The Sweet Smell of Success

So, for anyone who has talked to me at all in the past month, you know that we have been working very hard to get Abbey potty trained. She has been wearing underwear with limited success, but I think we have finally had a breakthrough. It has been 2 weeks since her last accident (even at night)! Woo hoo! Now, you may think this is nothing to blog about, but with an infant in diapers and a 2 year old doing her business in her underwear, I was at my wits end. But, with the help of M&Ms and jelly beans, we are making some significant progress. Now, we celebrate this success with all sorts of shennanigans in our house....dances, songs, etc. I think we may be taking it a little too far though because now our daughter has taken to sharing her good news with anyone who will listen.

Case in point....I had to run out to Kroger yesterday to get supplies for the tropical storm that was headed our way. As we're on our way there, Abbey yells from the back seat, "Mommy! We need to go home! I have to go potty!". Just what every mom loves to hear as she is stopped at a traffic light with nowhere to go. So, I tell her to do her best to hold it and we'll be at the store in a minute. We made it to the store and Abbey went on the potty. Well, she was so proud of herself that she shared her excitement with 3 random people in the store, including the cashier, exlaiming "I went poopy on the potty!". This is one of those times when my mom would say "If you're easily embarrassed, you shouldn't have kids." I just have to shake my head and smile as everyone says "Oh, how cute is she!". I'm not sure if they really mean it (they were probably completely mortified), but it is pretty funny when you think about it. Kids really do say the darndest things! :-)

2 Months Old and All Smiles

Aiden is now 2 months old and he just loves to smile! He is really starting to show his personality and it's really cute. He loves to smile at Abbey too. All she has to do is start talking to him and he lights up! Just check out this picture.

He had his 2 month checkup and he's doing great. He weighs 11 lbs. 9 oz. now, so he has gained 5 lbs. since he was born. That puts him in the 50th percentile for weight. Unfortunately for him, he takes after his mother and is only 21 1/2 inches long, which is in the 5th percentile for height. So, basically he is short and chubby! He couldn't be cuter though (I'm being completely unbiased here, of course) and I'm sure he will grow some eventually.

We're all getting excited about our upcoming trip to Florida. Yes, I have decided to take the kids to see their "Nana" (my Grandmother) and "Gamma" (Abbey's name for my Mom). Did I mention I am taking a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 month old on a plane by myself? I'm pretty sure I've got some sort of mental lapse happening here, due to lack of sleep, that I will realize just about the time we all get buckled into our seatbelts (actually, it will probably hit while I'm trying to herd myself and the kids through the security line), but I'm hoping you won't be hearing about us on the news..."Mom with unruly toddler and screaming infant thrown off of plane." I've had lots of people promise to pray for me. I'm not sure if I'm encouraged by that or not since, clearly, they see a need for some divine intervention, but I'll take those prayers and as I'm sitting on the plane with my sleeping infant in my arms and my toddler happily watching a movie, I'll be thanking God for answering them. :-) How's that for faith!!

Here are a few more pictures of my babies from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Abbey holding her baby brother

Mr. Personality

Hat Day at Vacation Bible School

Princess Kate and Princess Abbey at Vacation Bible School

4th of July

We had a nice long weekend to celebrate Aiden's first Independence Day. On Friday afternoon, we went to a church picnic. There was a pool, paddle boats, calf roping and Abbey's favorite...a baby kitten to play with. We also got to see some fireworks. Abbey really loved them. She wasn't scared of them at all. Here are some pictures.Daddy, Abbey and Aiden decked out for the 4th!

Mommy saw this shirt at Target and just couldn't resist

Abbey made a new friend at the picnic

Abbey, Amanda and Samantha hanging out

Abbey and Amanda playing tether ball

We spent the rest of the weekend working around the house, but it was productive and now we're completely worn out for the upcoming week. Isn't that the sign of a good weekend?? Hope you all had a great one too.

Like Watching Paint Dry

So, we have decided it's time to paint our house since we've lived here for nearly a year and a half and we're tired of staring at the same four boring white walls. Most people would probably consider this fun, but when you have two interior design challenged people picking out paint, what you end up with is what we like to term "obnoxious orange". We were going for "clay" or "earth tones", but we ended up with a creamsicle! If you don't believe me, just check out the picture. The people at the paint store aren't nearly as helpful as their commercial suggests. We "asked Sherwin Williams" what color we should paint our home and they pointed us to the wall-o-swatches with every color imaginable! So, if any of you feel as though you should stage an intervention and submit our names to HGTV to have an interior designer come and help us out, we wouldn't be offended.

Seriously though, after several trips to the paint store we finally found a nice color for the entry way, living room and stairway. We think we found one for our bedroom and bathroom too, but time will tell once we get it up on the walls. So, next time you visit our home, if you despise our color selection, please keep it to yourselves. We're traumatized enough!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi Everyone (maybe not everyone, but anyone who is actually reading this), Welcome to my new blog. Why do I have a blog you might ask? Well, because (Mom, you're not going to like this) "everyone else is doing it." No, if everyone else jumped off of a cliff, I wouldn't follow them. I just thought it might be fun to have a place to keep everyone updated on our family. Since we just had another baby and I'm potty training my toddler, I thought, what better time to start a new project!

Anyway, I'm guessing I will only post when the mood strikes, but please check back and take a look. I'll post some pictures so you can all keep up with the kids. They grow up so fast (sniff, sniff...big alligator tear rolling down my cheek). Abbey loves her baby brother and Aiden really is growing fast. He already weighs 9 lbs, but he is a sweet baby and we're all enjoying him. Here are a couple of pictures we have taken recently.

Thanks for checking out my newest endeavor. Be sure to check back soon and see how we're "raising the Barrs."


















This was our first day home from the hospital.





















Abbey loves to hold her baby brother.















Aiden's first Memorial Day. Isn't he festive?





















Abbey's ready for the pool!
















What an angel.