UPDATE!!!

WELL, I am WAY behind in my updating and a TON has happened since we got back in town. The day after we got back was Halloween and I have pics but am putting pictures up in the order they are on my camera so it still may be a whjile before they get up! I am just fashionably late!

Raleigh seemed to have a DRASTIC change after he turned 3, but I think it was just him being thrown off after our traveling. He stopped taking naps all together and I was about to kill someone! I FINALLY got him to take a nap today but it wasn't easy. I was SO tired of him running around the house at night throwing things and stomping on the wall and trying to "Hulk Smash" anyone within reach. He had me in tears a a few times!!! After his nap today, he was my angel boy again! I knew it was in there somewhere!

Raleigh started Preschool thanks to a generous Christmas Gift from my mom and dad! He LOVES preschool and I am AMAZED at how much he has learned in the few days he has gone. He was sitting on the potty and we were making a "job jar" (which I learned from his school) and as I was writing out the jobs for him to do, he was pointing out the D's on the paper. His preschool does the "letter people" and this week was Mr. D. He only goes 2 days a week so obviously he pays attention! And on Wednesday he was looking at his "poop calendar" and pointed to Wednesday. He called it "Tuesday" and I told him, "Nope, that's Wednesday," thinking I was teaching him something. Then he said, "Oh, yeah" and then pointed to the day before and said that's Tuesday. I wasn't sure if he just got lucky, so I tested him earlier and asked him what day comes before Wednesday and he said "Tuesday!" I almost fell over!!! He also comes home and tells me all about which kids were "annoying" which makes my mom hormones turn on and gets me all fired up about some bratty kid messing with my son, but I am getting better at just listening and not responding to what he is telling me. I guess it is all part of growing up! I also tried letting Raleigh stay for naptime at the Preschool, but that didn't work so I decided that he will continue to just stay through lunch. I had Audrey asleep on Wednesday and I ate lunch ALL BY MYSELF! It was the strangest feeling! I ate in the kitchen but it was too quiet so I came in the living room, turned on my 'ol buddy the TV and caught up on my Dancing With The Stars. It is so nice to have some time to myself. I got my Christmas shopping for the kids done and I have been catching up on my work. I still have Audrey but I can get her down for a nap for at least a little while!

And...BIG NEWS! Raleigh is pooping on the potty!!!!! WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! I can't even tell you how relieved I am that we are finally moving forward with the pooping issue. His doctor told me to give him Miralax and I mix it with Crystal Light and he LOVES it! It makes his poop soft enough so it doesn't hurt, he can take it as long as he needs it...even years, and he is excited to poop on the potty like the other preschoolers. He still has accidents and occasionally his poops are still hard but I am so happy! Anyone who was around us when Raleigh had his poop episodes probably completely understands the pain that it caused him (and ME) and how it completely consumed our lives. The Miralax worked instantly! Right after starting him on it, he went on the potty. I know this is a lot of poop talk but it has been such a HUGE part of our lives that it is nice to finally have a routine with him where I can sit him on the potty and know I won't be scrubbing undies later!

As for Baby Audrey...she keeps trying to grow up way too fast. She crawled for the first time today at her Baby Storytime!!! She has been trying to pull herself around (especially to follow Gwyn around) but she officially did her crawl! It was somewhere between the military crawl (where you pull with your arms) and a real crawl. She was SO cute and SO excited! She kept smiling at all of the babies and parents. They were all looking and in shock! She also is an avid eater like Raleigh, so we have been breaking the rules a little. We started out by giving her tiny pieces of bread off of our sandwiches, but now she is eating fruit puffs like a pro! We switched her to Oatmeal because of poop issues (is there a recurring theme in our family) but we are waiting a couple of weeks to officially start her on fruits and veggies. We give her little peices of banana though!

We took some professional photos of the kids last week but the "tech crew" is still researching why I can't view my pictures online, so when I get the link I will post it. Their pics turned out REALLY cute and I am SOOO glad we did it!!!

So summing it up, the kids have been busy, I have been insane and Trevor has been dealing with all of us! We are healthy and happy though and we are very blessed to have each other!