time with pawpaw

gran and pawpaw came for a visit last month. gran made curtains for the kids rooms which i need to take pictures of and post and pawpaw always seemed to have a grandchild in his lap. :)

marin and julia on the front porch with pawpaw.

i think this was marin's first taste of sweet tea. thanks to pawpaw. :)


and this was townsend's first taste of sweet tea. i guess this is what grandparents are for, right?

townsend goes camping!

i know i'm getting a bit out of chronological order here. but i realized i had forgotten to write about townsend's first real camping trip. gran and pawpaw were visiting and told norton and i to go away for a night and they would take care of the kids. AWESOME! since we were going to be going away for our 10th anniversary though, we decided to take townsend and go camping. we aren't used to having just one kid with us and it seemed like a fun thing to do. we went to golden gate canyon state park. about a 45 minute drive from our house. and a really nice campground. we picked our site and started putting up the tent. townsend helped of course. he also collected lots of sticks. right after we got the tent up it started to rain so we stayed in the tent getting everything organized. after the rain stopped we went out and started to get the fire ready. once again, townsend did his job as stick collector. we made dinner, went for a walk, and then started the fire. we were so excited to introduce him to smores. he took a few bites but wasn't as wowed as you would think. since it didn't get dark until around 9pm townsend got to stay up waaaaaay past his bedtime. it's hard to go to sleep in the light. he slept pretty well. had a couple of cry outs. and was up at his normal 6am. so much for sleeping in. we ate breakfast and then realized that townsend had vacation Bible school that morning. so we quickly packed up and headed back to denver. it was a really fun time with townsend. we are trying to gear ourselves up for taking the whole family now.






it was well past his bedtime and he looked so tired but he would not go to bed. he just sat/slumped like this for awhile.

he loved drinking hot chocolate from the big person mug.
our little camper. so handsome.

a foretaste of things to come

i took this picture a year ago- may 2008. now it looks like all townsend's pictures will look this way. we went for his 3 year old well check on monday. he is still a little guy. 30% for weight and 15% for height. not surprising. what was surprising was that he did not pass his eye exam! i kept thinking, "maybe he just doesn't really understand what he's supposed to do/say as he looks at these pictures." the ped gave us the name of a pediatric opthamalogist and we had an appt. the next day. they took pictures of his eyes, gave him the same picture tests, dilated his eyes and then did everything over again. the doctor finally came in and said, " your pediatrician did a good job. townsend has astigmatism and will need to wear glasses." i asked how often and for what he would need to wear them. "all the time," was my answer. apparently his eyes are shaped like footballs instead of basketballs. it is just something he was born with. and the doc said it wouldn't get better or worse. i asked about lasik. :)
so we went to the optical place next door and just tried some glasses on for fun. he looks adorable in them of course. but i'm still a bit sad that he has to have glasses at such a young age. the doc gave me a lense to look through and said, "this is what townsend sees right now." i can't believe he does as well as he does-everything was so blurry. so now we are looking around to try to find the best, strongest glasses for not so much money. and i look forward to watching townsend live a life in sharpness and clarity.

townsend is 3!

dear townsend,
today, july 15, 2009, you are 3 years old! i still don't know how that much time has passed. after you woke up we took you into the sunroom to see the thomas the train starter set train track. aunt susu got that for you, of course. and you love it. i was very proud of how you handled marin. as soon as she saw it she started pulling it apart and throwing everything on the floor. you didn't yell or anything. when you got home from your little summer preschool daddy gave you the jesus storybook Bible. we started reading it before your nap. i liked when you asked where the picture of God was. when you get up i'll give you the thomas the train puzzle and the girls will give you the big bat and ball. bamaw and peepaw sent you money to get us a family pass to the zoo. aunt ann has gran and pawpaw's present so i don't know what that is yet.
we have been amazed at how well you speak now. everyday there are more and more words and sentences. you can tell us how you feel. when something hurts. when something is funny. it seems as though you went from being a baby to a big boy overnight. you can reach the pedals on the tricycle and ride around the driveway. you can climb the climbing cube and monkey bar things at the park. i love when you help mommy carry the groceries. you continue to be so orderly. always lining up cars, dominoes, books, etc. and of course, your latest accomplishment has been to start wearing big boy underwear and going on the potty. mommy and daddy really really love it!
somewhere in guatemala, i'm sure your birthmom, elena, is thinking about you. i pray that God would give her a sense that you are a wonderful little boy who is growing and thriving. you still haven't really seemed to have any questions about your birth. sometimes i forget that i didn't give birth to you. i feel like i did. but i know you will have questions someday and i hope that mommy and daddy can answer them well. we'll try. we love you so so much little bubby.

potty training-almost 2 weeks later

i am really glad we did this intensive 3 day training. i would say townsend has it down pretty well. he's had a few accidents-when he was running a fever and on motrin i changed his sheets 4 times by 1am-but keeps dry all day and even goes to the bathroom without telling us. sometimes he doesn't get his pants pulled down all the way so.... but overall we are very proud of him. and so excited he is diaper free. i wish i would have done this months ago but no sense thinking about that now.
now ellory is a different story. she was the one who already went on the potty. would tell us when she needed to poopoo. we can't tell if she is willfully not telling us-and then peeing on the floor-or if she just doesn't "get it." i kinda suspect the former. she can certainly hold her bladder. she'll go all day without going on the potty. refuses to. makes me so mad. we have decided that we need to go back to the beginning again. making it a big deal when she goes. giving her treats. we'll see. stinker. but even she is doing well. she has woken up dry everyday except for 2. and is diaper free. yippee! i'm looking forward to training marin now. how awesome will that be to not have any diapers to wash?

oooooh....aaaaaaaaah.....wow!

it may be the fourth of july. but that title doesn't have anything to do with the fireworks going off outside. in fact, we won't even be able to go see any fireworks. we are on day 2 of a three day pottytraining marathon. we decided to do ellory and townsend at the same time. townsend is almost 3 years old and ellory has been going on the potty for some time now. no sweat. yesterday morning we had the "talk" and the kids gave all their diapers to marin. (since she is still a baby) then we showed them their new big boy/girl underwear and told them to keep them dry and tell us when they had to go poo or pee. it was surprising that townsend pretty quickly could tell us when he needed to go but ellory just pee-peed any and everywhere. she hasn't made any improvements today either. she'll get it. :)

after the rain

the other day we had a short lived thunderstorm. i let the kids go out on the back porch afterwards for some strange reason. we have a downspout at the edge and i saw them over there playing with the water that was dribbling out. the next thing i know norton is coming in from outside telling me to go look. the kids had found a puddle on the driveway and were taking a "bath." marin was the messiest of course.

pool time!

we finally filled the pool the other day. marin had never been in it before and she loves baths so we figured she would love the pool. we were right. she screamed and cried when we took her out. it wasn't really all the hot out and the kids lips were quivering the whole time but they refused to get out. fortunately they kept putting water in cups and throwing it out the side so eventually there wasn't really any water left in the pool. :)

big girl bed for ellory!

we knew we were going to be potty training ellory soon and since her mattress is a bugger to change i thought we would go ahead and make it into a toddler bed. that way if i have to change her sheets during the night it won't be so difficult. she hasn't had any qualms about sleeping in the new bed. but unlike townsend, who follows our rules about staying in bed until mommy or daddy gets you out, she hasn't been quite as obedient. we've gone in her room and she will have put all kinds of toys and blankets in marin's bed. once norton found her with her shoes on walking around. the babysitter on thursday said that after she put ellory down, ellory opened the door and came out of the room crying. she has a mind of her own.

the farmer's market

yesterday morning we went to the cherry creek farmer's market. usually we take the double stroller for the girls and then townsend walks. this time, though, norton put marin in the backpack and townsend and ellory both walked. things were going just fine. we went all the way down the market. had some yummy breakfast. and were going back through to pick up some things we saw on the first run through. norton/marin and townsend were looking at some veggies or something and i took ellory to get a cookie sample right across the aisle. about 2 minutes went by. then norton comes up to me and says, "i thought townsend was with you. i don't have him." i'm sure every parent hears those words at some point. probably even more than once. but it was the first time for me and i hated them just as much as i thought i would. there were lots of people at this market. it seemed so loud. even when i called out his name it seemed as if the words didn't carry across the crowd. he's such a cute little boy-who wouldn't want to snatch him away? ellory and i started going one direction and norton went the other. i didn't completely freak out but i was praying fiercely. i just didn't know where to look. we turned around and went back towards where norton had gone. i guess i looked like someone who had lost a child because a lady coming towards me said, "he found him." THANK YOU LORD. he had gone all the way to the end of the market, where we had come in. a lady apparently saw him and started walking back with him towards where norton was looking. i tried not to overreact. just went and gave him a hug. but as we headed out i couldn't stop the tears from trickling down. now i understand why people put those leash things on kids. no, townsend. mommy will not do that to you. but i really want to. because i love you so so so much. you are our precious bubby.