One of my goals as a stay at home mom has been to learn to make bread. Thankfully my hubby is ok with my experimenting on him. I'm happy to say I've found a few recipes that I'm really happy with and my family will eat them! I usually bake 2 loaves a week, sometimes 4. This seems to be enough for us right now. I think I had a little bit of a Yeast Phobia at first, but I think I've got the hang of it now.
Jacob has had some troubles getting used to having Mommy home all day as well. The first few weeks were tough, frequented by many temper tantrums and tears. Thankfully, that has mostly passed now. He misses the other kids from daycare, and I know that it has been hard for him to not have a set routine. One good thing has been that Potty Training is going really well. I've worked with Jacob since he was 2 on potty training, but the daycare never worked with him on potty training, and he spent more time at daycare than at home. Since I have started working from home he has done much better, so I am super proud of him. He will now stay dry all day and night as long as I remind him often to go potty, but he is still having trouble pooping on the toilet. I think he's still a little afraid of it. I have to say that the thing that has worked the best with Jacob has been finding a positive reinforcement that he likes (for Jacob it is 15 minutes on the computer) and leaving him alone and not pushing him. If he doesn't want to go, I don't worry about it. This has reduced my stress over potty training and his as well. It's not a perfect system, but it works for us.
Jacob is quite the funny kid. Some of the things he says just kill me. I have to share this story otherwise I'll forget it. Jacob isn't very fond of candy. This is just fine with me, but one that he DOES like are Swedish Fish. One day he wanted some that he got in his Christmas stocking and after dinner we gave them to him. Pretty soon we noticed that he had eaten the entire bag in record time! When my mom went to investigate, she found out that he was swallowing them WHOLE! She got after him and told him he has to chew his food so he doesn't choke. What does he say? "That's how the penguins do it." I guess he was watching Happy Feet the day before and paying a little closer attention than I realized. Needless to say, I've been watching him really close when he eats stuff like that since this experience. Crazy kid.
Derek is growing like a WEED! He is now 3 months old and turning into a cute little butterball. I love his sweet smiles and chubby cheeks. Derek is a super contented baby. Keep him fed and warm and he's as happy as can be. At his 2 month appointment, he had more than doubled his birth weight, coming in at 12 lbs 11 oz and 24.5 inches. This week he started rolling from his belly to his back, which makes tummy time hard since he won't STAY on his tummy, but that's ok.
Dustin has been working hard for us and he is in training for a promotion! We have our fingers crossed for that to happen soon! He is working full time, but every week is different, so we never really know what his schedule will be like. It's kind of nice to have him home a random day during the week and we can go shopping without the big weekend crowds.
Our family had a BIG change this last week! We traded in our Accord and Jeep for a 2005 Ford Explorer! We have been looking at getting a new car for about a year, but hadn't found one that we both agreed on. I happened to find this one online and we decided that we would go and test drive it. Everything worked out great and we didn't have to finance, so no car payment! We decided to go down to 1 car for a while since I don't go many places during the week anyway. It will take some getting used to and some extra planning, but it will save us a lot of money. Less money in gas, less in insurance. I'm going to get one of those bike trailers for the boys and I to do some riding this summer, then I'll be saving money AND getting in shape. I am so happy to have the extra space in the car! We have seats for 7 if we need to, and the 2nd and 3rd rows fold flat when we don't need them. We can tow our small trailer and 4 wheeler when we go camping and we are so excited!
Our family has also grown by 1! My grandparents
have not been doing very well the last few months so they gave us their dog. Maggie joined our family this week and she is the sweetest little dog. She is a Miniature Schnauzer. Typically Schnauzers are barking dogs, but she doesn't bark much. Jacob loves her, he thinks it is hilarious to throw the ball for her and watch her fetch it. She's a good little dog and it is fun to have her with our family.
