Colby's Cover Page

This morning I woke up all excited to see the Rankin Ledger article about my sign classes. My parents went and bought 10 copies and were at my house at 7:30, MAN I love my parents and how much they support me!




I was expecting a small article, so I was shocked to see Colby on the cover page, not to mention a two page article.



We were signing "sorry" so that's why my face looks so goofy. He had just thrown a fit for cookies (you can see his mouth full) and I told him to say he was sorry for acting ugly.




Cover-page

He was signing "diaper change"

I was very pleased with the article, and I hope my classes fill up!!!

You can read the article online www.rankinledger.com

Potty Training

As you know, I did the Early-Start Potty Training by Linda Sonna, PH.D.. Colby was pretty much potty trained from 9 months-13 months old and then changed his mind. He literally only pooped in his diaper about 2 or 3 times a month, at the most. I read every detail on infant potty training and did everything by the book, so what happened? Colby went on potty strike and wanted nothing to do with the potty. I got my book back out to look for answers and hope I could undo what went wrong. As I began to read, it said when potty training starts between five and nine months, the average child has full bowel control at age 15 months.

Which is the case for Colby, he completely controls it. He sits on the potty (which has to be in the kitchen, very sanitary huh?) squeezes out one little portion of poop, claps for himself, checks it out, and then holds the rest in until I put his diaper back on, and then lets it rip!!

HELLOOOOO.... WHY WHY WHY?

I continued to read and it said don't be alarmed if between the age of 15-18 months they become very defiant against using the potty. It says that usually by 20 months they will start right back and most likely be completely potty trained by 2 years old. SOOOO, my fingers are crossed and we shall see!

Colby doesn't like poop in his diaper so he will sign "change" and then point to his booty and say poo poo. He will also tell me that it's suppose to go in the potty. Bentley took a poop inside the other day and he even got on to him and said no no potty. He has alot of room to talk, huh?

Last night Chris ran in the Brick Street Firefly 5K. He finished 2nd in his age group and fifth overall. There were over 300 runners, I was so proud!! I was so excited, and he acted like it was no big deal (Mr. Passive). He didn't want me to take pictures of him getting his medal and he would barely pose for this one picture.

The race was in Clinton which is our college stomping grounds. After the race we decided to go to our all time favorite coffee shop, Gravity. We noticed that it was a little more crowded than normal. We parked down the street and as we were walking up the hill we noticed it was no longer Gravity but was now Petra Cafe. Chris ask someone did Gravity relocate and he said no they shut down. He said, "come on in, it's happening in here!" I was so bummed! They turned my little cozy coffee shop into a belly dancing, Mediterranean cafe. We noticed a Cups opened up a few blocks away so I'm guessing that was the culprit :(.

Mean Octopus :(

Yesterday was hot hot hot, so what better to do than play in the water! My mom got Colby an octopus sprinkler and I thought he would love it! HA, I thought wrong. I give you permission to laugh and not feel bad about it.

We did play in the water from 8:30-1:00 but Mr. Octopus was put in TIME-OUT for the remainder of the day!

Two things Colby loves: 1. Being naked 2. Eating or licking everything no matter how disgusting!!!

He was signing "grass" to tell me there was a piece of grass on my toe.

I know..... I have to get a pool, it's all I had (give me a break) !

The past few days we have been trying to transition from two naps to one. The first day we went to bible study and then the park so he was able to skip his morning nap and took a three hour nap in the afternoon. Yesterday we played in the water until 12:00, ate lunch, took a bath, and then he only napped for 1 1/2 hour, not long enough at all. He was so tired in the bath tub that he curled up and signed "sleep". He was content to sleep in the bathtub but mommy said no no.

Today, we went to story time at the library but it was cancelled. If you have a toddler you know that it takes a lot of effort to get dressed and get somewhere, so I was definitely going to find somewhere to go. We went to daddy's work and then met a friend for lunch. So, he made it without a nap and came home and slept for two hours. He would have slept longer but the phone woke him up. Darn phone, I forgot to turn the ringer off. I think the one nap will eventually be better.

Chris was not happy when Colby showed up wearing what he calls sissy outfit. I think they are cute and I didn't think Chris would see him but uh o, he did. He made it a point to tell all the guys at work that Colby usually doesn't dress in this type of attire, Men Huh?

Kidsfest & Crawfish Boil

A group of friends had planned to go to Kidsfest on Sunday but some cancelled because of weather and others had sick babies, so it was just Sarah and me. The weather turned out to be perfect and the boys really enjoyed it, almost as much as us! I will take Colby to Kidsfest every year, it's such a good deal! It only cost $10 ($8 advance tickets and 2 & under free) which includes a tremendous amount of things to do. We rode rides, visited with Dora, saw a grizzly bear, rode a pony, and even drove a tractor. There were all kinds of circus shows and interactive skits for older kids. Colby will enjoy that part a little more next year.




Choo-Choo

I was so thirsty that I actually bought a $4 lemonade, and I only got 2 sips. Colby didn't want to share with mommy.

Colby kept growling at the grizzly. That man is insane!

The smallest horse in the world. He looked so sad, I wanted to open his cage and say run, run, run!

Trammell's annual crawfish boil

Colby spotted another child's lawnmower and thought it was an upgrade compared to his, so he cut grass the entire time. He saw this picture today and kept yelling lawnmower, more like la-mo la-mo. I guess he thought I could take it from the picture and make it suddenly appear in his hands. I wish that's how it worked, I would have a lot more money!

Colby checking out the crawfish

Just getting started

Colby Reading at 16 Months

If you remember several months ago I realized that Colby was reading a few words on his signing flash cards. He would love for me to hold up a card and he would show me the sign but he got to the point where he was kinda bored with doing the flashcards. I never want anything to feel like work so we didn't do the flashcards anymore. I wasn't even sure if he could still recognize the words or not. Well, today he brought me the cards so I held them up and covered up the picture, and he read every card I showed him. Right before bedtime he started to do it again so Chris grabbed the camera and got a few. I still can't believe it! It's just the results of signing.

Like Father Like Son
Chris is the biggest neat-freak ever! Not saying it in a negative way because I have actually come to love this trait of his, especially when he does the cleaning. It use to bother me because I thought it wasn't as important as he made it out to be. Through prayer and patience, God showed me it's not for me to question or try to change but it's my responsibility to make him happy. So, I try really hard to keep the house clean all the time. A lady at my bible study said, "treat your man like a king and he will treat you like a princess". I have to repeat that over and over because I'm not a big fan of cleaning, hehe!

Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble off subject. My point was that Colby is just like his father. He is obsessed with the broom, vacuum, swifter, mop, etc. He even likes to get a rag and wipe up spills. The other day he sat on the potty and pooped a tiny terd and said he was all done ( I had a feeling he wasn't). So, while I was dumping and cleaning his potty he went to the kitchen to finish pooping ( sound familiar) and I found him sweeping up his poop. Yes, it was a lovely sight and it was soooo much fun cleaning up!

Every time I get the vacuum out he signs "help" because he wants to help me.

Chris and Colby are like peanut butter & jelly. Chris can't stand to be away from him and as soon as he walks in the door every afternoon he doesn't stop playing with Colby until he tells him night night. Chris is the dad that I always prayed for, and I thank God every night for such a blessing.

eating dinner outside

They will do this for 45 minutes, I kid you not.

How Satan Works

I woke up Saturday morning and gave Chris a good luck kiss for his race. He ran in the Run for Your Life 5k, and he placed 1st in his age group and 5th overall YAY HONEY! I had planned to go with my mother to a WHOA (women who hear, obey, and act) brunch at Pinelake. Chris had to leave at 7:00 and the brunch was at 10:00 but he said he would be back in plenty of time.
Let me just tell you how Satan works so you don't fall victim to his games!!! My mother had just gotten over pneumonia and couldn't even walk far without getting out of breath so we almost cancelled, but she still insisted on going. I was really tired and Chris was not there to watch Colby while I got dressed so I almost cancelled, but I didn't. Colby was so clingy that he had to take a shower with me and then sit on the counter (throwing my things all over the place) while I did my makeup and then he started to cry for me to play so I almost cancelled, but I didn't. Chris calls me and says that he placed so he had to wait around for the awards ceremony so I almost cancelled, but I didn't. It was time to go and Chris was still at the race with no award. I told him I would meet him at the race to pass Colby off and I would just be late. I was really considering how much easier it would be to cancel, but I didn't. Chris called me back and said he was on his way to Pinelake so he would meet me there to get Colby. I thought he had gotten his award but he didn't, he left without his award for me, I KNOW he is the best! I felt awful and I started thinking to myself, I should have just stayed home.

I know this is what Satan does to people and families every Sunday morning, and he laughs when it works! He tells you that you are too tired, too busy, your running too late, the kids are misbehaving, one wrong thing happens after the next and the devil laughs because he convinced you to ignore God and miss out on a blessing that God intended for you and your family that day.
I have realized that every single Sunday I can learn at least one new thing to strengthen my relationship with Christ, so of course Satan tries to intervene on that as much as possible. I heard someone ask a monk if it was a sin to miss church (which I did often). He answered, "If you are physically able to attend worship and you choose not to then you are ignoring God, so I would definitely consider that a sin." That made such a huge impact on my life because I haven't missed church since that day. If I start to consider missing church, the first thing that pops in my head is "You are ignoring God".

If I would have listened to Satan (which I strongly considered) , I would have missed out on so many blessings that I received at the WHOA brunch.
It was all about Freedom and not letting Satan hold you in bondage. There are things in my past that I'm ashamed of and I hold onto the guilt even though I know I have been forgiven. When I was listening to these women speak about their past and how God has set them free, I knew exactly why Satan tried his best to get me to stay home. I was the one laughing this time, not him.

Here are a few key notes I got from the brunch, so I'm passing them on!

How to have Freedom in Christ
Let go of the past, enjoy the freedom and claim the
promises declared for Christ's children.

1. Have a personal relationship with Christ (accept is forgiveness)
2. Die to myself- give up my will, desires, wants, thoughts, and needs
3. Look within myself and never blame others
4. Get to know God- read the word daily and study ( Draw near to him and he will draw near to you)
5. Don't beat yourself up- Do not allow Satan to beat you down

It doesn't matter what happened in your past or what is happening at this very moment. God forgives and still loves you unconditionally. He wants you to be set free and live an amazing, peaceful life!

What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of JESUS!!

A Priceless Friend

When I went to Mississippi College, I met Joni my very first semester and we were both majoring in elementary education. We had so much in common and became best friends instantly. We were both married and she had a little boy so we related to each other because we weren't the typical college students. For three years we were each others rock. We helped each other through difficult classes and even dropped Chemistry together, hehe! It feels better being a quitter when someone else does it with you, we had a very hard professor. We also supported one another through personal conflicts we had, and both came out stronger because of each other. We literally kept Gravity (best coffee shop EVER!) in business. We would sit for hours and hours drinking white chocolate mochas, listening to Ralph Miller sing, and talk talk talk (sometimes cry). Friends like Joni are priceless, hard to come by, and always in my thoughts. She now lives in Forest so we don't see other often and I miss her so much!


She has 8 week old twins, so yesterday I loaded Colby up and we went and spent the entire day in Forest. I knew I missed her but after spending the day together, I realized just how much. We made a commitment to meet up at least once a month. I was always amazed at what a wonderful mom she was with her first son and I thought to myself "I hope I'm just like her when I have a child"!

Now she also has twins and once again I was impressed with her mommy skills!

Joni's husband is the Chief Fireman so Joni couldn't wait to take Colby to see the firetruck. He loves to drive our car so can you imagine how much he loved driving a fire truck! He laughed and laughed until we blew the horn. Then, he cried but kept right on driving!

We went and got Reese from school and then went to play at the park!

Cali & Sam chillin at the firehouse

He kept driving and saying Hi to everyone

Signing "Hat"

Thanks for such a fun day, Joni! I love you!