~January 2013~

Alright so I am not going to lie, I'm pretty glad that January is over! Our January consisted of a lot of cold weather and a LOT of sickness! Of course there were definitely some good times too, but man, I can only hope that these sicknesses going around will be passing quickly. My kids are magnets to them! Anyways... here is our life in January, in between sickness.

So first off, Cru has now started eating real baby food! I love when they can finally do that. 

I gave him rice cereal first and lets just say that didn't go over too well.

  I was actually a little worried because after his first taste of it he gagged and wouldn't even open his mouth any more. 

So then after a few days of trying I decided he wasn't going to change his

mind about that stuff so we tried the actual food stuff (like mixed fruit, bananas, etc.)

This time he LOVED it and literally couldn't get enough. 

He loves to eat, and believe me, it shows! haha 

He is a little chunk but he is the cutest! He is about 17lbs now and only 6 months old! ha

So on January 8th of this month my sweet mother turned the big 5.0. My dad planned a surprise party for her and we went down to Pocatello for it. She was very surprised and even though my Mom hates surprises I think she really liked this! Im glad she did, she deserves it! For those who don't know my mom, she is pretty much

THE GREATEST! 

I love her so much and I hope I can be

just like her!

Like I said our January was very cold, so we spent most of our days inside 

Although, we did go play in the snow a couple of times.

Here is some pictures of our normal daily stuff. Nothing too exciting.

Cru found his toes! He sucks on them all of the time. He also has gotten VERY good at rolling and I really have to watch him. He can scoot around on his belly and I am sure he is going to be crawling here soon.

Making Snow angels


Alright here is a little update on us. Cru is now 6 months old. He rolls over all the time and can now sit up all by himself. He is a VERY happy baby. He smiles at everything and he is so cute and fun!
Sophie is 2 and half and is awesome! She has got quite the personality. She can be very shy but as soon as she opens up she is really funny and  cute! She loves kids and really loves nursery. She loves to dance! I can't wait until she is old enough to go to dance classes. She will love it! (I am going to try and put a video on here of her dancing but if I can't figure it out, too bad!)

(she makes up all her own moves, by the way, pretty sweet!)

Nick is really liking his job (most days), but He loves to come home and play with Sophie and Cru. He really is  such a good husband and Dad!
I stay busy with these two kids. I feel like just going to the store is like a whole day production but I love being a mom. I can't even imagine what life was like before having Sophie and Cru. They really are the best!

Christmas (finally)

Now that its February I guess I can do a post for Christmas. Ha I know, I know, I'm the worst! But I really wanted to at least do a little post on Christmas because we had such a great time this year for Christmas! We were busy.. and all over the place, and it consisted of lots of traveling... but it was great! But to save on time here and instead of writing every little thing we did I will just put pictures. (Its just so much easier). So here it goes.

First we had the Bosen Family "Sock Party"! It is probably one of my favorite days of the year because I get to see all my cousins and family that we don't get to see very often! Its always fun! We did a little 

Nativity scene and Sophie played the angel and Cru got to be baby Jesus! 

All the kids looked adorable and loved it!

Then we headed to Burley for Christams with Nick's side of the family!

It is always fun to be there and Sophie LOVES seeing all of her cousins and playing with them! We had a great time there! 

After Burley, we headed to Pocatello for Christmas with my family!

We did our annual "bowling for dollars" and Nick pretty much dominated this year! Woot woot!

We had a great time with my family and it was such a great Christmas!

This year for Christmas Nick and I wanted to do something cool for Sophie so we decided to make her a play kitchen for Christmas! It turned out awesome, and she absolutely LOVES it! 

I think its the best idea we have ever had! haha And we actually had a lot of fun making it.

Christmas was so fun this year! Sophie was to an age where she was really getting into it! We loved being with family and had such a nice time.

We did also get a lot of snow right after Christmas and we had fun playing in it. 

I think it was Sophie's first time actually being out in it and she loves it! (ok she mostly loves eating it). Nick made a snowman with her and she thought that was pretty much the coolest thing ever. It finally just barely melted and she is pretty sad she can't see it any more. Here are a few pictures of our fun in the snow!

December

We got a new camera on the day after Thanksgiving. Its not a super fancy one but I really like it. It was supposed to be my Christmas present but I couldn't wait. So I just wanted to do a little update (mostly with pictures) of what we have been up to for the last month or so.

We have had fun decorating for Christmas, getting Christmas presents, having tea parties, making cookies, painting,  playing, going to see the cows (this is literally in right next to our back yard), playing dress up, and just doing our normal daily stuff. It has been a very busy but fun December.

~Halloween~

We love Halloween, and this year was so fun! ( I have been meaning to do this post for a week or so now but just got pictures... Thanks Natasha!! :) We all got dressed up. I went as a flower, Nick was a bee keeper, Sophie was a butterfly and Cru was a bumblebee! It was fun dressing up!

 Sophie really got into it this year and absolutely loved wearing her costume. She is usually pretty shy about talking to people that she doesn't know but apparently her awesome home-made butterfly costume gave her this new found confidence. In fact even now if someone asks her what she was for Halloween she decides to not be shy and will tell them all about it. Its great!

This year we went to Burley for Halloween and went with Nicks parents and Jono and Natasha's and their kids to their parents trunk or treat. They had a little dinner and a costume parade for the kids. (Sophie was adorable in this and was waving to everyone as she passed by them) Then we did the Trunk or Treat. Sophie and Kyler went together and it was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. They held hands for most of it and would go together to each car and say trick or treat. SO CUTE!!

After the trunk or treat Nick and Jono and Grandma Sue took Sophie and Kyler to a couple houses in the neighborhood. I don't think Sophie ever wanted to stop. She thought it was the best thing ever! We had a lot of fun!
We also went to a pumpkin patch a little before Halloween. It was a really cool little place and it was really fun! Here are some pictures from that. Thanks again Natasha!

My Non-method Method of Potty Training!

Yep that's right! Sophie is officially potty trained!! And let me tell you, it is SO much nicer than having to deal with diapers for her. I went about a whole month having 2 kids in diapers before I decided that it was definitely time to do something about that. I mean, I LOVE changing diapers and everything (riiight), but it gets a little old. So I have actually had a few people now ask me what "method" I used to potty train her, and  so that is why I have decided to blog about. Its just easier.

 Anyways... let me say this first, I checked out all sorts of ways to potty train. I mean pinterest is full of them. You know, like "potty train your kid in a day" or "The best way to potty train is using this..." that kind of stuff. Anyways.. believe me I researched them all, and all I can say is that I'm sure those ways worked for some people but actually for Sophie and me, it wasn't all that hard.

So I call my method "the non-method method" catchy right? :)
This is how it worked... originally I made a little chart that said "Sophie's Potty training Chart" and I wrote the days on it. Then I put some "big girl panties" on her. These were actually training panties. They are nice because they are thicker than normal panties so if they happen to pee in them then it doesn't get all over the floor. (We also got Sophie her own potty chair like 5 months ago that she really thinks is cool.) I then proceeded to tell her how awesome it is to go pee on the potty chair and how if she does then she gets to put a really cool sticker on the really cool chart on the wall. She was very excited about this and totally into it.

So the first day of this went as follows: I gave her lots of stuff to drink that day and then about every 15 to 20 minutes I would ask her if she wanted to try and go potty. She usually would want to try but the first day she didn't really ever go in the potty chair. We had about 2 accidents where she would tell me she had to go, right after she went in the training pants. Two accidents was really all I wanted to clean up that day so I put her back in diapers thinking that maybe she wasn't ready yet. But even though the diaper was on I would still ask if she wanted to try. I think it was the next day that I asked her and she said she wanted to go and this time she actually went! I got so excited that she did it that I think I kinda scared her but then she saw how happy I was and how "fun" it was to put a sticker on the chart that she wanted to do it again. Basically the rest is history as far as peeing in the potty goes. I, of course, would still ask if she had to go and she would tell me yes or no, and If she went then she would get to put a sticker on the "chart". Sometimes I would make her try and go anyways even if she said no. I only had to do that for a couple days though until she could tell when she had to go or not and then she would tell me even if I didn't ask her. (which is the ultimate goal, right?) I was always really proud of her and that made her like to go a lot.

Now this chart that I made basically went to crap. It turns out that 2 year-olds don't really care what day it is that they get to put the sticker on, but just the fact that they get to put a sticker on something. So the "chart" is basically a piece of poster board that she puts stickers on wherever she wants.

Now for pooping or Number 2 as we like to call it. :) This was a little bit harder. She did have a few accidents with this because I could never catch her when she had to go. She would go hide every time she had to go number 2. So after I would find her it would be too late. I kept telling her I had a very special present for her if she went poop in the potty, and she was really excited about that idea but it didn't really seem to help her actually go in the potty. So I would just try and find her before she would go. I did this for a couple days. (She was pretty much totally good with going pee in the potty chair by this time. That really only took like 3 days) and I think this only took about 1 time of catching her right before she pooped and getting her to do it in the potty chair and she was hooked. I was SOOO happy when she did it. I think it almost brought tears to my eyes! She again saw how happy it made me and of course she remembered that she was supposed to get a "special present". The special present can really be anything that they like. I got her a puzzle... from D.I. ... for .50 cents. Best. Idea. Ever! She loved it!

After that first time she was pretty much hooked. She did have a couple more number 2 accidents in the next couple days but after that she did really good. I wouldn't get mad at her for having the accident I would just remind her that we really need to try and do it in the potty chair and to remember how happy it made us when she did. I guess that was enough motivation because it worked, and I can proudly say that she hasn't had an accident in about 3 weeks, And we started this about 4 or 4 and half weeks ago.

So, like I said, this is not really a "method" but it worked for us. She has done so great! All in all it took about 1 and a half weeks for her to get it totally down. It really wasn't bad though. I think the real key is to just do it when they are ready, and I know that it's hard to know when they are, but I think the motherly instincts kind of kick in here and you will probably know.

I did however forget to mention that at night we put pull-ups on her as a precautionary thing but mostly she doesn't ever pee in those. She just  goes to the potty as soon as she wakes up and right before she goes to bed. I don't know how long I will keep using the pull ups for, but it may be a little while longer. I really don't want to clean up her mess from peeing the bed. Maybe i'm lazy... oh well!. ;)
I hope this is helpful to all of you who have asked me about this and also anyone else who needs it. Don't be scared either, I will admit I was a little nervous but it was much much easier than I thought it would be. I am so happy that we did it now and not waited because she picked it up really quickly and is doing great! I'm so proud of her!

See how happy she is!! :) That is the chart behind her. As you can see there is no organization what-so-ever to it!

Cru's Blessing

Alright, I guess I should probably update this thing. I feel like I have all of these things I need to blog about, but I am not going to lie, blogging is not my favorite thing. Mostly because it takes me forever... but I try to hit the main points of interest that go on here in the Barker Family, so that is what I'm going to do.

Since my last blog post we have had a couple things go on. The main event being Cru's baby blessing. We blessed him on September 30th (yes I know that was a month ago!) It was so great! Nick gave Cru a very sweet blessing, and afterwards we had everyone over for lunch. We loved having our families over to our new house and for most of them it was their first time being here. So that was fun to be able to show off our new house and actually have a place that everyone can be in at once and not feel cramped. We feel very blessed to have such wonderful families .

Cru, slept basically the entire time. How awesome is that Tux? I love it!

Sophie was too busy playing and already had taken her dress off by the time we were taking pictures so we never got one with her in it. oops!

Bryson, Mandy, Michelle, and Brady eating lunch

This is my niece Ayla, isn't she such a doll!?

Sophie

Also Cru turned 2 months this month (and yes, he is actually going to be 3 month old next week, like I said, I am a bad blogger) So here are his 2 month stats: Weight: 11 lbs 7 oz. height: 22.25 inches  head circumf.:38.1 cm. So as far as the charts go he is in the 10th percentile for height and head circumference and the 75th for weight. Ha. Basically we have a short chubby little guy. :) and he is the CUTEST!! He has started smiling and it is so cute and he is doing little baby talking sounds a lot more. I love it! Cru is such a good little baby, and we just love having him as part of our family. Sophie has gotten better about being "soft" with him and she really loves to hold him and talk to him.

We also carved pumpkins this week for Family home evening. Jono and Natasha (Nick's brother and his wife) and their two kids did it with us. It was pretty fun, although I think Sophie was pretty ready for bed by the time we got done because she was a grump the lat like 30 min they were here, but other than that it was pretty fun and we are all pretty proud of our awesome pumpkin carving skills. ;)

Mandy is supposed to be pulling the same face as the pumpkin but you cant really tell.