Today...

Nick made me breakfast this morning, it was so fabulous! The kids both stayed asleep, so we got to eat in peace which rarely happens. Nick's parents are having some problems with their sprinkler system so we were at their house most of the evening with him in a 5 foot hole, trying to fix things. Nick's mom, Mary, was nice enough to buy pizza so I wouldn't have to cook on our anniversary. We had fun in the yard with the kids running/crawling around. Madelyn still hates grass, so we had her on a blanket. She would try and play peekaboo with Nick while he was in a huge hole he and his dad dug the day before. Today Madelyn had her 9 month appt. (she's almost 10 months old, but they couldn't get her in sooner) and she is doing really well. I was really surprised that she's almost 20 lbs., she seems so small! She's in the 60th percentile for her weight (up from the 30th last time!), in the 70th percentile for height, and 80th for head circumfrence (thanks to both her parents having huge heads)! She now acts like she's talking on the phone all the time, regardless if she has a pretend phone or not. She just holds her hand/fist up to her ear and talks endlessly...She also plays peekaboo all the time, but fails to actually cover her eyes. She's taken 1-2 steps by herself and stands for short periods of time by herself too. I can't believe that she is already almost a year old! This year has gone by so fast! We love her so much and she truly adds spice to our lives.
Andrew is pretty much totally potty trained now. Four nights ago he was begging and crying telling us, while we were trying to put a diaper on for bedtime, that he wanted to be a big boy. So he promised us that he would keep his diaper dry that night and then the following nights we would let him go to bed with only undies on. The next morning I came out of my room and he was in the bathroom washing his hands and told me he needed his treat. I told him he couldn't have one because his diaper wasn't dry (I hadn't checked it, I just assumed he was trying to hide it because he had already taken it off and thrown it away). He pulled the diaper out of the trash, and thrust his hand in it saying "it's not wet mom, it's all dry!" Sure enough it was, he had woken up and gone to the bathroom and kept the diaper totally dry. I was so happy I gave him a brownie for breakfast! It's the best thing in the world! I told my mom I could have 10 kids if they would all be potty trained when they were two. The kid even goes in the kitchen and gets his own treat when he's done! It's freakin' amazing! Sometimes we have to remind him that washing his hands is a must BEFORE treats are given, but not too often. He's gone three nights without diapers and about a week without diapers during the day. Last night he pee'd a little in his undies which woke him up enough to stop, but I think he was confused because he got in bed with me (I felt him and he was dry) and I asked him if he had wet the bed and he said "no." Nick took him back upstairs to bed and said that his undies were wet but not through to his jammies.
Good times! I guess that's enough of a novel for today. I'm just so proud of my big boy!