Crackter

Tyrel is so silly. He may look like Stephen's side of the family, but he certainly gets his goofy-ness from my side. The first day we were potty training, before I had ever put his undies on him right, I put them on his head and sent him to show his daddy. After that we just always put them on him correctly. Well the other day I was trying to put his undies on him after he went potty, and he pushed them away and said "No. Hat" and pointed to his head. So I put them on his head and sent him on his way. He got embarrassed and wanted to put them on right after I took his picture though.

The picture where he is sitting on Tommy's lap, well, that is his new silly thing. He gets real stiff all over, and starts shaking his hands and making that silly face. It always gets a laugh. I can't help it. It is so cute.

Goat Rider in The Sky

...no wait, that was something else.

When I took Tyrel out to the barn to let him watch the kids do their barn chores, he thought it would be fun to catch a ride on a baby goat.

One Year.

I had to go look when I started my blog when my friends the Zesch's said they just had their one year anniversary of blogging. I didn't realise it had been so long. I just knew I started mine very soon after they started theirs. With my mom and brother following closely behind.
Wow, I can't think of anything to say. Congrats for making it through a year of my ramblings and less than photographer grade pictures. It's been a good way to keep my parents up to date with Tyrel, but really if you don't know us, its prolly pretty boring.
Well anyways, I need to go finish laundry and dishes.

Who Ever Said Potty Training Is Hard?

Tyrel has really taken to potty training. Only the third day into potty training and he has come to me several times to let me know he needs to potty! The first time was yesterday afternoon, it was a little late, as pee was running down his leg, but he had tried!
Then last night after we went home to go to bed, I put a diaper on him. Well we ended up watching a movie instead of going right to bed, and I left the diaper on him. TWICE he came and let me know he needed to potty, so I took him, and both times he went. I was VERY proud of him.
I still have to keep a timer and take him every so often, as he doesn't always come to me and let me know, but he is doing so much better than I had expected for only 3 days into this. He is such a big boy!

Four Years.

Four years ago this month I was in Ohio visiting family. Building a fort on my Grandma Arlene and Grandpa Jack's property with my brothers and cousins. I was 19 years old and 2 months away from getting married.

While I was there my mother in law to be got a much waited for call from CPS. They had a sibling group of 3 that needed a place to stay. They were legal risk...as in the parents still had some rights..but it wasn't likely they would keep those rights. The kids had been in and out of foster care all of their lives. Did my inlaws want to take them and foster to adopt?

YES!

Since I was in Ohio I did not get to go with them to meet the kids, but I went to walmart and bought them each a toy, and prayed.

When I got back I met 3 tough/scared looking kids. Like they were tough on the outside, but scared on the inside. They had been rejected so much in their lives. They couldn't get too close too fast to these people. I mean, who knows how long or short a time they would be at THIS place.

Over the last four years I have got to see my new little sisters and brother grow from those scared kids to maturing young ladies and man. It has been trying, full of love, full of tears and lots of battles. You would not believe the amazing Godly children they are becoming.

Since then we have added one more face to the family this past fall. A new sister whom we are getting to see new growth in, in the same ways.

I can't find a picture from those first couple of days, here is one from a couple months after we got them.

Last Month, right after S's adoption was final.

Tyrel

Well Tyrel isn't quite 20 months yet, but he will be in less than a week. So I guess this can count as his 20 month post.

He really is getting so big. I can't believe what a skinny boy he is compared to the fat little baby he just was not too long ago.

He has started talking some. He is good at trying to repeat words. Today he has been trying to say "apple" which ends up sounding like "at-ee". He will also say "baw" (ball). He has a little book we have been looking at with the letters of the alphabet and a picture with it, which is where he got apple and ball. When he sees the dog or cat in it he just says "woof". He calls Stephen either Da or Papa. I am Mom. Sometimes I can get him to say Mama, but he prefers Mom. He also calls Nola Mom. That is okay with me, but I want him to know who she will really be to him so I will correct him and say either "That is Grandmother" or "Granola". Today when I corrected him he looked at me and said "Gram-mer". So I guess he is getting it.

While we were in Arkansas visiting my family at the beginning of the month he was being silly and trying to lick me. When he kinda got me on the cheek he sat back real proud of himself and plain as anything said "I got a kiss". It was very cute. Also while we were there my mom asked him how many brothers he was going to have, and he said "Seven". So we will find out I guess. He never would say how many sisters, and just to make sure that didn't mean no sisters I asked him if he would have any sister and he nodded yes. It was cute.

I guess the big news right now is that we started potty training today. Some may say it is a little early, but it is going well so far. I just have to untrain him what he has always known, which is going in a diaper. He has peed 2 or 3 times in the potty today and pooped once. TMI for some I know. He had gone in his undies 4 times I think, but like I said, that has always been okay before now.

I would just really like for him to be potty trained before the next baby is born. Or at least well on his way to it. It does encourage me that my MIL had her oldest potty trained by the time Stephen came along, and they are closer in age than Tyrel and this baby will be. By about a month or two I think.

I think the hardest thing for me so far, even more than taking Ty potty every 3 to 12 minutes today is not getting him all the way dressed. I just really don't want to change his pants several times a day while we work on this, so he is only wearing a shirt and undies. I just have always dressed him when we get up in the morning, so it is hard to see him running around half nakey.

Well anyways, here are some pictures of his half nakey self. Oh and one of him gnawing on a rib bone the other day.

Getting on his 4 wheeler

Hey son, thats not the way to get on a chair

MMMM, good eatin'

A compliment

Today I was at the pens where Stephen keeps his big truck, while he fixed some lights on his trailer. My BIL and niece were there also. My niece had shunned me after Tyrel was born, 4 /5 year old jealousy I suppose. So anyways, this was the first time she had really talked to me since Tyrel was born. She followed me around chatting as I watched Stephen work. We checked on Ty who was sleeping in the pickup "Just in case he's woke up now". I think she is starting to like him too.
Anyways, when she and I were going to start Stephen's big truck for him, she said "Did you know you are really nice?" So I said thank you, I try to be. Then she asked "Do you ever spank Tyrel?" LOL, I guess she thought really nice people might not spank their kids when they need it. I told her yes I do when he needs it.

So anyways, it is nice to know I am nice. That is right up there with some of what I consider the best compliments I have ever received. One other my brother Tommy said that I might be one of only very few people who could smile long enough to have my picture taken a long time ago...you know those really old pictures where people always look grumpy because it took hours for the picture to take back then and you had to stay perfectly still. So I took that to mean I am a smiley person, which makes me happy. I like smiley people.

Pictures to make up for the last post.

More of God's handiwork.

Muddy Toesies.

Not much to say

I just felt like posting. I don't really have anything in particular to post about I suppose. I am on a computer that doesn't have my pictures on it so I can't even put pictures to entertain you. You'll have to be happy with words.
My little man is getting so big, I can't believe he will be 2 by the time the baby is born. He has started sort of talking. The majority of it is Tynese, but I can understand things now and then.
He likes to wave at trucks, and says BYEEE almost as good as his Uncle Ben who started that whole thing in our family. (One time when our oldest brother was visiting when I still lived at home, he kept saying he needed to leave and then would get to talking about something again, so Ben(about 15 or 16 at the time) followed him around saying "BYE" over and over til he finally left. He wasn't really trying to run him off, just being an annoying loving brother.)
I have lots of things I could be working on. Several sewing projects I would like to do, but I somehow end up over at my in laws' most of the time instead.
I also need to order some seeds for our garden. I have almost ordered them a couple times, but other things seem to need to be bought first. If I buy them this month (which I really need to) then I probably can't get my clogging shoes yet. I would like to get those because I am borrowing the ones I use from one of the ladies in my clogging group and I don't want to keep them too long. I was also hoping to go to Waco to a clogging festival type something or other, I don't know what it is, and get my shoes there, but I am not sure if I will. Several things need to work our right for me to get to go. It isn't a big deal or anything though.

Well anyways, I can't seem to think of anything else to ramble about, Have blessed day...week...month...year...lifetime.

Wooo

I am excited! I felt the baby move! With Tyrel every little tummy grumble or anything I thought maybe it was the baby. Now having done this once before I had no doubt. I just love that feeling. I guess I really should get around to calling my midwife, as she doesn't even know I'm pregnant yet.

Home on the Range

Here I am back at home in Texas. I went up to DFW to visit my mom on last Tuesday, who was coming down from Arkansas to visit Grandma Rose. Well I suppose I wasn't JUST going to visit mom, but she was my excuse for going.

I had a fun time hanging out with Mom and Grandma, and visiting my brother Chris' family. Oh and Sam and Dan, my little brothers that came with mom.

On Tuesday night my cousin went into labor and had a little girl early Friday morning. That was up in Oklahoma, so mom, the twins and I took off for Oklahoma to see my new little niece that my brother and his wife are adopting from our cousin. Her name is Nickole.

We stayed and visited for a while and then decided to head to Arkansas Friday night instead of staying in Bill's house all alone.

I didn't do much in Arkansas, just visited with dad and Ben in addition to mom and the twins. Wow, I got to see all of my family (parents and brothers) on this trip, that doesn't happen often anymore. Well I guess I didn't see Tommy until I got home.

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This morning MJ was teaching Tyrel to be a bronc rider on his wooden horse. Keep that arm up cowboy.