It's a new beginning

Hey friends and family!

We have something to tell you! Nope, we're not pregnant! We've moved...... to a new place on the web. It's redesigned, more organized, complete with video, pictures, updates on the girls, us and everything about our lives as the Tidds. Please come join us in our new space as this site won't be updated anymore. We'd love to have you! There you'll find an info post on what's new on the site so you can navigate it easier: www.thetiddbits.com.

Love to you all!

GCAI

February flew by!

All is well at the Tidd house - we're in the midst of changing places for our blog, how it's going to be laid out, new features where Gary and I can talk about how we manage our finances, parenting, house projects, technology and of course, the girls. It'll be a place where if Anna goes into her room, gets her little chair, brings it into Izzy's room in front of her crib where she's found waking up from her nap and Anna saying "hi sweeeetttheart" and pats Izzy's little fuzzy head, I can put that in there without having to update about everyone. Or if Izzy learns how to say "no" and shakes her head while saying no, I can put that in there too. Or if Gary's killing it on the treadmill, shedding some pounds and trimming out his studly body, I can put that on there (or he can if he's feeling prideful that day). Or if I run 2 miles straight and finish a 5k on the treadmill in 47 minutes, something I never ever ever thought I'd say I'd try, let alone do. It'll be more short stories, funny things we don't want to forget, milestone in our debt free lifestyle or a flat tire. It'll be there. So hold tight friends and family, we'll be back bigger and better... hopefully sooner than later. These little girls keep us busy and staying healthy, just the same. So bear with us while we design and build our new site.

The girls are doing well. We have a bought of pneumonia with Izzy last weekend that ended her in the ER, having a hard time breathing. We got a nebulizer and she started to sound a lot better. I called her a gremlin baby the way she was breathing and talking. Poor thing, now she's back to her temper tantrum, cuddly self (oxy-moronic, yes, but true). The woman who cares for our girls during the day says she has red roots somewhere in there. I don't doubt her one bit. Anna's growing a lot. Growing in her height as her jeans no longer need to be rolled up or pinned. Her hair is still thin but growing quite long. Her vocabulary continues to increase daily. We constantly have to remind ourselves that her pronunciation and comprehension of words is high but she's still 2 and still acts 2. Both these girls give us grey hair, but they bring more joy to our lives that we could ever have imagined. Their squishy hugs and dimples, Anna running around yelling "naked baby" after bath and Izzy swaying to the music of her books. We're certainly blessed and try not to forgot that everyday.

The parentals are holding their own, itching for the spring weather to come full force. We're working 2-3 days a week with running on the treadmill or swimming in the pool, continuing our journey of training for the 5k run in May, losing weight and getting fit. I joked at the Dave Ramsey show we went to a couple weeks ago, "Our kids will always think of us as rich and thin!" Hehe. I hope so. Work continues to be busy for both us and side work is a steady stream of projects. So many other things we're working on at the house and in our lives that we can't wait to share about them more in our new blog.

Hope this finds you all well, readying yourself for spring cleaning, gardening and sunshine!

Love,
Gary, Christie, Boog and Squeaky

Isabella's Big Day!

Isabella turns the Big One!

Miss Izzy had 2 big day's as her birthday fell on hump day. So we sent her off to Miss Michelle's house with yummy cupcakes and a big squishy hug. We made, what we would call her favorite meal, spaghetti and garlic bread. Both the girls scarfed it down and have the red 'stash to prove it. I picked up Itzy Bitz ice cream (those space agey ice cream balls) for dessert and again, in-hailed. Being #2 in the line up, we're filled to the gills with toys and hand me down clothes, so I picked up a few Izzy specific things for her gifts: a scoot around puzzle, small board board, a bucket for all her little treasures and her favorite, sunglasses all of which Anna claimed as her own. :) So for a small birthday celebration, she had a great day!

The big party was partied on Saturday. We kept it simple with pulled pork and beef sandwiches, fruit and jello salad with cupcakes and ice cream to top it off. We decorated in red balloons and giant snowflakes with a teal snowflake cake to share and a her own chocolate cake with red and white frosting which I think she loved. :) She was gifted a whole new wardrobe, some toys and books. She, again, had a great time with all the paper and new exactly how to open presents (Christmas was just a warm up). We had a great time with family and Izzy crashed after her sugar high. What a fun first birthday!

Slacker..... Christmas Part II

Yes, it's true. I've given myself the title of slacker for the moment, but!... I'm trying to change or really just get back to my more consistent blog posts. Poor Izzy, her life isn't near as chronicled as Anna's has been. Such is the life of a 2nd born I suppose.

Since Christmas is long gone, I'll give a more brief snapshot of the rest of the holiday with the Tidd's. The morning of Christmas we spent in sweatshirts and socks as the power decided to take the holiday off as well. The "big" gifts was a new slide for the basement and a table and chairs for Anna's room. The highlights for Anna was the 6 pack of chapstick and her new monkey watch. Izzy loved her new little duckies. Gary and I decided to get a Wii and not have anything to open on Christmas. I don't mind joint gifts at all, but I missed the excitement of the gift giving, things I found that Gary would like. So next year we'll mix it up a little again. We headed to Gary's parents for the rest of the day where we opened gifts with the family and extended family. It was followed up with a delicious meal! New Years weekend we spent in Chicago with my family. New Year Eve we met up with old friends and had a great time! The next day, we all were in town together and had a great time opening gifts, having Anna help everyone open, Izzy just enjoying all the paper and just having a fun time being together. All in all, Izzy had a great first Christmas and I'm sure the girls will really enjoy Santa following them to Chicago and back and having 2 Christmas'. Who wouldn't!? :)

Christmas 2009 Part 1

Happy 2010! We had a great, but cold and snowy December. Before I begin, here are the latest pictures of happens around the Tidd House. Izzy was able to experience her first Christmas and seemed to love it. Definitely different having Izzy at almost 1 year old experience the holidays than we did with Anna being just over 2 months old. Anna certainly understood the meaning of presents and that she felt entitled to open almost everyone's gifts whether they liked it or not. She recognized Santa everywhere and loved seeing "mish mish" trees outside and at home.

We spent Christmas in Michigan this year. Christmas Eve we had a mid-day dinner and hoped to go to the early service at church but very icy roads and 2 sleepy girls, kept us from going. Gary and I braved the roads to get to the late service to do nursery. We opened up stockings with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sheila. After Anna emptied her stocking, she moved on to the rest of ours helping us unwrap and showed off the goods. We finished up the night watching some of Polar Express on the big screen in the basement. Anna was intrigued for moments at a time, but I think as the years go by, they'll love this tradition. Izzy, of course, snuggled mostly.

Christmas Day we woke up at about 6am to the click of our power going off. Any slightly severe weather seems to knock us out. About 7am found us all in bed realizing that this may be the last year the girls are clueless as to the bounty that lies on the floor below. So we all bundled up in sweatshirts, pants and socks and followed Daddy downstairs with the video camera. Anna was thrilled with the new slide for the basement and then discovered a table and chairs where she remained to open the rest of the gifts. Izzy enjoyed the toys that fit snuggly in her hands and climbing the slide. The most loved things Anna got..... a 6 pack of her very own chapstick. She could have put it on all day if we didn't snag it. Gary and I decided to not do gifts this year and buy a Wii as a joint gift. I really like the Wii so far but I really missed the giving of hunted down treasures and little keepsakes this year. So think we'll figure out a better mixture of next year's festivities. Just as I was thinking "it's starting to get cold in here" I heard a click. The furnace! Thank you Consumers Energy people to coming out on Christmas morning so we can be warm. We promptly got ready to spend the day with Gary's family. We had a wonderful dinner and opened up more gifts.

To Be Continued very soon......

Only 10 more days!

I'm currently working on our Christmas card and hoping to not break my record of December 21st and getting it finished this weekend and out! Meanwhile, you can check out the latest girly girl photos here and if you want a little more Tidd, check out our video page here.

Hope this finds you filled with peace and joy, with all your cookies baked, presents bought and travel plans arranged!

Love,

Gary, Christie, Anna and Izzy

Where did November go?

Well, I apologize for my delinquency. For whatever reason, I've put this blog to the back burner but have plans to revive it now and at the start of the new year. Here's a run down of how the Tidd's are fairing this late fall.

Izzy: She is 10.5 months now! We had her 9 month check up where she was over 10 months by then and she tipped the scales at 18 lbs. 2 oz. and about 27" long. She's in the 25% for her weight and height but her head is in the 95%. The first time a Tidd girl got anything in the 95th percentile! She's an eater, she'll eat as long as we give her food. Well in recent days, she starts to sweep her hands rapidly over her food, letting it fall to the floor. We consider that done. She'll eat anything we give her from fish, steak, chicken, broccoli, any fruit and crackers. Almost done with that darn baby food! We thought she'd never have any teeth at this rate, but just last night I felt a little pearly white poking through. I only swept my finger in her mouth because she was doing that "theres something that's different with my mouth b/c my tongue keeps flicking it" movement that I remember Anna doing. So finally, she cut her first tooth as of November 30! For a couple months already she's been standing on her own, more recently walking around furniture and repelling only one step to something else. But last night, yes another milestone, she took her first few unassisted steps! Again, I thought she might lolly-gag and wait till after she turned 1 but she may just beat her sister out with only a week or so to spare in the walking department. She also learned how to climb the stairs last week. I guess I would say, another milestone, but I could have gone awhile yet before she figured that one out.

Story: Gary and Anna were racing their cars down our long hallway from the stairs into the kitchen one night. As with most events not originally featuring Izzy, she found her way over to them near the stairs. Gary and Anna were playing and Gary just so happened to turn to catch Izzy falling from the 3rd stair! What a little stinker! So we let her climb both sets to stairs to declare her victory.

She's becoming quite the character. She'll scream with Anna, jabber on and on by herself or in sister language, she'll race over to snatch the toy of the minute from Anna only to find herself tackled or poked or hit by Anna followed by a trip to timeout stair. Oye. She smiles the biggest goofiest smile and lays her head on your shoulder (awww...!). She whips her head around from side to side so she won't miss a thing. I'll have to snag a video of that someday - too funny! She'll even wave on command now. The whole clapping thing.... nahhh.... She needs tricks to pull out later.

I can't believe in less than 2 months she's going to be 1! What an unexpected surprise she was to us and we can't imagine her not in our family anymore.

Anna: Our little 2 year old. Two. Wow. We have a 2 year old. Where did all that time go? It wasn't that long ago that it was just Gary and I. Now we have 2 kids in less than 2 years! Crazy. Anyway, Ms. Banana is developing so many words, phrases and sentences every day. She says words I didn't even know she knew. And she says them with such clarity! She puts a person (Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Alex, Papa) with a feeling (hurt, fall, read, eat) and a thing (leg, book, chicken). When we're driving down the road, something that happened months ago pops into her head and start rattling off who was there, what happened, what she saw, etc. Her stats are 35" tall and about 25 pounds. Her head is in the 75th percentile and the rest, you guessed it, the 25th. So Gary and Christie make giant headed baby girls. :)

Story: Driving home one day, she said Munga (grandma) hurt leg. Munga fall. I wasn't with when this happened, but a few weeks back they all went out for dinner and Grandma fell outside. And she remembered that. She also remembers that she bit someone. "Bite Jayden. Anna timeout. Anna naughty timeout chair." Not the best thing to recollect but she did. :)

She likes to tattle on Izzy. "Mommy.... Izzy touch." I tell her I'll take care of it and walk over to where Izzy is (by the receiver near the TV) and Anna's going "No no Izzy!" with a firm voice like we do. Oh boy. She loves music and loves to sing. She sings herself but loves it when "Mommy sing Jesus" or "Daddy sing spider" which sounds more like farmer. She sings along or fills in the word. She bops her head to music anywhere and sometimes she gets us all to dance together.

She loves to wear hats, mittens and shoes when they are laying around. She loves "runnin'" around in circles. She still loves reading and the occasional puzzle. She still would rather eat fruit all day long if we let her.

She's had a couple milestones of her own. First, we converted her crib into a big girl bed just over a week ago. The front part of the crib comes off and the little half rail takes it's place. We bought her new sheets and a comforter to go with it. She took to it just fine but doesn't care for all the covers quite yet. We don't think she knows she can get out of bed on her own yet as we haven't heard extra playtime post 8pm but only time will tell. Her second milestone is that we started potty training again. Ding ding ding, round 2. Our daycare provided felt she was very ready and wanted to feel it out last week and she did so well that we continued it over the holiday weekend. She had a few accidents here and there, but overall she's really doing well! No tantrums when we bring her to go potty every half hour, will actually try to go and not just say all done like she had been doing this summer. She's still in diapers for nap and bed but that's fine by us! Our goal is have her completely trained by Christmas! Merry Christmas mom and dad. :)

Parents: We are totally enjoying being parents. We get to see daily what strides they made that day, their new actions or words, being more confident in something they struggled with a week ago, their sicknesses (which is the worst) and their joys. We are blessed with beautiful little girls who keep us moving and keep us wanting to be better parents, a better couple and better individuals.

Our jobs are going well. Certainly very busy all things considered, so for that we are very thankful. We're in the process of cleaning out the basement some more and getting ready for trim and doors hopefully in the next few months. We (well I) am ready for it to feel a little more put together and a place for all of us to be. I have a lot of crafty/home projects I want to work on so maybe with the slow down of side work for the time being, I can fit that in.

We've also both taken to a newer, healthier lifestyle. Back story: Gary went in for his yearly once over with Dr. D. and finally did his bloodwork that he had set up since last year this time. Well it came back with his cholesterol a little high (which runs in his family) and his triglycerides quite high. This kind of hit Gary realizing that maybe what he thought was healthy wasn't so healthy. So when Gary gets something in his head, he runs with it. Literally. :) I've been trying to get him to do some working out or something active for awhile and was always quite tired at night. So with this news, we changed almost instantly. We bought all new food with a ton more fruit and vegetables as snacks instead of packaged anything. We started packing really good hardy sandwiches, baked chips, tons more water and lots of exercise! Gary started working out at Calvin 3 days a week with plans for a family workout on Saturdays. I've been doing a class at GVSU once a week since the semester started but needed more if I was going to drop the weight too. So I started working out at home and I have plans to join the gym very soon to keep up with Gary and his mid-day workouts that I can't do. We're inspired each year by the Biggest Loser but this year really hit us both. For me, being a mom now, things hit me like they never have before and I want to be the fun mom, who plays with her kids and can climb stairs without being winded. I didn't want to be the mom who sat on the couch for her kids to come play near me. For Gary, he knows there are some things that run in his family that need to be addressed now, to stop being so tired at night and to just be more active. So far, Gary's down about 10 pounds from his average weight, but 5 pounds down from when we weighed in first. I'm down 3.5 pounds since our first weigh in and have never known to be this low ever! So we're very excited about what we're doing together, individually and for our family. We're getting ready to start our blog to document our progress and a whole host of other things.

We hope this finds you full from Thanksgiving and thankful for all the many blessings and preparing for the most spirit-filled and joyous time of the year!

Love to all,
Gary, Christie, Anna and Izzy

In the meantime....

While I whip up a new post, here are some pictures for you to enjoy of the girly girls this fall. Check out the side bar for new videos!

This fall!

Love to you all!

Gary, Christie, Anna and Izzy

She's 2: Two under 3 begins!

Get all the latest photos here!

Fall is in full swing here in West Michigan. Where did the summer go or even fall for that matter? It's gotten down into the 20's some nights with a fresh layer of frost greeting us the next morning. Needless to say, the orange impatiens I left out front have gone to mush and my tomato plant couldn't take the cold anymore.


We visited the local farm a couple weekends ago to gather the harvest of fresh hot spiced donuts, cold apple cider and our hoard of pumpkins. Earlier in the day, it was beautiful and sunny, somewhat "warm". I dressed Anna in a long sleeved shirt and hooded sweatshirt and soon found out that wasn't the best idea. Soon followed the runny nose and red cheeks, oh yeah, blue lips. I felt like I won the "worst mom of the year" award at that moment. But the trooper that she is, kept plugging away at the coloring pages, hay piles, barrel rides and the "spitty rain" wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. I guess to compensate for my failure in Anna's attire, Izzy sat snuggly in her car seat, warm clothes, sweater and her blankie piled high. We did have an enjoyable time when we were there, just wished we waited a week. :)













This past weekend we celebrated Anna's 2nd birthday! We had a fun little party with family and close friends. Anna was greeted from her nap with 25 people looking at her, so she was a bit shy at first. But soon she saw her loot and was quite happy in helping daddy pick out which one to open next. She made out with a ton of new winter clothes (thank you family!), lots of art supplies/crafty projects and lots of Cars stuff (favorite movie these days). I, as usual, wanted to try something new and a little time consuming for the birthday treat. Enter cake pops!











They took a while to get the hang of but boy were they good and big hit! We had a lot of fun seeing family and friends again and glad they could be a part of Anna's big day.












Miss Isabella is certainly holding her own and making sure she's a part of everything Anna does. She crawls with great speed, pulls herself up on anything (picture getting ready for work and the wee little one holding on to your leg to stand) and certainly loves being in the daddy/Anna wrestling action.

Here's a story of the week. Place: Main floor of our house. Time: After dinner, daddy's gone. Izzy: In the kitchen with me, unloading the dishwasher. Anna: Living room wanting to sit by the table and color. Me: Hears Anna's cries for help (yes, everything to her is dramatic) to sit in her rocking chair by the table with her paper and box of crayons. I go to help her get situated and leave Izzy in the kitchen. This is what I see when I return to the kitchen:


So that's a good visual of Izzy's personality thus far. What a stinker!











For the last few weeks, I've been going to a Kickfit (think Tae Bo but with a bunch of skinny college girls) on Wednesday nights and it's been awesome! I've been so inspired that I've been trying to do one work out at home with Gary! It was fun the one time we did it and hope to make more of a habit doing it. Hehe. :) I was on Weight Watchers for a year and a half before I got pregnant for Anna and lost about 45 pounds. I've been able to maintain that and a little more through both girls and now that we have the pregnancy thing under control, I'm trying to get back to working out more. It's hard doing it on your own so I'm glad I have Gary on board somewhat and my friend and I are doing the class together - one step closer! :)

Our jobs have been crazy busy in the last few weeks - job security! Close to wrapping up some side work - yes, this is really going to happen this time! Yay! Doors and trim, here we come. But over all, we're doing well. No one has been too sick as of yet, we get to wear sweaters (!) and we're moving in to the holiday season (I still would like to know what happened to summer). We can't complain a whole lot - no one would listen anyway. :)

Here's to a wonderful but rainy and cold weekend!
Love to you all,

Gary, Christie, Little One and Wee Little One

Where have we been?!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I touched this blog. So sorry followers! We are still alive and kicking, I promise! Here's pictures of late summer fun!

The month of September has come and gone. The Lord gave us a little summer after school was back in session and now we're seeing the leave start changing beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red. The air has a little bit of humidity and little bit of a nip to it. The honeycrisp apples are eaten like candy and the canning of peaches already took place. The making of plans for a trip to the orchard and preparing for Anna's 2nd birthday party are underway. This year has flown by and probably won't stop there.

Nothing terribly exciting going on in the Tidd house. Izzy started full fledged crawling and is everywhere now. We started giving her some table food along with her baby food and is handling it really well (no gagging episodes as we experienced with Anna way too many times). She says "mamamama", "babababa" and "dadadada", but not really putting them with what they are yet. She's taking a lot of mental notes while watching big sister run around the house and gearing up to take over eventually. She continues to be our little cuddle bug as this week she got the flu and stayed home with mom and/or dad for a few days. She enjoyed napping on us and maybe got too used to it as naptime in her own room was a struggle from time to time. She loves being kissed on her cheeks and just melts right into you. Her hair is getting longer and she looks like such a little person now. 8 months old already! Crazy how big she is now - about 16.5 pounds (with wet diaper). Still a peanut by many other baby standards but smart as a whip. :)

Miss Anna still tries to rule the roost with her pleas of "ouchy" even when the said "ouchy" is a week old or barely there or her need to watch "Cars" everyday. It's gotten to the point where Gary and I analyze the movie, like what's the names of the sports cars or was the way McQueen headed back to find Mac actually the right way? Oh my. Well we had such a positive first week of potty training and it ended another week later with Gary and I barely thinking or talking about anything else other than what we were doing wrong that she stopped telling us and just going in her pants or when she was going to pee next. It was the most frustrating things we've gone through as parents (I'd take a screaming infant over PT anyday)! So we asked her if she wanted to go back into diapers and she let a clear "yes". We felt defeated and like failures for awhile. At first she wasn't sure about the diaper again but she soon was fine with it once again. Then she started saying potty again and she'd go! Then we went to not telling us or saying dry when we knew she was pushing. And now we're slowly getting back to her staying potty to us and she's associating going potty with a cookie now, so at least she's starting to get it and doing it! She's also starting to talk is almost sentences, associating what is hers and other people things, being more specific like we have a van and a car, instead of just car or mommy's or daddy's. She sings her ABC's almost fully and such a joy to hear her little voice sing it (note to self, video that!). She likes mommy to sing all the Bible songs in her little lullaby book along with the never ending song of "The Wheels on the Bus". She's starting to say names very clearly, her "s" are very clear and she just started putting the "n" on the end of things that were once a little airy.

The two of them together is only something sisters know. They both get excited when they see each other in the morning. Anna shares her blanket with Izzy from time to time. She wants to help feed and burp her on occasion, too. Izzy follows Anna's every move from stair climbing to hoisting herself up on near her chair. I can only imagine the bond they will create with eachother as the years go on.

We are doing well in our own right. Certainly we are busy with dinner plans, running errands, housework and of course, keeping up with the girly girls, but we are happy, healthy, fed, clothed and warm. What more could you ask for? These girls teach us to slow down sometimes and just cuddle, to involve them in bigger things, to take in their soft baby skin and their little hands and feet, to be better parents, to be a better couple and to love more than you know you can love. It's certainly amazing what happens each day in our family when you look at it, we just have to slow down or stop and take it in because before we know it, they'll be flitting off to college.

I'll post more of what's going on with us soon, but since it's been a month I figured an Anna and Izzy update was the most important. :)

7 Years

Crazy how long 7 years goes by and yet the thoughts and memories seem like just last week. Crazy how much one can grow, physically, mentally, spiritually in just 7 years. Where once we were young adults or just a teenager trying to make sense of it all to being home owners, parents, college grads and newlyweds.

7 years ago this morning, I got that awaited phone call from dad telling me the Lord took her home that morning. It was about 3 weeks that I knew that phone call would come, but knowing didn't ease the heartache that would follow that day. That now her body would be lowered and her spirit would soar. Not for us to see anymore, but only relive in our memory, in pictures, in stories, in beautiful quilts.

Those feelings I felt that day only sneak in when I least expect it now. Only a handful of times. God has never left our side, from the day we found out it was leukemia to this very day, he has sustained us through the hard times and has given us hope, strength and love despite it all. Hope knowing that we'll all be where she has been celebrating for 7 years and knowing love can be found through brokenness. Strength when thoughts of childbirth and pregnancy are scary because you feel alone or when you wonder how he feels in those moments he feels a need to talk to her. Love in knowing you were loved by her, with all her being, knowing we are still loved, love that's shared and passed down.

Thank you for giving all of us that, mom. Someday, we'll tell you all about it. But for now, know that we're doing awesome.

Love and miss you.

Potty Training Success!

So I am making and breaking records this year with my blog posting. I typically only post when major events happen in my / our lives. This being my 3rd post of the year means that we have now had 3 major events in our lives to date.

1. Isabella born 1-13-09
2. Frank Hall passes 4-19-09
3. Anna becomes free from the bonds of the diaper! 8-23-09

Yup that’s right Anna is no longer bound by diaper, she is officially a big girl who uses the potty! Christie and I spent the last 3 days in an intensive effort to potty train 22 month old Anna.

A few months back Christie came across a link to an online book titles 3 Day Potty Training. We began to do research at that point to see if the product was what it said it was. We found that the system while similar to some popular methods advertized for free, it had some aspects to it that made Christie and I believe it was worth the money.

After spending 3 days using the method I can assure you that it is worth every cent. My sister who has her bachelor’s in early childhood development read the book (we were allowed to send her a copy of the PDF because she closely assisted us with training Anna today). Her take on the method was that it made a lot of sense and it did not surprise her that the system worked as advertised.

The basic gist of the method is to switch to big girl panties / big boy underwear and never turn back. The system teaches you how to turn accidents into positive learning experiences. By the end of the book the author has taught you how to potty train your toddler by being patient, consistent, loving and wholly devoted to just that task for 3 days.

Saturday morning we got up and changed Anna’s diaper (giving her the last clean diaper she would ever have.). We then got ready for the day, took showers – ate breakfast and began the day late but totally relaxed and ready for the task.

At around 10:00 A.M. or so we got down on Anna’s level, looked her in the ye and told her, “you are going to wear big girl panties now and go potty on the toilet! Anna, you are such a big girl now!”. From there we took off her diaper, put her in panties and never looked back.

We began pumping her with liquids (ok – not pumping, but we had a sippy cup ready and waiting at all times – the more liquid going in – the more opportunities to sit on the potty!). We also began asking her to remember to tell us if she needed to go to the potty, we did so a million times over, to the point where she began to ignore us, but that was the point. We wanted this to be so ingrained in her head that telling us became habit. We also kept asking her if she was dry, each time she answered us we would praise her for being a big girl.

It was not perfect form the start but we had no illusion that it would be. We expected and wanted there to be accidents. The accidents were not a bad thing but a chance to teach Anna how to respond to what her little body was telling her. By 11:30 A.M. we had gone through about 8 pairs of panties, one of daddy’s shirts and mommy’s ankle (Christie rolled her ankle sweeping Anna off to the potty one time – she is fine but it hurt for a while).

Slowly but surely we began to have some success, times where we caught Anna in the act of starting to pee, swept her off to the potty, got down on her level and lovingly teased her about how she made yuck in her panties and how we wanted to do that in the toilet. The more we did this the more Anna began to connect the dots and realize that she needed to let us know when she had to go. Of course there was a reward of 2 M7M’s for going Number 1 in the toilet and 4 M&M’s for going Number 2 in the toilet.

By the end of day 1 we had gone down for a nap and woke up dry, made it into the potty quite a few times and made it in the potty just before bed. This was quite a successful day if you ask me.

Day 2 began with a wet bed in the morning; we did not make it through the night. This was to be expected and we treated this the same as we did with wet panties and it went over just as well. Anna has some resistance to the potty first thing in the morning. We knew not to push her but she began to pee on the potty while sitting on it and crying, when she got the loads of praise everything changed. It was like she remembered form yesterday that going on the potty was a good thing to be rewarded for and from that point we never looked back.

For all of day 2 we went through a total of 5 or 6 pairs of panties, compared to the 15 or so on day 1. She never really verbally let us know she had to go to the potty until the end of day 2, but the body signals were there. I think this success was a combination of Anna connecting the dots and Christie and I being calm and consistent with our methodology. Basically Anna started to learn what to expect and what was expected of her and we began to learn how to read Anna better.

SUCCESS!!! Day 2 ended with Anna verbally telling us she needed to go to the potty and going both Number 1 and Number 2!!! This was a huge milestone for Anna and for us too! We were so proud of her that we made speaker phone calls to all grandparents to be sure they knew how big of a girl Anna was!

Day 3 (Today) was just more of the same success. She began the day with a clean bed in the morning (she got up once in the middle of the night and told us she needed to go to the potty and we got her to the potty first thing in the morning when we got up – she went both times!). Anna came into her own, letting us know when she needed to go to the potty. He continued to go Number 1 a lot and she had another Number 2 – continued Number 2 success if a very encouraging thing for mommy and daddy! We went through 2 pairs of panties today, but neither of them were Anna’s fault, she let us know, we just did not get her there in time.

Day 3 ended with a trip to the restaurant for a dinner out; after 3 days cooped up in the house focusing on potty training we all needed to get out! This was a success once again; she went to the potty 3 different times while we were there! His was just another sign to us that she gets it now and the method worked as it had said it would.

That brings us to now, Anna sleeping soundly in her bed, in big girl panties, another milestone reached! Tomorrow Christie and I head back to work and Aunt Sheila begins her normal schedule with Anna. I am sure some minor setbacks are in order, but again we expect it and are prepared to deal with them.

To anyone who has a toddler to potty train, I cannot say enough how awesome of a method this is! You can get the book at http://www.3daypottytraining.com

Another more standard update form Christie will come again soon!

Love Gary, Christie Anna & Izzy

7th Month: Two under 2

Well I've tried to type a post out a few times already but I was having a writers block, not that I'm truely a writer but nothing was flowing the way I wanted it to. So here I am for another try. :)

Izzy: This little girl has gotten to be so big in the last month! Just over two weeks ago she started to climb; on us, up onto furniture, onto toys that weren't so stable. That was quite a feet for her and she was so proud of herself! So two weeks ago today (6th) I came home and thought, ya know she's been pulling herself up on things, she's been army crawling for quite some time, lets see if she can sit up on her own. Sure enough, I sat her down and she wobbled a smidge, but she stayed up for a while on her own! I was so excited (and Gary wasn't home!) that she could do this, I told Anna to sit next to her while I got the camera. There Izzy sat all very proud, Anna sitting so very nicely and seemly proud of her sister and I got their first picture not sitting on the couch, not on anyone's lap, but next to each other as sisters. Say it with me, aww.....!


Since then, she's been climbing up onto chairs, our legs, doors, the door of the fridge, her sister and everything she does. So Anna's pay back is shortly coming. She's starting to actually crawl - Gary noticed last night that she was doing it more consistantly. I'll let you know when we're full fledged crawling! Shes almost 16 pounds as of her 6 month appointment, 26" or so long and her head in the 90% percentile (the rest under 40%). So really, we produce giant headed kids. :) She was amazing with her shots, more of a trooper than Anna was and that's saying something! She's onto the 2nd foods and we've been giving her soft thing to try. She loved stuffing, not so much the puffs. Hopefully she's not too picky! She's really evened her temperment out since her first few months of life. She's very happy, has a smile for everyone, sleeps through the night (except when the pipe goes missing) and just loves being around everyone (she doesn't get as mad if you leave her in another room b/c she can come find you now). She's definitely our cuddle baby and we don't mind one bit. :) Her first words would be "mama" and now we have added "baba" and "gaga" to the vocabulary. She seems to be our go to bed early, get up early girl. Hopefully she'll rub off on the rest of us! She's just an absolute joy to have in our family.


Anna: Not only is Izzy getting bigger, but this little one is gaining a vocabulary at great speeds! She definitely tries most words (when she's in the mood) that we ask her to say or as a greeting (like "see you in the morning" is "morning" or "have a good day" is "day" said in the cutest sing songy way). She sings the alphabet song, well some of it, but she knows the tune. She still just as passionate of reading books and doing puzzles as she's been so much so I get new books and puzzles from the library to switch it up along with Aunt Sheila making her a bunch of match games. She loves being outside and likes to take peoples fingers, pull them to her door and says "shoes on" or "Anna's shoes" and "side" to take her out. She's still an avid rock collector as we find stashes in buckets to strollers. She's cut all but one eye tooth and her 2 year molars. I think the 2 year molars are right around the corner b/c we've had some cranky days and lots of biting on fingers and other things.


The biggest news for Anna (and she doesn't so much know it yet) is that we're potty training her this weekend. We found a 3 day potty training system online that has proven successful for many parents, even with kids that have autism have been taught using her system. Now some people may not agree with it or don't think it's necessary to buy this PDF booklet, that's completely fine. To each their own, we've just found things we've read and tried to be very successful with both our girls and Anna is hitting all the cues of being ready. So we're taking Saturday, Sunday and Monday as days to focus on her. The process is all very positive it just involves seeing those cues and staying attentive. So we'll report back and hopefully next week she'll be in these itty bitty Elmo panties and diaper free!

For about 3 weeks now and for another 2, Aunt Sheeya has been watching the girls and have been having an awesome time! Full of art projects, playing outside, learning and just having a great time! We wish she could always watch the girls, but they'll be heading back to their daycare after school starts up again. Thank you Aunt Sheeya!


Gary and Christie: We've done a lot lately, some physically, some financially, some mentally. We've really cleaned out our garage with all the basement stuff (throwing out, 2nd handing them, and putting it back downstairs), painted our "new" 2 drawer filing cabinet a beautiful shade of green apple to match the color scheme (first pattern of navy blue, two shades of turquoise and green) we decided on. We're hoping within the next week to reclaim the garage back and then start tackling the basement!


We've also started doing Dave Ramsey's zero based budget where all of our income is accounted for. We've been doing Dave's "envelope" system for a long time on our bank's website by taking a quarter of the amount for each constant bill and putting in their own account so when the bill comes we don't have to scramble. There are exceptions like gas and electric, but the over/under amount we have in each of those seems to level it out throughout the year. This has helped us tremendously. But we found we made a lot more that we could be saving and didn't really know where it was going. So we started to account for everything like our 3+ month emergency fund, clothes, expected gifts, household items (lightbulbs, a new pillow), etc. If we don't enough in the clothes fund, we wait to buy those items till we have enough. If we don't have enough in groceries, we cut back on buying that pack of steaks till next week. Things like that. So we're saving a little right now, but we're not having to dip into our money market to buy things. Along with all that, we're snowballing all our bills like school loans, car payment and then our mortgage. I'm already over a year ahead in payments on Gary's small school loan, so when that get's paid off, that payment (which already had my small loans weekly amount added in) will go towards the next biggest loan. So we're hoping by the time the girls are in middle school, we'll have everything along with the house paid off (with our current income that is)! We're quite excited. It's these types of things Gary and I will be writing about on our joint blog.

Mentally we're trying to figure out how to simplify our life in terms of living, things in our house, our goals, where we want our side work to get, etc. It's not always very clear cut but each day we talk about these things and see where we can head together, as a couple and as a family. It's so exciting and know God has given us the tools to get to where we're at and will continue to do so.

Pretty heavy stuff, but we're up for the challenge! More pictures and videos to come this weekend (I hope)! :) Here are the picture links from the last post: The Girls and Beaver Island.

Love to you all,
Gary, Christie, George and Bob

Mid-Summer Fun!

I haven't had a chance to write a blog (been busy and the internet keeps going down on us at home). But here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Mid summer fun - A:21/I:6

Beaver Island 2009

Love,
GCAI

Changes are a-comin'! Month 6: Two under 2

Well I had most of a post typed out last week and somehow it didn't save any of it. Bummer. So here we start again. Changes, I say. Are we pregnant again for the 3rd summer in a row?! Heck no. Hehe. Are we moving? Nope and I really don't want to for a long time. Did either of us lose our jobs? Nope, thankfully we're holding our own. It's not that dramatic I suppose, but in the nearer than farther future, we're going to be switching blog locations to a place that may host images and videos a lot easier than this one. It'll be an easy name change, so no worries to my followers. Gary and I are also going to start our own blog featuring things from finances to parenting to product reviews. Pretty much all things that encompass our daily lives. We have a lot of ideas and things that we truely believe in, so what better way than empty our brains than into a blog! I know, it's another thing to add to our never ending lists of projects but we're shifting gears and finalizing other projects in the near future, so stay tuned for that possibly starting up in the fall.

More summer pictures of the girls!

The girly girls are doing well. Miss Izzy is a droolin' machine, saturating a couple bibs a day. She's well on her way to her first tooth. I don't see any yet, but they are workin' their way up! She began her crawling just over 2 weeks ago and today, she's army crawling like a mad fool and getting up on all 4's with the cute little rock babies do - working her way over to wherever Anna is and wanting to eat whatever toy she's playing with. I can imagine those 2 in 2 years whispering secrets and running up and down the stairs, giggling the whole way. Can't wait! We began more solid food this weekend for the Izmeister - squash to start and on to peas! We got a screwed up face the first bite, but after that, loved it! After we get through all the veggies, we'll start fruit. I'm sure she'll love it just as much as Anna does. She's been sleeping good at night but usually cat naps during the day, so that's alright - she doesn't like to miss anything! She's still our little cuddlebug - her morning naps on Sunday are in the arms of mommy or someone else. Love it.

Ms. Anna has an ever expanding vocabulary which now entails parts of the alphabet (jklm), parts of 1-10, calling her clothes "cute", knowing what belongs to her, mommy, daddy and Izzy by pointing at a vehicle (which the van is Anna's), "glasses", "anana" for banana, "flower" and the other day I heard her say one of her friends names Owen, she goes "Ooooowwwwwwehh", so cute! Her poor little mouth is going through a growth spurt again of her 4 eye teeth. We had a few days of Tylenol and hearing "piiiiieee" (which is pipe) for comfort. But one has broken through so hopefully it'll be a little easier on her. She still loves to read her books (especially on the potty and the potty book at that!), her new thing are these 2 little babies that you can put hats and clip on clothing along with feeding them a "ba-ul" (bottle) and putting them to bed. She has 2 and usually shares one with Izzy, so she can eat it of course. She's a great, big sister and loves to make sure Izzy has the same thing she does, like a blankie or book or baby. She loves it when Izzy bats at her face or eats her nose. You can see the bond they are making already.

Mom and dad are doing well. We've hit the beach a couple times now (when summer decided to show up), had a picnic in the park, finishing up some freelance projects and in the midst (still) of putting our basement back together. We're enjoying watching the girls play and grow each day, trying to remember all those little things they do now and will slowly fade away as time goes on, making our marriage even stronger, our financial situation that much better and encouraging each other to be better parents - can't get much better than that! We're headed up to Beaver Island in a couple weeks and we're so excited for this mini-vacation. A long weekend of relaxing (or me finding little projects to work on), swimming and enjoying the beautiful views.

A few updates of the basement

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Gary, Christie, Anna and Izzy

Summer pics!

Summer is finally here! Here are some pics to enjoy of the girly girls!

It was the summer of..... 2009!

Fifth Month : Two under 2

First off, I'll post pictures soon, I promise! Maybe tonight. :)

We're in the 5th month of two under 2. Crazy, that Izzy's almost been here for half a year already! We couldn't imagine our family without her anymore. She's scooting, yes scooting, across the floor using her little feet to push her to where she wants to be and she's ony 5 months old! She sometimes gets the hands to work with her feet, but they usually work independently right now. She smiles at you from across the room, dimples and all. She's been on oatmeal for just over a month now and is slowly figuring out how to use her tongue to eat. In a few weeks we'll start introducing veggies - we'll see if she takes to them as well as Anna did. We also did the "cry it out method" about a month ago and it only took a few nights and she's been sleeping through the night ever since! Lovely for mom and dad, for sure. She flails her limbs when she gets excited, loves Grandma Tiemens hair as she giggles from her toes, she rolls all over the place and loves to find all of Anna's puzzle pieces to chew on. Teething for sure. She squeals when she gets to play with Anna (or rolls near her) and just follows her every move. I think Izzy is going to do things even earlier than what Anna did. She's very passionate about her bottle as even when we carry her up the stairs with her bottle in our hand, she grabs it and pulls to to her mouth ready to eat. If she even sees a bottle, she stares at it as if where going to float over to her. So cute. She's certainly a happy baby.

Anna is amazing us each day too. She studies every move we make, like how something opens, what button to push, how to use a napkin or how we say a word. It's like every moment she has, she wants to learn. She say's her ABC's really well, is starting to put 2 words together and has lessoned her "no" and timeouts lately. I'm sure that'll go in waves. She loves taking our finger and walk us over or pull us down or tells us to sit where she wants us. It's so cool that she's starting to really communicate with us and she's remember things we did a few days back. Like last night, she pulled me over to the stairs and patted the step for me to sit down. She brought over a catepillar car. Then I remembered we did that the other night where I rolled it into the kitchen and she'd bring it back to me. Smart girl. Or she's grab our finger only to walk a couple steps and then pull for us to sit down by a puzzle to do with her. Then last night was great! Gary brought out her beanbag chair and she flopped down in it. He picked her and the chair up to drop it back on the floor and she'd giggle. Then she'd said "again"! Hehe, that was awesome. She's having the typical toddler issues with dinner by not always eating something she's like a week ago, so we've been telling her that that's the only food she'll get tonight. She doesn't seem to mind, but we give her a snack a little later and tell her she got on b/c she ate dinner good. So far dad's a lot better at dealing with that than I am. :) I have guilty mom syndrome. She loves being outside, sometimes bringing us her shoes and saying "side" as she walks to the door.

We're trying to enjoy outside when it's not over 90! The sprinklers have been turned on a few times - Anna likes it half the time. Weird. We planted a small veggie/herb garden to see what happens. So far the tomato plant is huge but some of the others have had their leaves eaten. Most of my flowers are planted - still trying to find the time to spray paint my pots again to get the remainder on display. A few new bushes and perennials have been added this year. In the fall, some dividing and transplanting will be in order. We're looking to get some rock for the sides of the house (since the house didn't come with gutters!) yet this summer. We're hoping to finishing painting the basement this weekend (guest room: fresh day, living room: starless night and pure white) so we can start moving stuff back down there... oh, and we can't forget the 52" tv that has to go on the wall. :) We'll just have some little projects to finish up this summer, the rest can wait till fall/winter (can't believe I just said that). In the meantime, we're going to try to get the beach and the lake whenever we can. At the end of July, we're heading up to Beaver Island for what seems may become a yearly event. Fine by me! It's awesome up there.

We're all healthy, cool and thankful for our jobs and life. It's busy at times (well most of the time) but we wouldn't want it any other way! Here's to a wonderful summery weekend!

Love,

Gary, Christie, Anna and the Izmeister

5th month: Two under 2

We're in the midst of basement refinishing, with the mud and taping finishing up today! It looks great, dirty, but great! We're going to get the spare room painted this week so when the fam comes up this weekend, they'll have a semi-private and clean room to sleep in. With the sale of the truck, the purchase of the longed for TV's and all the special wiring and set up in the living room of the basement, I've decided to decorate the spare room with no direction (except that it'll flow with the colors of the living room and carry the chair rail through the room) from Gary. Not that one or the other gets the ultimate say over room, it just defaulted that Gary put a lot of thought into his networking and surround sound, so I declared the spare room mine. :) So with my cronic blog reading, I've been inspired to do the room in a beachy, coastal decor. Very soft, washed out colors, with all of the accessories repurposed from the thrift store and a homemade headboard. So excited! As with everything with 2 little kiddies, it'll be a process, but at least I have an idea to work with. The living room will have a 3/4 chair rail with the bottom being white with trim to create some dimension and above the chair rail will be a deep shade of navy blue. With all this, built in desks and cabinets (all still to be determined as we keep finding new inspiration for what we realy want to do with our all purpose living room), a living space, plenty of storage for all our crafty, computer, kid and house stuff. Yay!

As for the kiddies, they're doing great! Izzy is getting better with sleeping through the night, but only one time still works for us if that's the way she is. She sleeps like a little frog with her legs on the sides of her as opposed to Anna's method of butt up in the air. Both extremely cute. Izzy started on oatmeal a couple weeks ago and seems to love it! Although she doesn't quite get how to take food off her spoon other than using her tongue like she drinks her bottle, but most of it makes it in her mouth! So we thought Anna was a quick learner, Miss Izzy has figuring out how to use her legs or leg rather to scoot herself closer to whatever she just lost or wants. She's only 4 3/4 months old and she's starting to figure out the whole crawling thing! I'm going to video that this week. She's getting to be a big girl, looking more like a baby than a newborn. Her little giggle and bright smile is always something to brighten up our day. It does go by fast, but I'm glad to still have an itty bitty thing around the house. :)

Anna is growing up more and more each day. She's learning new words every day, seems to know what a sentence is but doesn't have the right words to put it all together yet. She's adding new animal sounds with the latest being a tiger, lion and bear all growling the same way, but so cute. She does a monkey, snake, horse and sheep really well too. She can repeat the alphabet very clearly except for a few letters. She's taken to what sound like singing these days. Love it. She still loves "no" and seems to get frustrated with little kids and tends to bite to get our her frustrations. So immediately mom got the book out "Teeth are not for biting". Hehe. But we found she bites herself and starts bawling. Don't get it. She gets "ouchys" a lot and needs them kissed a lot. So with all that said, we've started working in timeouts and that's seemed to be quite effective. She gives hugs and kisses (when she wants to) very well, helps out with giving Izzy her pipe back, giving her the small Elmo to play with while she plays with crazy Happy Birthday Elmo. :) She likes to play with Izzy, but then it turns into what can I get away with by stepping over Izzy, stepping on Izzy's limbs, ramming her pipe in her mouth and pulling her hair. She doesn't know her own strength but knows that timeouts follow if she continues mauling her poor little sister.

Gary and I had our first kidless weekend (Izzy's first time overnight somewhere else)! We headed to Detroit as neither of us had spent much time over there. We got a river view room in the Marriott, walked the riverwalk, did some shopping, relaxed and hit up a Tiger's game and a great dinner at Detroit Beer Co. A well needed, rejuvinated weekend for the parents while the grandparents and Aunt "She-ya" enjoyed spoiling the girls over the weekend. Back to reality, but excited to start painting the basement and getting ready for family this weekend!

Hope everyone had a wonderful, rain free weekend! Hopefully summer will start soon! I'll post more pictures soon (and maybe find a better way to get pictures up faster)!

Love to you all,
GCAI

Enter Spring: Two under 2

Spring pics of the Tidd's!

Oh man, have I said before that we're a busy family? We are. With 2 little girls sending my worry up and down with sickness or pain, parents with full time jobs, family and friend get togethers and just life in general, I feel like I forget to breathe sometimes. I know someday I'll look back and wonder where those days went, but in the midst of it all, my head spins sometimes. I really don't mean to start each post speaking like we don't enjoy our life, because we do so much! Despite the busyness, we have such an amazing time together as a family.

Last Monday (5/11), Izzy rolled over that we saw with no help from her back to her tummy. Well Thursday (5/14), she was rolling all over the place, back to front, front to back, she's got it down. Then at G&G Tiemens house, Grandma got her to giggle for the first time on Sunday (5/17)! I knew the time was coming and I was so looking forward to her little giggle. Just as adorable as Anna's and a little deeper than her sister's. What joy she's brought to this family. Her watching your every move, making sure you aren't too far away. Her smile and big blue eyes. Her cute head of hair, that is currently thinning and getting a little lighter. Her love of sleeping on her tummy/side, her contentment of watching TV with daddy and snuggling with mommy in bed. Her needing the touch of mommy and daddy - she loves holding our fingers. Her excitement when big sister plays near or with her - such huge smiles and flaling of limbs. We had her 4 month appointment last night - all is well, even with her cronic spit up problem. Doc said "wouldn't you have something to spit up if all you had was liquids and you laid on your back most of the time?" Point taken - worry somewhat removed. :) She's a whopping 12 pounds, 7 ounces and almost 24" long. Our 2nd little peanut.

Little miss Thang...er...Anna is doing well too. She's quite selective in her food choices these days. She likes things one day, but the next, nope. She'd rather eat fruit (I know that's good) than anything really, but we're trying to break her of eating what's put in front of her. Dad's better at dealing with that than I. She's learning new words daily, even hourly. She can say hi (whomever's on the phone), love you and bye bye on the phone with people. So cute and little human like! Her hair is getting longer, not thicker, so I'm able to do more things with her hair which is fun (and challenging)! She loves digging in the dirt with her shovels, doing puzzles, reading books and exploring everyday. She amazes us and frustrates us in a matter of minutes, but we can't imagine life without her.

Gary and I are still very thankful for our stable jobs, being able to provide for our family, pay off all our lingering baby bills/home improvement bills with our return on top of doing some fun things for us too. We're still working on getting the basement finished, mudding and tapping next week! So this weekend will be basement emptying weekend. Yippee! With all the craziness of life with the girls, we're taking a mom and dad weekend in a few weeks to Detroit. We're looking forward to that!

Hope this find all of you well!

Love,
Dad, Mom, Anna Lynn and Isabella Clara

Sweet Anna and a sleepy Izzy

Driving to daycare/work this morning, I sneezed. Just me and the girls in the van. Without hesitation, Anna goes "blesss yoouuu.....". Twice. We say that to the girls and to eachother, so it was only time when she would do it back. I thought that was the sweetest thing. Then she smiles with her toothy grin and chubby cheeks. Love it.

Doesn't matter where we are, if she finishes all of her Fruit Loops, we take the last bit off our plate or take the final gulp of milk in our glass, she opens her arms and says "alllll goonne....".

She doesn't do this as often, yet, unprompted, but we say "love you" right to her and she goes, with her lips all pursed "lloooovv yooouuu...." and sometimes with a "too" at the end. So cute.

We drive by two sets of cows each morning and afternoon. The one farm has just a couple cow statues by the road and before I even realized they are there, she goes "cow". And the 2nd farm, before we even see the cows now, the silos high in the sky, she know's there are cows and declares it. I tell her they are eating breakfast or dinner.

Also this morning, Gary was right in front of us as we turned our opposite ways. She knew that was him and said "bye daddy" and waved. What a sweet girl she is (despite our "uh oh" reports from daycare on a couple biting incidents - she gets a little fiesty with the kids sometimes or she's just defending herself).

And our dear sweet little Izzy slept from about 9pm to 6am this morning. I woke up at 6 and said to Gary, she slept through the night! I went to check on her, picked her up and moved her into our room and she stayed sleeping! I know I keep saying this, but maybe we're on to something!

Just wanted to share the joys of the Tidd house for the week. :) Happy Wednesday!