. We're going to Kansas for a couple weeks to see family. We weren't going to go this early but Chris, Mary and Caelan are going to be in town so we don't want to miss them!
Then on the 16th we're headed to Nebraska. Jeremy's birthday is on the 20th and also the Air Show is that weekend and Richie loves airplanes. Then we'll be preparing to move Jeremy and our stuff to Texas! We can't wait! We miss him! I think that's part of Richie's poor sleeping habits.

Richie is putting more words together. He's up to 4 at a time. This morning he said "Laugh it up chuckles" (he repeated after me). I couldn't stop laughing after he said it! He also says "Are you kidding me?" but it's more of a "kidding me?". It's cute :)

We went to the lake a couple weekends ago and had a blast! I needed it! We got on Popeye's Pontoon and enjoyed having no worries! We got Pops a tube to pull behind it for his birthday/fathers day, so I got on that. It was fun! I was yawning at Pops ;) Then Richie got on it with me. We sat up on it, he had a BLAST! He didn't want to get off! I was really proud of him! I know Jeremy is eager to get down here and have fun with him.

On our way to the lake!

Sitting with Bob Bob on the boat!

He LOVED sitting his Popeye! 

Momma and Richie on the tube! 

Richie has quite the imagination.. here are a few pictures of his silly imagination gone wild!

Sitting on his tractor..

Giving daddy a bath :)

Just another day...

Taking a plane ride!

Sitting in his laundry basket looking at a book (Pardon the crazy hair!)

Riding his cycle, wearing his cowboy hat!

Wearing his Dr Seuss hat saying "ho ho ho" 

Riding daddy's cycle

Sitting in his other tractor

When the exterminator came, he pulled up the carpet and then used his hammer and screw driver to put it back. I had no idea that Richie was even paying attention but he sure was! As soon as he left Richie went over to do the same thing. 

Using the laptop charger as earphones

Typical male...

When we went to Cavender's in Kansas City, Richie wanted to play dress up!

Small truck in the bed of the big truck..

Like father like son…..

Swimming in his pool!

 He is so sweet to the puppies (sometimes). He loves having WallE ride with him on our walks. 

He ate his PopTart and then looked at it and said "Chicken!" So apparently this looks like a chicken….

Nothing to do with Richie… but we saw a drone at the lake!

Birthday party

I LOVED the cake! Done by Muffin Top Bakery in South Haven, KS. She did a great job!! 

There were little hay bales in the middle of the table with some fake barbed wire and a barnyard book. 

This was supposed to be a guessing game and whoever guessed how many eggs and cow tales were in each jar won that jar… but we forgot all about it! 

Each child got to take one of these home.. and if you're a nephew then you got to take 5 of them home to annoy your parents :)

I forgot to take pictures of the food until afterwards! One day I'll get the hang of this :)

Huge thank you to Elissa for making the potato salad and deviled eggs!!!

He had so much fun at his party.. seeing his family and playing with cousins :) 

We chose to make it a no-gift birthday for many reasons… He has A LOT of toys already, we're getting ready to move and if we move to an apartment then we definitely won't have enough room for all of this toys! Also because I feel bad expecting gifts when we don't come up for any of his cousin's birthday parties. 

So instead we asked for items to donate to The Ronald McDonald House.. I chose this instead because I want him to be selfless and enjoy giving to others as much as his daddy and I do. 

We had a bowling party in Nebraska with his/our friends. It was a lot of fun too. I don't think I'll do that again though :)

Kaleb bowling

Kaleb helping Richie

Kristin, Morgan and Richie

Morgan bowling

Brennen bowling.. or dancing? The way he was bowling was cracking me up!

Ricky bowling

Daddy helping Richie

silly kids :)

Two….

I can't believe I have a TWO year old!! I will probably say that every year :)
Now I'm definitely not saying that I can't believe he's two. It's been a long two years.. Jeremy deployed twice, me being a "single" mom for half of Richie's life. Obviously I'm not single, I'm very happily married. But I'm a single parent.
Since Jeremy left in November I've been a stay-at-home mom and I've loved almost every minute! I'm not going to lie and say that I've enjoyed every minute. I don't enjoy the sleepless nights, the disciplining and the potty training. However I'm proud of all of those… proud that I survived the sleepless nights, proud of how well mannered my two year old is because of the disciplining, and proud that at two years and one day old, Richie is almost accident free! My goal was to get him potty trained by the time Jeremy got home… I'm pretty dang happy with how far we are!

Richie has been a ball of fun since Jeremy has been home! He LOVES LOVES LOVES his daddy! It's so much fun! He loves copying his daddy.
Jeremy chews- Richie knows how to "pack" the chew and "spit" in a can. And he knows which pocket daddy puts his chew in.
He had a truck power wheels for about an hour (it broke) and he LOVED having a truck like his daddy.
One of the new things he's been doing is saying "ya". When we were walking up to church the other day there was a gentleman holding the door and said something about the weather to someone else and Richie chimes in "Ya." And he says it was a matter of fact voice.
Another example… the other night Jeremy was telling Richie that he loves him and Richie wasn't saying it back. I said "He'd probably love you more if you put a mint in your mouth" And we hear from the back seat… "Ya."

He picks up on things that you wouldn't even think he was paying attention to.. Jeremy and I were discussing my school future the other day, and Jeremy didn't understand what I was saying and he said "What?" a couple of times. Then to drop some tension Jeremy said "Tell her Richie." and he said "What?" with his arms out. It was perfect. And during this discussion Jeremy said something to me and Richie said "Ya." It was just too perfect!

Yesterday was his birthday.. we started the day out shopping for coordinating shirts for Coldwell family pictures this coming weekend. He totally knew it was his birthday and that he could get away with anything.. he was just taking his sweet time walking while Jeremy is holding the door open to stores. Then in a store he starts climbing up onto a table with shirts on it! Where he learned that, I have no idea. Then he was pooped so we came home for nap time, then woke up and played then went to the fire station to look at fire trucks! They were all so nice and gave him a helmet and a goodie bag! It was a lot of fun!

Then we went to the Been's house for burgers and dogs. He loves them so much! He loves having Garrett to play with. We brought his new Camaro PowerWheels and rode it around. Garrett drove with him and he loved it! I think he had a really good day :)

I love how he's copying us and being a sweet, mannered little boy. He comes up and give me kisses for no reason and I LOVE it!! :)

Pizza Nachos

I saw this recipe on Facebook but there was no website, just the recipe. I want to save it so I'm saving it on here!

Pizza Nachos

Ingredients:

FOR THE GARLIC CREAM SAUCE:
1-½ Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
½ Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, Minced finely
3/4 cups Heavy Cream
1 pinch Salt
¼ cups Parmesan Cheese, Grated

FOR THE PIZZA NACHOS:
4 cups Your Favorite Crispy Tortilla Chips
1/4 cups Garlic Cream Sauce (Recipe Included)
2/3 cups marinara sauce (or pizza sauce)
handful of fresh basil, torn
handful of parsley, chopped
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, Shredded

Instructions

1) Start by making your sauce. Begin by melting the butter, along with the olive oil on medium to low heat. Once melted, toss in the minced garlic, stir. Turn to Medium heat, Add in the cream and stir until it comes to a boil. Add the salt along with the parmesan cheese, and continue stirring. The sauce will thicken pretty quick, so continue to stir. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from the burner, and set aside.

2) When you are ready to make your nachos, preheat your oven to 400ºF.

3) I used a cookie sheet but any oven-proof dish will work . First add your chips. Drizzle half of the garlic cream sauce all over the chips. Spoon half of the marinara onto chips. Add half of the shredded cheese & half of the herbs. Add another layer of chips and add the remaining cream sauce, marinara sauce and cheese. Bake until the cheese is nice and bubbly 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the remaining fresh herbs.

Potty Training

I thought I'd talk about how I potty trained Richie.. then when people ask for tips I don't have to write a huge "comment"…

Being a momma's boy he follows me everywhere, including the bathroom. I had never put him on the potty or anything but he knows what I'm doing.
When we got back from Kansas after the New Year, he was sick. As soon as he was over the sickness he went in the bathroom with his Bob Bob and said "potty". So I said let's do it! We started potty training that next day. I made a sticker chart, got stickers at Wal Mart (you can get 500+ for $2) and M&Ms. I put him on the potty and we waited. To distract him we played with shapes (after a while that got old and he started throwing them- time to find a new distraction!!). I only let him sit on there for 20 minutes. Then he put undies on. I took him every 30 minutes. It obviously takes a lot of time and patience.
I had to learn from him first- I had to learn how often he needed to go. I learned that if he carries a drink around with him all day, it's harder to train. I made him ask for a drink in order to have it more controlled instead of having a drink every time he saw his cup.
My phone has an elapsed time alarm on it so I set it to go off every 30 minutes. If he was going every 20 minutes, I changed to time on my alarm. Be prepared to do a lot of laundry.
I didn't let Richie pick out his undies because at that point he had no particular interests (18 months). So I just grabbed some. He liked the stickers, and of course loved the M&Ms. I gave him the M&M while he was on the potty whether he went or not and I told him good job sitting on the potty or good job going potty.
After a month, I didn't really feel like we were getting anywhere quickly. I'm also pretty impatient. I felt like we were at a standstill.. every time he sat on it he wouldn't go, but then he would go in his undies. So I started turning on the water in the sink or tub… that always makes me have to go! As soon as he went I would tell praise him. I was trying to make him understand the process. It didn't take long to break him of this, and he was going in the potty.

He still wasn't telling me when he had to go, I just had to get lucky that he was holding it when I set him on the potty. So when he would go potty I would ask him if he went potty, and really tried to teach him what to do to tell me that he had to go. I never made him feel bad for peeing his pants, instead I said "Oh no! You peed your pants. You're supposed to go potty in the toilet remember?" He got to the point where he would say "oh no" when he saw his undies.

It doesn't happen overnight. When I see blogs that say "How to potty train in 3 days" I roll my eyes. Yeah, for the 3 year old that you've tried to potty train FOUR times!! Richie and I have been potty training since January 4th. He doesn't always tell me when he has to go but he's doing really really well! Especially for not even being 2!

I have to say, when I saw a difference was him understanding the difference between a diaper and undies. Another HUGE difference was when I would keep him in his diaper a little while after he woke up. It takes the pressure off and gives him time to tell me when he has to go. Plus he never went right when he woke up anyways because he probably just went in his diaper when he woke up.
I think it's also important to just potty train during "awake" hours. If they're sleeping, let them sleep and wear a diaper. Work on sleeping in undies after the awake potty training has been learned.

GOOD LUCK! Keep your patience!!

This kid….

Richie has been fighting off something for a couple weeks now. We went to the doctor on Wednesday the 12th for what I thought was a double ear-infection. It turned out to be a sinus infection, she put us on the same antibiotics that he's been on before for an ear infection but they didn't quite get the job done this time. On Monday the 17th he kept BMing. I wouldn't call it diarrhea, but he couldn't hold it and he went about 5 times that day. Tuesday he was better, we just stayed home. Wednesday I decided we could go to the gym since it had been 24 hours. Thursday it was the same thing. Saturday he was good until about 6 and he was doing the same thing, it lasted into Sunday (we didn't go to church for this reason) and then around 4:00 he started BMing every 20 minutes, he had a SEVERE diaper rash. We had to hold his legs so that I could wipe his hiney because he was screaming and kicking. I finally just took him to the ER. I didn't know what was wrong with him and he was going to be miserable BMing every 20 minutes and not getting any sleep (or worse: having poop in his diaper all night and making the diaper rash worse). We waited for 2 1/2 hours to be called back, then another 30 minutes to be seen by the doctor, then another 30 minutes to get our orders so we could leave. (Worst hospital I've ever been to) So I tried to get the Rx diaper rash cream filled… no where carries it. It's just a higher dosage of Zinc Oxide than what is found on the shelf (shelf- 11%, Rx- 51%). The tubs of diaper rash cream are 40% so I got that and called it good. He said to just let the diarrhea run its course. Monday I called his doctor for something else for his sinus infection, she called it in and if it's not better in 2 days we have to go in (I requested to not have to go in this time since he has diarrhea). Well today is day 2 and there isn't much improvement, so we'll see by the end of the day. His diaper rash is getting better, and he's BMing every few hours so all in all he's getting better.

Funny Richie time!
When we go upstairs to talk to Popeye and he's on the phone I say "sssshhhhh Popeye's on the phone" and we go back downstairs. Well yesterday at supper, Popeye got his phone out of his pocket to look at it and Bobbie was talking so Richie told her "ssssshhhhhh". It was SO funny!

This morning when he woke up he stood up and looked out the window and was just talking about the choo choo's and the cars and trucks. So mommy got to at least lay in bed and get a little bit of extra rest before wrestling with him all day.

When the puppies (Kallie and WallE) come in from going potty, they get a treat. Sometimes we hand it to them, sometimes we throw it so they can chase it. Well Richie has caught on to that and he's started throwing it for them. He always offers it to Kallie first, then makes WallE work for it. Yesterday he was spinning in circles making WallE chase him, instead of the usual chasing around the house. I caught it on video, maybe I'll be able to figure out how to upload videos…

I think that's all for now. It's all homework and hanging out today!

cute and rotten

I think I have the cutest, most rotten little boy EVER!
On Friday (March 14th) Richie was being ROTTEN! He was just being naughty that day, not listening, telling me "no" all day. He was standing up in the kitchen chair and I told him to sit down, Richie-"no"
Me- "sit down or I'm going to spank your hiney"
him- "no"
So I spanked him and he didn't skip a beat, he got down off the chair after he pouted his lip, came up and spanked me on the hiney! It was SOO funny! I couldn't help but laugh! I won't next time, but this time I was so caught off guard that it couldn't be helped!

Earlier that morning I was sweeping the floor, preparing for company, and he was at the table eating (staying out of my way) and I hit his chair with the broom, on accident. He said "Sorry. Sorry." It was SO sweet :)

This weekend the Turners came down and he loved hanging out with the boys! He was best buds with them. We went to the trampoline park- he wasn't a huge fan of it. He had fun when he was on his hands and knees and I just bent my knees and bounced really fast and when I had him in my arms and we ran the length of the park. He laughed at that. Otherwise he just walked on the solid parts in between the trampolines.

The poor boy is around his Bob Bob and momma so much that when I pull out clothing that's more than just a plain color, he says "cute cute cute". It's so cute cute cute!

He loves animals except when they're live. He loves looking at books of animals and he can identify a cow, sheep, horse, puppy, kitty, elephant…. but when he has the chance to pet them, he gets scared.
We went to the circus last monday and first was the horse ride- he didn't want to get too close. Then the elephant rides- he didn't want to even think about getting close. Then we saw a llama- he was going to pet it but it started moving its head around. He did pet the donkey.
Also at the circus they had motorcycles and just like animals, he loves "cycles". He plays with his motorcycle EVERY single day. EVERY. So anyways at the circus, first there was 1 motorcycle riding the in the cage and he was okay with that. Then there was 2- eh, he's still doing okay. Then when the third one came out, he was grabbing Bobbie because he was scared. I'm sure it was the noise, not the thought that 3 motorcycles in the cage is INSANE.

I love the way he talks- most of the time… blankey= kankey
moo=boo
drink sounds like juice
movie= boobie. Wish I was kidding. Hopefully he doesn't say "movie" when he's at church or at daycare at the gym… that would be awkward!

He loves giving hugs. He gives me hugs when he's eating, when he's playing, when he's sitting on the potty, when he's going to sleep. :)
He likes to trick people also. It started with his daddy on FaceTime. Jeremy called one day during lunch and Richie likes to feed daddy, well he went to feed daddy some veggies and yanked it back real quick and laughed so hard. So then he kept doing it and loved that it was making us laugh. So he does that with food, hugs, kisses and anything he can think of! If it will make us laugh- he will do it :) Like I said… CUTE and ROTTEN!