Potty Training Problems

How cute are my kids? Here they are celebrating Haylee's "success". She is going to be three this month and we are trying sooooo hard to get her potty trained. We tried a few months ago with no success. I decided that she wasn't ready so we took a break and now we're trying again. When I woke her up a few days ago I announced that she isn't wearing diapers any more and its time to use the potty. She actually seemed excited about the idea. Three days later she had only gone on the potty once. ONE TIME IN THREE DAYS! But we threw a party in her honor with balloons and toys and treats that I had been using as bribes the whole time. I thought this might get her excited to keep it up, but I was wrong. Am I doing something wrong? I'd gladly accept any tips or advice anyone might have. I'm desperate!

Valentine's Day 2009

Mike had to work a double shift on Valentine's Day so we didn't get to see him all day. We had fun making a card and cookies for him so that he would know we were thinking about him. Haylee was my big helper, she loved decorating the cookies with candy and sprinkles. Gage helped too by sitting so quietly and smiling so big. I think they both had fun. We love you Honey! Happy Valentine's Day!

Where did all of his hair go?

Notice anything different about these two pictures? Yes, it is the same baby boy. He used to have sooooo much hair. I loved it. But it is almost all gone now. I'm so sad! It was dark and soft and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, he's still super cute but I miss his gorgeous head of hair. You know what more than makes up for it? His whole-body smiles. You know when you walk in a room and a baby is so happy to see you that not only do they get a huge smile on thier face, but their whole body shows their glee. His arms start flying around and he kicks as hard as he can. I love it. I love him!

My Plastic Breakfast

For Christmas Haylee got a play kitchen and all the plastic utensils and food you could imagine. She loves it so much that she could not understand why we kept asking her to stop playing with it and open more presents. It's now up in her bedroom and its the first thing she plays with every morning when I wake her up. At 5 a.m. this morning I heard her outside our bedroom door yelling "Open please". When I opened the door, she was standing there with plates full of plastic hot dogs, hamburgers and potatoes. She was bringing me breakfast in bed, but the only thing I could think of to say is "No Haylee, it's night time". She let out the longest, loudest cry that woke up the whole house, maybe the whole neighborhood. I felt so bad. She had spent who knows how long slaving over that cold stove to make me breakfast and I didn't appreciate it. So I got down on the floor and ate my breakfast. The great thing about two year olds is that they forgive so quickly. After a minute I was able to convince her to come lay in her bed with me. I must have been forgiven because she sang be lullabys about Christmas trees and cheetahs. She never did go back to sleep but we were able to spend some much needed alone time together until I had to get up to go to work. I love her. I think I'll keep her.

Happy Halloween!

Our kids were so cute on Halloween. Haylee was a ballerina and Gage was a skeleton. We took them to XanGo to go trick-or-treating. We had lots of fun and Haylee got TONS of candy. She loved it!














Haylee thinks she's a ballerina every day so she was so excited to be able to look like a ballerina on Halloween. We bought her costume several weeks ago and eventually had to hide it from her because she wanted to wear it every day. She was so happy the morning of Halloween when I told her that she got to wear her ballerina shoes. It was so cute! Here she is doing her ballerina dance....adorable!












We had searched and searched for a cute costume for Gage but everything was just too big. Luckily Grandma Herbert found this cute skeleton costume and sent it to us just in time. Gage started smiling a couple weeks ago and I've been trying to get a picture of it....I almost got it in this picture. It's super cute! His hair is growing so fast, he's going to need a hair cut real soon.












Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Bundle of Joy

Robert Gage Herbert is here (we call him Gage)! Actually he's been here for a month but life with a newborn and a toddler is busy!! He was born on September 20th at 1:21 in the afternoon. He weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was the exact same weight and height as Haylee when she was born. The labor and delivery turned out to be very easy, it was a wonderful experience and we're so happy to have him here.

I had lots of help from family. My sister Robin was in Utah the day he was born so she came over to our house early in the morning to be with Haylee. My parents came down later that day and stayed with Haylee all weekend so Mike could spend some time with us in the hospital. Thanks to everyone for all of your help!

Gage is super cute. He has tons of dark hair and cute little chubby cheeks. I hope his hair doesn't fall out, it's too cute. It stands straight up no matter what we do with it, I love it. His eyes are dark gray, but I think they'll end up being brown.

Mike was able to take two weeks off work after Gage was born. It was so nice to have an extra pair of hands to help out. He was great, I wish we could have him around more often.
Gage had already gained a pound and a half at his two week appointment with the pediatrician. We knew he was growing fast but I couldn't believe how much he's grown. I think we're going to have a big boy! He's been lots of fun. He has quite the temper and absolutely NO patience. Good thing he's sooooo cute!

Summer Fun!

We've been spending a lot of time outside, Haylee is our outdoors girl. It's hard for me to be out in the heat for too long being pregnant, but we got an inflatable swimming pool for the back yard so I can sit and relax while she splashes around. Haylee loves the water, here is a picture of her right after we came inside after a couple hours out in the sun. She was beat and fell asleep on the couch almost immediately. It's a rare treat when Haylee naps these days, so I took advantage and got lots done around the house while she slept.





I've been trying to encourage Haylee to be independent and do things on her own lately. I figure it will make things easier when the baby comes if she doesn't insist on me doing everything for her. The other day she insisted on painting her finger and toe nails all by herself. So, I put her in my bathtub and let her try. She actually did a really good job. I was expecting a huge mess but she was very careful and sooooo proud of herself....I'm sure you can tell from the picture.






Last week we got to watch our friend's little boy Charlie. He is so cute and was so fun to have around. It was like having a babysitter for Haylee. She usually insists on being in my lap or in the middle of whatever I'm trying to get done, but when Charlie was here she was just happy to have a buddy to play with. And I was happy to have some space to get a few things done. They played together really well. Haylee was much more excited about holding hands and posing for pictures than Charlie was, but he was a good sport. We hope he comes over to play again soon.



Haylee loves to help out in the kitchen! Here she is "helping" me make oatmeal cookies. She always wants to help me measure the ingredients and pour them in the bowl, her favorite part is the eggs. She's actually really good and it, and she hardly ever drops any shell in.
We usually end up with a big mess afterwards, but we have so much fun, it's worth it!







Haylee loves to play in my makeup, I usually am able to wake up and get ready before Haylee wakes up so she doesn't get into it, but on this particular morning she was up extra early and so she wanted to get ready right next to me. It didn't occur to me that she was putting on my lip gloss that is supposed to last all day....until I tried to wash it off. It doesn't wash off! I thought she was going to have to where it like this all day, I tried everything. Finally I used my eye makeup remover and luckily it worked. She didn't have to look like the Bride of Chucky all day.