11 months....

It is hard to believe, but our baby is 11 months old. We brought him in for pictures today and thought that Jessi might like to join us! Chase was a little scared of the whole process today, you think he would be use to it by now! What a cutie!

One Crazy Father's Day!

We decided that since Matt had to work on Sunday that we would do presents after dinner on Saturday. Unfortunately Chase could not stay awake for the festivities! Matt was excited to see that he got a Liverpool (Euro soccer) blanket. I am not sure where the fascination with Euro Soccer came from, but I ask him on a regular basis where my husband went. I especially ask these questions when he is cheering at the TV. This is very out of character for Matt and it cracks me up! He also got his new Gavin Rossdale CD as well as several shirts and shorts from Old Navy. Preston was sitting so cute while watching Daddy open his presents. Actually I think he was waiting for some to open himself!

GO LIVERPOOL!

Well we kicked Sunday off with a bang! Matt couldn't sleep so came downstairs at 2am to watch TV and fell asleep on the couch. Both the kids woke me up at 6am. As I got Chase from his crib Preston threw his blanket down the stairs, which are pretty steep. The blanket made it about half way down the stairs and I usually reach it before Preston and kick it down the rest of the way. Well Preston was trying to run down the stairs to get there before I did, so I quickly turned to tell him to slow down and fell down the stairs holding Chase. As I was falling I tucked Chase's head under my arm to protect him and was unable to catch myself as I fell. I hit the steps hard and didn't finish hitting the steps until I got to the bottom. Chase did not cry or even realize what had happened. I kind of sat there to compose myself. As I was falling down the stairs I could hear Matt scrambling towards the stairs. He was able to take Chase from me as I stood up. I am ok, but have a bruise bigger than a softball on my thigh and my body feels like i got hit by a mac truck. We were both very lucky!

I decided in the afternoon that I would let the kids swim in the pool while Matt went off to the gym. Preston thought the water balloons were cool, but didn't like when they popped. He just liked moving them from one side of the yard to the other!
I love this picture of the balloon popping. Preston was not impressed, but mommy was there to get the picture!

Chase loved the pool today. He splashed and had such a good time! Chase would splash Preston every time he got near and Preston would yell "No Baby!" Chase didn't listen!

Once we were done in the pool I fed the kids and got them to bed. Matt came home from the gym and was soaking wet. It was super hot outside so I imagined the gym was boiling. Matt looked at me and said, "Happy Father's Day," I responded, "Happy Father's Day!" He then said, "Don't let the dogs out in the yard." I said, "Did you drive my car into the fence again?" (So when Preston was a week old we went to visit our friends at Bridgeway and when we got home I opened my car door and the wind blew my door open. Mattwas so worried about the baby getting cold he jumped out of the car to get him. As he was opening the front door I was following behind and out of the corner of my eye saw my car driving itself forward. I screamed, "The car's moving," and took off running after it. At this point it was past the point of seeing the car from the porch and Me chasing it. I jumped into the moving car and hit the break, but the car went off our driveway and hit the nice new fence Matt and his Dad built. I backed the car out of the fence and back into the driveway. I went into the house looked at Matt and said, "You have to put the car in park!" After surveying the damage we were unable to let the dogs out in the yard because there was not a fence to keep them in. This is why I laughed when Matt told me not to let the dogs out. Boy that was long story which was suppose to be a side note!)

Anyways Matt looked at me and said I locked the keys in the car and had to run back from the gym. Since our other truck is at the shop I couldn't help him out. The gym is about 5 miles from home! Poor Matt! He had to come home and get keys. Then he took the bike out the backyard (this is why I couldn't let the dogs out) and went back to the gym. Happy Father's Day!

Later that day Chase was crawling around and I caught him drinking my diet coke! I couldn't believe he knew how to hold the can and was actually drinking my soda! Chase drinks water and has never had anything like this before. It looks like he enjoyed it!


Needless to say I was glad when bed time arrived Sunday night. Not only did my kids need it, but Matt and I needed to start fresh Monday morning.

Happy Father's Day My Love

When I think back to some of my first memories of Matt in my life, I think about the compassion and enthusium I always saw in his eyes. Matt has the ability to warm a room with his smile and sesitivity. Matt is just so darn likeable! I will never forget the day he over heard me talking to a group of friends about a speech I was to give and how nervous I was. Matt piped in and said, "If you give the speech, I will give you a standing ovation." First of all I knew Matt, but not very well, Second this was a lecture class given by Schwartz and she would NOT find this amusing and Thirdly why would he embarrass himself in front of all these students for me? So the next class I gave my speech and Schwartz was known for hammering you with questions after you were done. Once the speech was done, Matt sitting toward the back stood up and cheered. Cracks me up just thinking of it. All eyes were off of me and on Matt. What a wonderful man! I absolutely fell in love with him! ( Matt's wedding band is engraved with "Standing Ovations")

Matt has shown me so much love and devotion over the years, through the beautiful poems he writes me to the daily kind words he shares. Matt is truly a man to be inspired by and to try to live your life like. He is truly a role model for all that know him.

Matt is a guy compassionate for everyone. One time Matt saw a man in distress at a resturant sitting by himself, appearing beat down about something. All through breakfast Matt is worried about this man who he has never seen before, nor has any idea what his troubles might be. Matt excused himself from our table and spoke in private with our waitress. While we were leaving to pay this man came up to Matt shook his hand and expressed his graditude, telling Matt he would pay it forward. I was unsure what had happened, and Matt explained the situation and said that he added that man's tab onto our's because it was the least he could do brighten this guy's day. This little bit of compassion and graditude is expressed daily to all those who come in contact with Matt, a wonderful man.

This Father's Day I hope Matt know's he is our world. The love of my life, the father every little boy would love to have and the kind of guy that any stranger is lucky to meet! An amazing father that gives Preston and Chase so much joy and happiness and a supportive, genuine man who I am lucky to call my husband. We love you baby, Happy Father's Day!

A Rainy Night

One rainy night this week the kids came into my bed at about 11:45. At 1:00 am it started raining buckets. We heard that we got three inches in about ten minutes. It was a down pour that woke me up and frightened me. The kids seemed to sleep through it. Matt should have been on his way home from work since he had to work later that night. I called him to make sure he was OK and found the kids sleeping together like this. Of course I had to run downstairs get the camera, and stand on my bed to get this shot.

What loving your underwear will do to you

So for those of you keeping up on this potty training process, Preston is using the potty and loves his "big boy" underwear. He loves them so much I caught him in the closet putting on multiple pairs over the pair he was already wearing. He couldn't not quite figure out how to get his legs in the holes so just pulled them on anyway he could. He was SO proud of himself. laughing, jumping around the bathroom, and actually saying cheese when I was taking his picture.

As the process of pulling on the extra underwear went on, Preston decided to get ready for the day like Mommy does. he pulled out my contact solution, then my deodorant and started putting it on! Kody decided that he wanted to get in the bathtub so Preston took full advantage and grabbed my shampoo and started washing him. Kody did not approve! I thought it was hysterical and couldn't put my camera down!

Inspirational Article

On a friends blog today she wrote about how "interruptions" from her 3 year old triplets and 6 month old sometimes makes for the hardest part of her day and that she can't get anything accomplished. She wrote to the writer of my new favorite site simplemom to tell her that exact statement. This is what was received back:

A few years ago, a mentor of mine told me something that rings true for me every day - that those interruptions we have every 5 minutes as SAHMs (stay at home mom's ) aren’t really interruptions, they ARE our day. I may have an agenda to pay bills, clean out the fridge, go to the post office, etc., but my primary job really is to be an influence on my children. It’s worth the time to discipline for those little things, because that’s my main job. And it’s worth it to stop what I’m doing and play with blocks.

Stop and play with blocks, or get sand in your underwear like Mindy said. To many of us worry about cleaning the house, doing the dishes, getting the laundry done and forget that our most important job is just being Mom. What an inspiration to see that the things we find to fill are day truly are not the things that count. Although having a clean house is important and things do need to get done, loving our kids, playing in bubble wrap, those are the things that make a difference in our lives!

Meet the "Potty" King

Is it really possible to be getting out of diapers soon? This is a really exciting concept, but it also a scary one, because that means our little Preston is growing up! Tonight I had him wear his dinosaur, aka ROAR, under-roos all night. I thought the idea of feeling wet might help the potty training process. Preston did AWESOME. He would leak a little and that bothered him so he took off running to the potty. We began a ritual where he tells his wee wee to pee pee and then when the songs and dances are all done he dumps it into the big potty where we say bye bye pee pee a thousand times. All through dinner Preston waved towards the bathroom and yelled bye pee pee. Doesn't that just make you smile!So he looks like he is wearing Grandpa underwear, but we'll work on getting him cuter ones! For now the Roars are a big hit! Preston got a penny after using the potty on his own and is saving it in his piggy bank.

Preston is not impressed with me taking pictures of him. He only sat long enough to get that penny in the bank and then he was off! Can't you just hear Preston saying, "Mommy NO," and pushing the camera away. I think he is embarrassed that I was taking pictures in his underwear. What a modest little boy. By the way Preston is now calling me Mama. This just warms my heart, but now I can't say that he is always asking for Dada to help him (just kidding). I think I woke up around midnight the other night to tell Matt that he is calling me Mama and Mommy after all this time. It just brought tears to my eyes. I never thought I would hear him call me anything but DADA. Although he was being a little stinker because he would laugh when he called me DADA. What a poop! (By the way he is at my feet playing with Rescue Heroes, does anyone see I am excited!)

So once again I have a hundred pictures of Preston running at the camera or away from the camera. Thought he was kind of cute running around in his underwear. This is not a typical thing we allow in the house, but it is helpful with the potty training process!

I asked Preston if I could see the back of his underwear and this was the pose I got! For those of you who saw the family DVD last year, this reminded me of the finger painting picture where Preston peeked between his legs. I guess this is the "Preston Pose!" Don't you just want to pinch that little bottom.

Rescue Heroes

OK, so I am a dork, but I looked up the Rescue Heroes on Amazon today and the cheapest ones were $24.99. There were several shown out of the box and ranging all the way up to $79.99. I am so glad I bought them, and at the price I paid, I really got a good deal. I know that Planet Heroes are taking the place of Rescue Heroes, but the kids really like them all. Plus we just had a customer come in with their 4 year old son and he insisted he have his pictures taken with Rescue Heroes! How Funny!

Cheap, Clean, FUN

Who doesn't love bubble wrap? Especially when you get a plethora of it to lay across your floor like a slip and slide. Who says there is nothing to do in Macomb! Good "Red Neck" fun is what it is all about. As you can see Preston jumped right in and had the time of his life. So Preston thought it might be cute to wear bubble wrap. What a fashion forward little man!

Chase joined in the family fun, but I don't think he quite new what to think. This stuff made a lot of noise and everyone was jumping on it. Chase just sat there and pushed on it.

We tried holding Chase up so he could experience our Red Neck fun, but the look on the face tells all. As you can see Preston enjoyed diving into the bubble wrap, hence the foot in the bottom of the picture!

If only my camera would take the picture fast enough, Preston could actually be the next Michael Jordan with the height he had on his jumps!Tonight we had our friends over for dinner and play time. We had a nice time but the kids will have to get use to sharing there toys. Kayla doesn't want to share her toys with Preston and Preston won't share his toys with Kayla. The two of them crack me up! The more they play together they will learn how to share, or at least Andrea and I will keep saying, "You guys have to share!" Preston is not use to being around other kids consistently, so I have hopes that sharing is a skill he will soon learn!

A Few Extra Weekend Things

Preston and Chase finally got their bike helmets! A big thank you to our friend Jackie who gave them to us. Preston was so excited that he wore it around the house all day. I always knew that my kids needed helmets! Chase is such a bruiser that he really does need one to protect him! Preston just thought it was cute, which we would have to agree.

It took longer than I thought to get the bike seats on the bikes. I bought the cheaper ones, but Matt assured me if I payed a few extra bucks it was because they were already put together. Good thing I have a good husband to safely put it all together. Matt and I use to ride bikes all the time, but since we have had the kids we have not used them. Matt got right back into it and Preston LOVED it! When Matt would arrive back from around the block Preston would point as if he was not done and wanted to go again. Good thing Daddy is a good sport and continued the ride for little Preston. Matt has been working so hard at the gym and it is really paying off. he looks great, which he did before, but now he feels better since he is back into the routine. Bike riding is a whole other story though. You use muscles you forgot you had. What a work out!

As you can see the night was

approaching fast, but Preston insisted

that Daddy keep pedaling.

Preston just wanted to make sure that Daddy got enough of a workout!
So today I did a lot of reading about potty training among a hundred other things I want to bring to our family, but that's another blog.

I decided to created a sticker chart and just force the potty training issue more. Although Preston said no to me several times he went potty on his Royal Potty five times tonight and only wet his diaper twice. I thought that was great for the first night of fun! The one time he went in the diaper didn't really count because he started going in the potty and must have still had some left because I put his diaper on and he peed just enough to make the carrots that fade when wet disappear. I am really proud of the little guy. I must have told him a thousand times because he would look at me and say yeah as if he was thinking, "OK Mommy I know your proud, but get over it!" He was cute, lots of high fives, pee pee dances, and lots of hugs and kisses! Keep your fingers crossed that this continues!

Chase still is having problems with his gums. They don't look any better, but he is in a good mood. I caught him pulling at his ears tonight so gave him some Tylenol, but that is the biggest reaction I have seen him have for this. Poor little guy, we are hoping this goes away soon and Chase is back to his normal self!

Happy Saturday!

Well we finally got a picture of Chase's mouth, but I most warn you it is gross! This pic was taken three days after we originally discovered it. I think the coloring is fainter than when I first discovered it because it appeared to be black! This is what his poor molars are doing to his mouth. When I brought him in to the Doctor her first reaction was, "Now this is Impressive!" She had not seen teeth do this, but said it is possible, OBVIOUSLY! My poor baby! We would have never known, he is happy s can be! If things don't look better by the end of the week will be making a trip back to Lockard's office, so I will keep everyone updated.

Friday I took the kids to the playgroup and the boys were all going nuts over Rescue Heroes. Didn't know to much about them except what the six year old's were telling me. They had posters in there rooms and assured me that they were cool! Preston jumped in right next to them playing with these guys. My friend said that I should buy them if I ever saw them at a yard sale because they were kind of expensive and the trucks that they drive were hard to find.

Well I went garaging with Pam this morning and wouldn't you know I hit the mother load! I wanted to call Jan because I knew she would share my excitement. As I approached a 22 gallon box it was full of Rescue Heros. I started weeding through the Rescue Heroes I was not sure where to begin, so I asked for a bag! As I added up my $1.00 a piece action figures I stopped at 20. I went to load them in the car while Pam was testing out the double stroller she would soon purchase, and the people having the sale started unloading more rescue heroes. I asked for another bag! After filling my car, Pam and I were cracking up because this was the first sale and we filled my Escape. Before we got down the block I said to Pam, " You think I should ask what they want if I bought the whole box!" She laughed and said go for it. So I did! The family thought I was funny, but these things are $10.00 for the guys and $20.00 for vehicles. Plus the fire engine was $30.00. So I made a killing, $60.00 bucks later and we were on our way home. Now my only worry was explaining to Matt the amount of Rescue Heroes that were now part of The DeWitt Family!

So we now own 22 gallons worth of Rescue Heroes! Let me tell you they are cool and fun to play with. The boys took naps and I lined them all up and researched them on the internet to find out what pieces went with which guy. That is when I realized what a good deal I got. We both found great deals and plan on doing this again, if Matt let's us!

Preston joined the summer reading program at the library and read his first five books! He gets a prize on Monday! I am so proud of him. He is so polite to the ladies at the library. They all get a kick out of him. I took a few pictures of him with the first book he read for the program, it was called "Zoom." It was pretty fitting because it was about a little boy who wanted to ride on the dinosaur roller coaster. It was a pretty good pick since we didn't know there were dinosaurs in it!

Ok, so he won't stand still, but he is holding the book. Preston's new thing when you go to take his picture is closing his eyes and saying "no!"

Cute kid isn't he! I don't know how many pictures I have like this, but I guess this is his thing and someday he'll ask why his eyes were closed tight in every picture and I will remind him of this!

Keeping Busy

The days have been very busy as of lately, not a lot of time to write on our blog! I have friends who do this nightly and write a book each night. I wonder where they ever find the time or the energy to do this! The kids have been doing really well. We signed both boys up for swimming class on Saturday mornings, so our first class is tomorrow. I am really excited to get them involved in this! Preston is doing a reading program at the library. We went twice this week and pick out books to read, for every five we read he gets a prize and at the end of the program if he reads 15 than he will get Peoria Chief Baseball tickets for the family. Preston likes the library, but looses track that we are there to get books not just to play with all the cool toys they have set up! Chase likes to eat all the toys they have! Preston did pick out one book about a dinosaur roller coaster and this has been his favorite so far. I took a picture of him with the book so I will post it later. Yesterday I couldn't help but pick out one girly book called Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. A couple of weeks ago I did a photo shoot for the library tea party and the little girls had Fancy Nancy books read to them. They cracked me up because they always new how to finish the story, "because she's FANCY!" Well of course Preston saw all the bright colors on the book and all the dogs so that was what we read last night. It was super cute and Preston barked at every page! We have met a few other Moms in town who have kids around the same age. This has been a lot of fun for all of us. Today we are going to a play group in the middle of the day, so I get two hours during the day to play with the kids! YEAH!!! Hopefully I will get a few pics of all the kids to post, but I don't want to stand out as the crazy mom who can't put her camera down!

Chase went to the doctor yesterday to check his gums. I noticed the previous night that there was a large bump, bigger than a marble, coming off the top of his gums. It was black and green as it faded toward the top of his mouth. I called the doctor and she said it sounded like molars, but she had never seen a child have that bad of a reaction. For piece of mind I took him to the doctor the next day and her response was, "That's Impressive." She said she understood why I was so concerned. At this point we are going to leave it be and hope it goes down. She is pretty sure there will be no problems, but we may have to go back in a week. Chase has been acting just fine. He is not grumpy nor pulling at his ears. There was not a sign that he wasn't feeling good. He was laying on my lap and yawned when I noticed the black bump in his mouth. It looked worse when I saw it in the doctor's office because she was able to hold him down so I could get a good look at it. It looks awfully painful, but chase is still laughing smiling and being his happy self. We'll keep everyone posted on what is to come with that.