longest month of the year

Okay maybe not technically, but ever since I was a kid I have felt that March has dragged on. Maybe because I was waiting for spring break or maybe it is because spring is just starting to show her face or maybe because it is one of the longer months. Who knows, but yet again I feel her dragging.
I significantly upped my vitamin D intake (like from 400 IU's to 5K IU's a day) and I have been actually feeling better. I noticed last March I was REALLY groggy as there was more light. I had a really hard time getting out of bed and it was awful, but I started feeling it this year and since I upped my vitamin D that groggy feeling has up and gone away. I have even thought about tanning, but I just don't have the motivation. We need to get one of those SAD lamps to sit under all winter ;)
Avery is keeping busy. She is still in her Kindermusik class. We have 1 more month of that and preschool. I did take her to an "Outdoor Preschool" last week that was a lot of fun. They take a little hike, sing songs and roast hotdogs and apples over a fire. It was low tide so they got to see lots of sea stars and other various creatures. I think we will go occasionally over the summer, but it is way up on North Douglas and a good 35 minute drive. I just can't commit to a weekly habit. But, we met some new friends and got some really good ideas. Maybe I can convince a friend of mine up on this side of town to start another outdoor preschool for us "out the road" and "valley" folk. She is on the waiting list for the new preschool gymnastics class in town and I will be going to an open house to check out the preschool we want her to attend next fall. Hopefully, we can get her in. It is really popular and she can't even enroll until she turns 3. So we will see.
Sam's horse work is picking up. With full time at the small animal place and the horse stuff, he is in for a busy busy summer. We meet again with Bicknell next Wednesday and hopefully we can get that show on the road in the next month. I really hope we don't have to wait for May, but there is still some snow on the ground and is still freezing over night. But, we are mid 40's during the day! Soon! We are also still homeless for the month of July. So the plan is to put our stuff in storage and feel around a bit longer, but Avery, Tasha and I may be headed north for a month to stay with my parents. I am putting feelers out and coming back empty handed, but not giving up yet.

the little princess and her "needs"

Apparently princess underwear is a must. How could I say no to this face? She needed more anyway. Too bad I can't get her to put them on her little skinny butt. She is way too busy looking and playing with them.

how is March just a few days away?

I am not really sure where the past month has gone, but it seems to be the trend. Time is just getting faster and life is speeding along. Avery is a full blown little person. Opinions, sentences, continence are just a few of her newest accomplishments.

She has had opinions for awhile, but more recently she has learned that how much power she actually possesses. Which in turn means I have to stick to what I say whether I like it or not. I used to be able to distract her and change her thought process and well now she is just as stubborn as both her mother and father :/

Her sentences have gone from basic 3 to 5 word sentences to full blown run-ons. The kid doesn't shut up actually. She has to point out all likenesses in the whole. wide. world. Everything from "the sky is blue sky high today" to "look Mommy, he has toes JUST. LIKE. ME." or "thank you so much mommy for the new pirate booty because I ate all my other pirate booty thank you so much I love it OPEN IT!"

Potty training is still in progress. I wish I could say she took three days and never had an accident, but not so much. She is doing pretty good and will occasionally tell me when she has to go BEFORE she has gone. I am mostly just reminding and making her go every couple of hours. We usually have <1 accidents a day.

Other than that we are just chillin and waiting for winter to get the heck out of here. One more month I think and things will be warming up and we can get outside more. Then we can get cracking on this house building!

a post bath dance party

Just a Quote I Came Across.

Write about your own experience. By that experience someone else may be a bit richer some day. Read widely of others’ experiences in thought and action – stretch to others even thought it hurts and strains and would be more comfortable to snuggle back into the comforting cotton-wool of blissful ignorance. Hurl yourself at goals above your head and bear the lacerations that come when you slip and make a fool of yourself. Try always as long as you have breath in your body to take the hard way, the Spartan way – and work, work, work to build yourself into a rich continually evolving entity.

- Sylvia Plath

Potty Training...

Avery is a little more than a month in and doing alright. She has great days and some really bad days. I am still having to ask her every couple hours as a reminder. She will occasionally tell me she has to go but it is usually when she has already started to go. Cleaning poop out of panties is not fun and neither are public accidents. Luckily, we have been prepared for everything so far. We are holding off on the night training for now and she sleeps in a pull-up. She is just in our bed too often and I don't want our nice mattress pee peed on ;). She also has this annoying habit of taking all of her toys potty with her and they all must pee first. Sometimes twice. It is really annoying and makes what should be a two minute trip to the toilet last 20 minutes.
I will deal with the occasional poopy panties and ridiculous bathroom antics to be free of the diaper bill!

more of our Juneau adventure

Avery riding Daddy's shoulders!

It has been chilly for the past week or so. Like single digit chilly. The plus side is that the sun has been shining bright and the downside is that it has been downright frigid. I know I can't complain, we could be in the Anchorage area or Fairbanks, but it is still cold and my poor hands are in constant need of lotion. It was finally cold enough for the lakes to freeze. So today we bundled up and headed to Mendenhall Glacier. There were dozens of people out on the frozen lake. We saw everything from ice skaters, skiers, people admiring the glacier ice, dogs having a blast and we even saw a guy on his bike ride right past us on the ice (he had studs of course).

Wilson even found his first porcupine, luckily it was only like 6 quills in his chin and Sam was able to pull them out. He seriously was only out of the car for 5 minutes and he found himself one. I am just glad he didn't cover himself in quills! Sam pulled them out before I could even snap a picture of this first for Mr. Wilson. Dang! Tasha and Wilson were sissies and refused to walk on the ice. They just ran up and down the shore the entire time worried about us. I thought maybe they'd see the other dogs on the ice and get with the program, but no.

Poor Wilson trying to walk on the ice. He didn't make it very far :(



I am always a little nervous walking on ice, but I knew it was safe and Avery did excellent walking on it. Hopefully, her progress on ice skates will be just as good. She knew to march her little marches when she got a little unstable and I even saw her fall and get up the way they teach them at ice skating lessons! The sun is still really low in the sky so it is in your eyes when you take pictures so she is squinting in almost every photo or not looking at all.


Avery didn't want to come off the ice.

A Huge Thank You!

I totally screwed up and forgot to take pictures of Christmas. I cleared off my card and everything and was going to video, but the morning of Sam got frustrated with my camera because he wasn't sure how to start recording and it got sat on a shelf and I completely spaced it. Avery was so cute and so excited. He did get a short video of her on his phone, but that is with him now at work.

I may not have the pictures, but I do have some words. Christmas Eve was wonderful. We went to our friends home for dinner. Jesse and Melissa rent this great little house on Auke Lake about a mile or two away from us. We had a scrumptious pulled pork dish and a rice/sausage dressing (Melissa is from Louisiana and loves cooking Cajun style things). Melissa even provided an activity for Avery! She decorated ornaments with stickers. I think she must have made 6 and hung them all on their tree! They even got Avery a gift, a Mrs. Potato Head! Now we TWO and tons of body parts to go with it! She was so excited. Avery must have sat on Jesse's lap for over and hour playing with him and the toy. So cute, she adores him. At one point I asked if she needed to try and potty and she begged for Jesse to take her. Avery was pooped and dead asleep by the time we got home. So we bypassed the whole "milk and cookies act" and just took her to bed and pulled the gifts out of the room they had been locked in.

Christmas morning Avery was up bright and early and screaming (not happy screams). She woke up in a terrible mood. Honestly, she should have gone back to sleep, but I couldn't settle her down enough to go back to sleep so we were up. We came downstairs and she was SO excited about her dollhouse. She couldn't keep her eyes off of it. She'd open a present and then go back to the dollhouse. She was TOTALLY spoiled. She got some beautiful clothes, lots of movies, a sweet new purse, baby doll accessories, books, a leap pad, play mobile people, a doll house and some new jewelry. I am probably leaving a lot out, but she got a lot and it was all awesome. Huge Thanks to all who made Avery's and our Christmas. Avery was not the only one spoiled. Sam and I made out pretty well too. It was so unexpected and wonderful. Thank you very much for spoiling us as well! It was such a nice surprise to have presents to open. You all are so wonderful to us! The rest of the day was spent eating leftovers, skyping with family, watching football and we went for a nice walk with the dogs. The only thing missing was being physically with family and well SNOW! All our snow had melted all 54.8 inches! Three inches showed up a day late.

Thank you again for all who made our Christmas! Love you all and hope to see you soon!

Even though the water is cold we really do love the beach. I love water, always have and always will. There is just something about seeing is that makes me feel more at home. I had forgotten how much I missed it.

We have been keeping busy with play dates, Kindermusik, swimming, ice skating, turf 4 tots, etc... Our last day of nursery school this year is next week. We are hoping to make another semester of it and we will be starting up a 16 week Kindermusik class in January (BIG Thanks to Grandpa Rick and Gigi for that!)

Sam has been keeping himself busy. He joined a gun club and is on a trap team for the winter. Smith Equine is slow, but that was expected as equine work is slow everywhere in the winter. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a great time with friends and met lots of new great people. Sam's work Christmas party was also a lot of fun. Avery has a growing crush on one of the other Doctors at the practice, "brown Jesse". There are 2 male Jesse's and one is bald and the other has long brown hair. She talks about him often and totally lights up when she sees him. It is pretty funny!

I believe Avery is ready to potty train, so we are going to make a go of it next weekend and the following week. Our normal activities are canceled so we are going to go on lock down and lose the diapers. She has been waking up dry and I have convinced her the past 3 mornings to sit on the potty and she has been successful in peeing in the big toilet each morning. She has started bringing us diapers and wipes to change her when she is wet or poopy. And she is obsessed with a few books that are about potty training and we have really been talking it up.

So Avery's Christmas present to Mommy and Daddy.....NO MORE DIAPERS! I hope it goes as planned ;)

A List of Reasons I Hate the House We are Renting....

1. It grows mold. Now I know this is a common issue of homes in Juneau, but this house has a real talent for this process. The landlord could care less and after 20 calls around the state I gave up because no one knew who could help with "tenant rights and the mold issue".
   
2. The driveway. Steep and long. It is a real bitch to shovel.
3. The leaky roof. The landlord has "fixed" this issue several times and it just keeps leaking.
4. The rock floor entry. I had my first slip today and was lucky I didn't break my wrist.
5. The odd smell that has arisen. I have looked everywhere for a dead shrew or mouse with no luck. It smells like sewage and seems to be getting stronger. We will see what the landlord wants to do about this.
6. No yard. This I could honestly deal with, but just another thing that bothers me.
7. Lack of garage. Well, there is a garage, but it houses the landlords collection of junk. With all the snow we have gotten it would be nice to have some covered parking. I am just whining ;)
8. The neighbors. The must be on stimulant drugs because they just don't sleep.
9. The lack of hot water run to the washer. I miss using cloth diapers and I need to be able to wash with hot water to clean them.
10. The odd placement of light switches.
11. The crazy landlord.
12. The carpet in one of the bedrooms reeks of cat urine.
13. A large number of walls are made of unfinished wood. This makes it really hard to clean.

I could go on and on and on...but those a just a handful of reasons that I am counting down until May 31 when our lease is up.