Looking back on 2012....And resolutions in 2013.

My little guy is asleep napping and my two big guys are out shopping in the rain and I'm sitting here pondering this year... It's been a roller coaster year for the Stearle family, and I am, honestly, quite happy it's over!  It's been such a busy, hectic, long year and I am grateful for what 2013 has to offer.  Just a little reflection.... 

To start 2012, Ryan had just accepted a big promotion at a new company - warning me that with this promotion came a much greater level of stress on his part.  That proved to be very very true.  And for those of you who don't know Ryan - it takes a LOT to stress him out.  He has done remarkably well at this job - that was not unexpected at all.  He always rocks at anything he does.  Unlike last year when Ryan went on THREE boys-only trips, this year he only went on the one week-long trip to Michigan with his buddy Mike.  He did travel a ton throughout the year - mostly to St. Louis but some to Orlando, Vegas, San Francisco - but for the most part, he wasn't gone more than a few days, thankfully!  My boys are all daddy's boys.  Ethan really spent most of the year belonging to me, but on my first trip to leave him with Daddy - for 2 nights in November - I came home to a boy who only wanted daddy and that hasn't changed.  I don't blame them.  :)  In more Ryan news - Ryan was baptized in November!!  He was raised in a Catholic church and was "baptized" as a baby but not as a free willing adult - so that was such an incredible blessing and answered prayer for our family.  I'm really proud of him!!

Jackson - what an awesome AWESOME kid he is.  My big 4 1/2 yr old started the year attending Mother's Day Out twice a week and curious about everything - talking nonstop, always wanting attention, absolutely adoring his friends and little brother.  He is fiesty and rowdy and a total boy.  In August, he started attending preschool - 4 days a week and he absolutely loves it.  He does really well in school and most of his troubles involve his wild side - getting way too hyper sometimes.  He has really improved his writing skills and coloring - and loves anything involving art.  He is really really into superheroes right now - which is a welcome relief from Thomas the Train.  He is a huge helper for our family.  He is sensitive and caring and loves to give hugs/kisses.  He says grace before all of our meals and some of the things he prays for make my heart melt.  He's just precious.  I'm definitely his #1 fan.

Ethan - holy smokes!  Talk about a boy with some personality.  This goofy 2 1/2 yr old never ceases to amaze me with his cleverness and quirkiness and humor.  He is extremely strong willed and ... well.. STRONG!  Everything about this boy's personality is strong.  He is passionate about everything he does.  Unlike his brother, he doesn't enjoy being the center of attention though - he's much more reserved when it comes to crowds - preferring the bonding he can have with just a few people.  Jackson is the first person he asks for when he wakes up every morning... He wants his "bubba."  He isn't a follower though - he is a copycat, but not a follower.  Ethan's definitely got his own ways of doing things.  He wants things to flow in his way, all the time, or he'll let you hear about it.  He's a screamer and still to this day, that's how he gets his point across most of the time.  He talks like crazy - and says the funniest things - "What the heck is going on?" is his latest....  He wants to read everything he sees and he's in LOVE with Thomas the train... (at least all of our stuff gets to be passed down.).  He's so so soooooo funny.  His little laugh and smile would make even Scrooge giggle.  He is tough.... and I am crazy about him.  He's hit all his milestones so easily - starting the year with giving up his paci, then moving to the big boy bed and recently attempted becoming potty trained! He still carries his "blankey" and prefers to be held than to walk, but I adore him and that will never change.  :)

Me - Well, as you know, I'm housing a big huge bump right now.  I know it's not ideal to complain about being pregnant, so I won't.  I'll just say that in 3 more months when baby boy #3 makes his entrance, the Stearle family will all breathe a big sigh of relief.

I'm grateful for so many things in 2012.  Ryan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary and that makes me smile - it's been the best 10 years of my life and that's because of him.  I know God must have pointed at me as a baby and said "I'm going to give her her prince charming one day" and He certainly did.  I'm beyond blessed by having him in my life.  In celebration of our 10 year anniversary, we got to go spend 10 days in Hawaii - where we had our honeymoon!  It was the trip of a lifetime.  Something I'll never forget and will also want to repeat.  It was magical and perfect in every way.  We also spent a lot of time in zoos this year.... Kansas City, St Louis, Gulf Shores, a safari in Stafford MO.... We traveled to Milwaukee for Thanksgiving to visit family.... It's been a great year for traveling fun.  On the other hand, we have also had our share of medical 'fun' this year.   Ethan's tubes fell out early in the year and he suffered 2 instant ear infections and we discovered he was deficient in iron.   His skin had a pretty horrible case of eczema so we were treating that as well.   In June, shortly after his 4th birthday, Jackson got his tonsils and adenoids removed.  To be frank, that whole thing SUCKED.  I'm so happy it's over though and we all survived and now Jackson sleeps so much more soundly and without any gargling, snoring or choking sounds.  Me - I conceived baby boy #3 in June/July and at our first visit, the doc saw a blood pocket on the ultrasound that was concerning.  For the next 1 1/2 months, I was in the office every 2 wks getting another ultrasound to make sure it hadn't grown or moved.  By 12 weeks, it was gone!  Praise God!  That was definitely stressful!  In early October, Ethan got his tubes put in the 2nd time and his adenoids removed.  This was the first  pregnancy where I felt sick in the first trimester - so sadly, my boy and I were feeling yucky together.  Ethan and I spent a week laying on the couch together resting and moaning - all while he had the worst breath anyone could ever imagine!!  Ryan was the only one to stay somewhat healthy this year.  He started the year with pretty bad back pain but Temperpedic fixed that in May and he's been happy ever since!

What I'm looking forward to in 2013 - so many things.  It's really a blessing that every single day, I get to watch my boys grow up. I love that I get to be so hands-on in their lives and I'm looking forward to continuing to watch their journey through life.  I am very excited about meeting my new little guy in March.  He's making his impact already - and I can't wait to hold and kiss on him!  I am really stoked about getting my body in shape again.  I do this after every pregnancy - I get super focused on exercise and my motivation is at an all time high.... I want to run a few 10k's in 2013 and just work slowly and safely at putting this body back together.  Ryan and I are hoping to pay off some stuff next year - which will be hugely rewarding in our overall goal of getting out of debt completely.  Also, we'll be adjusting to having 3 kids! It will be really fun to watch how my big boys react to having a baby in the house!  I'm excited about Jackson being a big 5 year old - either starting Kindergarten or Bridge, but either way, watching him learn how to read and write... Ethan - being a big 3 year old and starting preschool!  Wow... Just doesn't seem right how fast it's gone by when it comes to my kids.  I'm excited about having a year of good health - (I'm creating positive expectations!) and lots and lots of fun family time!

For the most part, I want to try to take it easy in 2013.  I want to re-focus our priorities - God being the center - and everything else falling around that.  I have a bad habit of over planning my life... I tend to get caught up utilizing my time to where every second has to be spent being productive on something... and while that's a good problem to have, I want to really try to sit down and watch the world around me... to just sit still.  Obviously, the exercise thing isn't me sitting still, but it is something that relaxes me and makes me in overall better spirits - as well as better health.  I want to really think about the person that I am, and the person I want to be...trying to blend those two closer together.  I have so many things to be thankful for.... and I want my attitude to be a better reflection of that. 

So having written a book here - that wasn't my intention! - I already feel like I've stepped into 2013 as the improved me!  Here's to a GREAT 2013!!!  Happy New Year friends!!  :)

oh my, the cuteness.

Love these adorable boys SO much!!!

27 Weeks!

• OFFICIALLY THIRD TRIMESTER!!!
  
• Baby's Sex: BOY!!
• Baby is as big as: Head of Cauliflower (approx 16 inches, 2.5lbs)
• Cravings this week: Chocolate!
• What's different this week than last week: Heartburn - very very bad.  I was up all night Thursday night with heartburn - I had it with all my pregnancies but it has never kept me up at night before! Thank you Tums!
• Weeks to go: 13 weeks
• Next Appt: Jan 7 (28 wks)
• Big Brothers: Ethan has been potty training so it's just been me and Jackson most of this week - I've decided that my two favorite ages so far is 3mo - 9mo and 4 1/2 yrs!  Jackson is a BREEZE - and actually quite fun!  I really love this age!
• Notes:  I had to buy bigger jeans.  :(  I've reasoned this in my head that I did have a pair of jeans I wore with both pregnancies that I fit comfortably in... but I didn't need jeans because in my third trimester, it was warm weather - I was wearing shorts, dresses, etc.  So that's how I'm working this in my mind.  It makes me feel better anyway. 

Potty Training: Boy 2, Day 3.

Day 3 has officially come to a close, and I couldn't be happier about it.  Today was another great day by comparison, but there were a couple of times today when I considered losing hope all together.  I even went as far as telling Keisha how much I dislike this whole process, which I still don't think is too far from the truth. 

Ethan had a rough night last night.  He woke up crying and soaking wet around midnight, and I'm sure that his belly was still hurting from the day-old brew that he was still baking in his bowels.  Keisha and I got him cleaned up and his sheets changed with all the efficiency of a NASCAR pit crew, and I sang him back to sleep for what felt like hours (it was probably only about 10 minutes though...). 

He woke up around his usual time this morning and was thankfully dry.  The lower half of his body is apparently not responding well to being periodically soaked with pee, and he's broken out in a bit of a rash.  This is creating even more urgency on my part to get him out of his undry undies, so finding him still dry in bed is a huge plus. 

His pee-game was super strong again today, going 2 for 2 on his first two attempts, but that wasn't what I had my sights set on.  If you remember from yesterday, I had put in a ton of leg work into getting him poop, but all my efforts had been in vain.  This morning, he and I were back to the same song and dance.  He would give me the look, we would run to the bathroom, then he would start screaming and kicking as soon as he sat on the toilet and the moment had passed.  We did that probably another 10 times this morning before we decided to take drastic measures:

Plan A:  Pear Juice.  We've found this tool to be EXTREMELY effective with Jackson in the past, so we decided to give it a shot with Ethan.  This is a delicate process though, kind of like a haircut:  You can always cut more off if you need too, but once it's too short you just have to deal with the consequences!  This didn't give us the results we wanted, so we moved on to plan B.

Plan B:  Fiber One Bar.  This is the atom bomb of laxatives.  We were desperate.  I was desperate.  I had given this anti-constipation cocktail almost an hour to work, and still nothing was improving.  He and I were still running to the bathroom every 5 minutes or so, but all we were doing was maintaining the status quo.  He was clearly giving me the signal, but as soon as I would snatch him up that seemed to be the moment he put the brakes on.  I half-seriously told Keisha "I'm just going to let him go in his underwear...  his stomach has to be killing him..."  Well, I must have been more serious that I intended because that's exactly what happened!  I was glad that he finally got some relief, but I was also crushed because this movement had been the sole focus of my life for approximately 20 hours.  This was when I voiced to Keish how much I hate this process...

We had another successful pee-event before his nap and for the first time he woke up completely dry after sleeping.  We did have two other accidents this afternoon, but all in all I'm very satisfied with where we are.  Jackson hadn't peed in the potty one time over the course of his three day adventure, so by comparison Ethan is knocking it out of the park.  The most exciting part of this process is that it now becomes a team event!  As much as I take pride in the growth and development of my son, taking three consecutive days out of my life to stare at a two-year-old's groin and clean up excrement is still not the most appealing assignment!!

I'm so proud of my little boy, and I think he did a great job.  Sometimes as a parent we get so caught up in helping our kids grow up that we lose sight of the fact that they are still so sweet, small, confused, and even sometimes scared.  Throughout the past few days, I had to keep reminding myself of this.

This blog is fun to write, but I don't pretend to think that I'm breaking ground on some revolutionary potty training technique.  Everyone, with very few exceptions, eventually figures out the whole potty-training thing - I just think it will be fun to show these blogs to the kids someday to give them a laugh or two!  Hopefully you found a few in there as well...   

Potty Training: Boy 2, Day 2.

<Once again - written by Ryan>

Another day is in the books, and I am still VERY pleased with the progress that we are making!

My first surprise of the day came at 8am when Ethan decided to finally wake up - almost an hour later than usual.  I spent the first 60 minutes of the day anxiously watching the monitor for him to open those eyes, knowing that each minute that passed lowered my odds of finding him in a dry bed.  Turns out my fears were realized - when he got up and I finally went in his room, the first word out of his mouth was "diaper" as he sat in a wet bed.  Oh well - that's part of the process!  So off came the sheets and on went the dry underwear.

Once downstairs, it was time to get the fluids flowing and the crotch-watching started!!  Ethan downed a glass of milk pretty quick, but there wasn't any activity to speak of for about 2 hours.  Unless you call me every 15 seconds saying "tell me if you need to go potty, OK?" activity that is.  Keisha and Jackson left around 10am to go out for the day, so Ethan and I had our run of the house.  That is exactly what we did, too!  We played in every room of the house, including the garage, and Ethan was having a blast.  Finally, around 10:30am I caught a glimpse of the vaunted "pee-pee dance."  I scooped him up and sprinted to the bathroom where he knocked it out of the park - first one of the day!!  This was two days in a row that he made it happen, so I was feeling GREAT about our progress!  My balloon was quickly burst though when Ethan decided to water the carpet in our play room about 15 minutes later. 

I was presented with two unique problems today: 

1.  As if I didn't have enough orifices to monitor already, Ethan's nose was running non-stop all day long.  The poor guy's nose is all chapped from all of the wiping, especially since he hasn't really mastered the "blowing of the nose" process either. 

2.  Ethan has to poop.  Bad.  Real bad.  "What's the problem?" you ask?  Well, his hind-quarters are apparently really sore, and I don't think that he's dealing with very polite poo-poo.  He's gotten pretty good at letting me know when he has to go, either by "doing the dance" or stopping whatever he's doing and giving me the look.  Since we were in the playroom all afternoon, every "look" involved me picking him up and sprinting down 5 stairs, up 7 stairs, taking a hard right, then a left, then a right, then another left just to get him to the potty - all while carrying a 30lb sack of constipated potatoes in front of me.  Then once he would sit on the toilet, he would immediately start crying because of the pain and call the whole thing off.  I easily completed this obstacle course 20 times over a span of about 2 hours - that's how I know the little guy is backed up.  We completed bath and bed without him ever resolving this little issue (despite trying around 5 more times), so I'm either going to experience some magic early tomorrow or walk into a crappy crime scene in the morning - stay tuned!

All around, today was a success though.  We had two successful "pee-trips" and only two accidents during waking hours.  He did wake up both this morning and from his nap a little wet, but I think that has more to do with my fluid management at this stage of the game than it does with his ability to turn off the spigot.  Tomorrow is the last day of the formal process, so it's important that I stay the course until this thing is finished.  Signing off.    

Potty Training: Boy 2, Day 1.

<Written by Ryan>

Here we go again - it seems like it was just yesterday that I was blogging about the trials and tribulations of potty training Jackson, but after looking at a calendar I realized that was 2 years ago!! 

Today was Day 1 of Ethan's journey to potty proficiency, and I must say that I am extremely pleased with the progress that was made today!  I'm sticking to the 3-day method that we picked up in a book a couple of years ago because it worked so well for Jackson.  The process is very simple:  put the kid in just underwear and a t-shirt, never leave the kid's side ALL DAY LONG, continuously instruct the kid to let you know when they need to go, and whisk them off to the bathroom at the onset of any accident.  I'm sure there are more ways to skin this cat, but this one seems to work well for my boys. 

Ethan got up at his usual time this morning (about 7:15am), and the first thing we did was pick out a new pair of his very own "Big Boy Underwear."  This was VERY exciting for him!  Little did he know at the time that he would get the opportunity to wear about 20 pairs of his very own Big Boy Underwear before the day was through...  The next thing we did was throw away the unused diapers that we had left to symbolize that this is a "no turning back" proposition.  Before you get all up-in-arms about the blatant waste of good diapers, it was a grand total of two.  Then we got the party started. 

Keisha took Jackson for the vast majority of the day which gave me the opportunity to focus 100% on Ethan.  I immediately started pumping liquids into him like he was pledging a fraternity, and the evidence became clear around 8:30am.  The next 2 hours was spent frantically hauling a dripping toddler from our playroom across the hall to his bathroom, only to find that his tank was on empty by the time I got there.  I stuck to the script though, every time.  

To my surprise, around 10:30am he actually got some in the toilet!  I distinctly remember that Jackson never peed in the toilet at all during the entire 3-day stretch, so to hit this milestone only 2 hours in was very promising.  I celebrated this feat like I had just won Wimbledon, and Ethan appeared to get a big kick out of it.

About two hours later, Ethan started getting that look in his eye - that look that says "I'm about to let loose the smoke wagon."  I continued to observe intently, making sure to remind him to tell me when he had to go about every 10 seconds.  He never did tell me, but when I caught him disappearing behind the couch and breaking down into a catcher's stance I decided that I had seen all the cues that I was going to get for this little potty party.  I snatched him up and sprinted to the bathroom, AND IT WORKED!  He completed the maneuver like a pro!  Needless to say, my celebration this time made the last one look like a funeral procession. 

That was basically the end of my good potty news for the day, with the exception of one more minor pee-success.  Let's just say that I am now strongly encouraging everyone in the house to wear shoes because there are no guarantees that you're always walking on dry ground.  To use an animal analogy, Ethan very clearly laid his claim to the play room, our living room, and the kitchen today. But don't worry future-Stearle-House-visitors, professional carpet cleaning is the final piece to this potty puzzle! 

It's tough to stay motivated because the three successes of the day are outweighed by the seemingly hundreds of "not-successes," but I know in my gut that this will work and Ethan is off to a much better start than his big brother was a couple years ago.  Stay tuned for Day 2! 

Merry Christmas!!!

Ryan on the news!

Ryan and I left Mad City Pizza on Thursday - on the way to our cars, I took J in my car and Ryan took Ethan - who was mesmerized by a show on Ryan's phone... Ryan got stopped by the 40/29 camera crew who wanted to ask him about his Christmas shopping.  The clip was about 5 seconds long but funny thing - Ethan never looked up from his show on the phone.  Both of my boys were adorable!

Poppie's Boys...

My boys love their poppie - a LOT.  :)  Which makes me super happy.  :)

Ethan and Calliope!

This week has been great for Ethan because while big brother was in school, Ethan was home hanging with mommy - which means we must have a playdate!  Ethan and Calliope were born less than a week apart and are just a bundle of fun energy!  Calliope's mommy Nicole and I went to high school together, so it's fun to have kiddos so close in age! We had a blast playing!

26 Weeks!

• Baby's Sex: BOY!!
• Baby is as big as: Cucumber? (approx 15 inches, 2.2lbs)
• Cravings this week: Chocolate!
• What's different this week than last week: Huge!
• Weeks to go: 14 weeks
• Next Appt: Jan 7 (28 wks)
• Big Brothers: We told Jackson and Ethan that baby brother will be bringing them a gift when he comes out of mommy's belly.  When I was pregnant with Ethan, I told Jackson that Ethan was bringing him Edward (one of the trains he wanted but didn't have) and even though he was just barely 2 years old, he remembered that, and still does.  So we decided that baby brother's gifts would be announced also to spur the excitement and anticipation of his arrival.  So baby brother is bringing Ethan "Rocky" the train - one of the only ones my train-loving boys don't have and Jackson is getting a "Super Hero Squad" DVD collection.  Both of them are now pretty excited for baby brother to arrive.  :)
• Notes:  My app says baby has grown this week from 9.2 in to 15 inches this week!  That's probably nearly impossible but I will say that I can definitely feel him moving around more this week.  He feels like he makes big movements but when I sit forward in a chair, he kicks me like crazy cuz he's cramped.  I'm thinking he may be my biggest baby yet - I certainly feel bigger than I've ever felt in my life and I know I have a long way to go.

Christmas Card!

For our Christmas card this year, we stole the idea from Pinterest... my new favorite thing to explore. (I know, I'm a little behind.)  The boys actually did a great job - they thought it was fun to have the lights on them!

 Super hero poses. (Notice Jackson's spiderman web shooter?)

 

Silly faces and spooky faces.  These boys crack me up!

Just trying to get ONE picture!

For those of you who always say such kind things to me about my pictures of the boys (thank you!) - but I figure I'd show you how difficult it actually is.  And now that I'm pregnant w/ a big ol' belly - I just don't try near as long as I used to.  These two find it funny to actually NOT look at the camera or to pick on each other when I try to get a pic... It's much more fun than standing there and smiling sweetly.  This was one attempt to get a picture of them in their Christmas shirts.... We call this a fail.  :)

Ethan photobombs Jackson's pic.

 So I opt to take a pic of them both.. this is the best I got.  Where is the smiles they give me when the camera is not in front of them??

 Looking everywhere but in front..

 What is that face!?  REALLY!?  Jackson!?  Really!?

 I had to hold Ethan down to get this pic of just Jackson.  He loves to photobomb.

 These boys... So funny.

25 Weeks!

• Baby's Sex: BOY!!
• Baby is as big as: Eggplant (approx 9.2 inches, 2lbs)
• Cravings this week: Sour Cream and Onion Chips
• What's different this week than last week: Huge!
• Weeks to go: 15 weeks
• Next Appt: Jan 7 (28 wks)
• Big Brothers: This was Ethan's last week at Mother's Day Out - until Jan 14th. UGH!!
• Notes:  Passed glucose test. YAY!  Met w/ my endocrinologist on Thursday and it's the first time this whole pregnancy that my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is finally regulated.  My doc increased my dosage 4 times since I've been pregnant so I'm grateful for early testing and regulation.  Baby is still really chill - I guess I'm just comparing to my last 2 pregnancies, but this baby just doesn't kick/move that much.  If I sit down, eat something sweet and take some deep breaths, he'll kick me but it's only when I focus and relax... He's just so still... I worry about that, but I'm trying not to.  Maybe it'll be a blessing and I'll just have a chill baby. I'm pretty sure he's still head up because most of my kicks are very very low... so I'm pretty sure he hasn't flipped yet.  Doc said not to worry about this until 32 weeks. 

No Shave November

Ryan decided to participate in "No Shave November" for the first time and I think he had a lot of fun growing out his beard. His facial hair is so light that I personally really liked it - I think he looked really good like that. Anyway, when it came to shaving it off - he decided to do it in stages... He posed for me too - which he enjoyed way too much.  I think you'll see that these looks are much less flattering that the full beard... I'm happy that he's almost got his normal look back!

November Phone Dump

Ethan - that sweet smile.. oh what I wouldn't do for that smile!

 This was taken right before I have completely outlawed the bed from the cats.  They are no longer allowed on the bed... they have puked on it way too many times.  But it was still a cute moment.

 

Ethan found these lei's from our honeymoon to Hawaii and he wouldn't take them off...

 Jackson's message for daddy.

 Pretending to be asleep when I walked in the room.

 Ethan tripped and busted his lip the day before we left for Milwaukee on our wooden bed frame.  It took forever to stop bleeding... Poor guy really did a number on it... can't believe he didn't lose a tooth from that deal.

 In Daddy's shoes again!

 Jackson's new thing is to color... constantly.  He got some new doodle books from Aunt Carla and he hasn't stopped since... he's quite creative, I think!

Christmas Train!

My mom got us tickets to the Christmas train this year - it was so fun!  The weather was amazing - like 65 degrees and overcast.  The boys had a blast climbing all over the fire trucks and riding the train, and meeting Santa!! ... Good times!