Happy July:)

We're only a few days into he month of July, but so far it's been pretty good.I've got to make this fast because the kids should be up for the day very soon. I think we have finally succeeded(for the most part) with potty training both kids!!! Emma has been doing it for about a month now with only a few accidents along the way. Henry has gotten on the bandwagon and isn't scared of the big potty now. We're still working on every once in a while getting him there in time. Now if we cna get him to flush just once instead of three or four times in a row, it would be great! Also, if we could get them to settle down on the hand washing afterwards that would also be great. I'm all for washng the hands after using the bathroom, but when these two leave the sink it looks like a massive tidal wave has hit the bathroom! As for the whole poop factor, well they aren't painting their bedroom walls with it anymore. Daddy came up with a great idea and it has worked so far. We haven't painted in their room yet. So the other day on the way home from one of Mommy's doctor appointments we stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up some watercolors and brushes. We've been painting on their walls for about two weeks now and they love it. Emma could spend hours on end painting. Henry likes to supervise and have Mommy or Daddy paint for him. I don't mind because it's one thing I like to do just haven't been able to.

No more highchairs!!! They have graduated to sitting at the "big table"-our dining room table. We've played musical chairs at dinnertime a few times. but otherwise they are doing really well. We've also started working on drinking from big girl and big boy glasses instead of sippy cups. Now if we can get them to stay still and not run around with those cups then life would be great!

Still working on sharing toys and other things and taking turns. Henry is into saying "pretty soon" and "in a minute" when it comes to those two things. Emma has gotten protective of her toys. But so far no one has suffered too much.

As for whining, well...it's still happening and will continue to for a while. Usually all we have to say is, "stop whining or go to your room until your done" or start counting to three, which normally means a spank will follow if they continue.

You'll soon see a post that will say no more toddler beds as well. Toddler beds aren't built to last. And ours have taken several beatings. Ours have a lot of battle scars. So we've started looking around at twin beds. I'll post picks and an update once we get them.

As for our July 4th weekend, well, not how we originally planned. The kids will be wo different places this weekend starting later today. Aunt Amy(Yaya) will be here this afternoon to pick them up for an overnight slumber party at her house with cousin Elysabeth and then tomorrow she'll take them to Nana and Papa's for the rest of the weekend. Why, you ask. My neck/back/shoulder problems are still alive and kicking so I'm going in this afternoon to have an epidural injection and will not be able to do anything for the next few days. Hopefully this works-if not we may be looking at surgery to correct the herniated disk. I still may have to have some surgery anyway on my shoulder, but we are waiting until after this procedure to see if it also takes care of the shoulder problems.

We'll keep you posted. And I'll also post some picks sometime today before all of that, but right now I'm out of time. I hear two little sweet voices so I better go.