Jacob went peepee in the potty!

I can't believe he did it! He is 19 months old! He loves the potty since he sees Jackson use it all the time. For the past week or so I put Jake on the potty once or twice a day and he just sits there. He loves it, I'm sure he feels like such a big boy. Well today, before their showers, he actually went peepee!!! I was so excited. I started screaming and Jackson did too and Silvia came running in because she figured what had happened! IT was awesome! He got a candy and I really hope he does it again tomorrow! So proud of my little man!

Mealtime Power Struggle

Anyone who knows anything about Luis and my parenting style knows that my children WILL eat all of their food, anything they are given, whether they like it or not. Well, we are firm believers in that, but it has become quite a headache for me. Ever since Luis has been gone, (he was obviously the mealtime enforcer) Jackson has put up the biggest fight about meals... almost every dinner! Our original plan for handling this was "If you don't want to eat it, you will once you get hungry enough" and that is that! Well, Jackson is especially stubborn... extremely stubborn, unnaturally stubborn for a 3 year old. Jackson went 36 hours without eating... all by choice. The food was right in front of him at each mealtime and he refused to eat it. He just drank water all day. This is what happened. On Sunday night Silvia made apricot chicken which was SO good! Jackson refused to eat. So, it became his breakfast, he refused to eat. No snacks, no drink but water, wouldn't eat it at lunch or dinner and wouldn't eat it right before bed! I kept telling him how he's going to have big owies in his tummy if he doesn't eat it, but he didn't care. He was so grumpy from hunger all day. Well at 3am he came in my room and we were up for the next 2 hours or so. He was in bed with me so he wouldn't keep Jake awake. He was crying from a headache, so I gave him Tylenol and then he started gagging like he was going to throw up over and over. My son would rather endure a hunger headache and nausea than eat his food! RIDICULOUS!!! So I couldn't let him gag like that so I got him a banana and wheat thins and he fell asleep finally. BUT, the apricot chicken was his breakfast again the next morning (The very same plate of food, we don't keep adding it on or anything) and he refused again. So, I force fed him the food. Not fun. So enough of the "You'll eat it when you are hungry enough" technique, because Jackson won't! I would end up taking to the hospital for starvation! So, new technique, force feed him until he realizes it's better to do it by himself! That is what happened tonight. He didn't want to eat his burrito so I force fed him, and trust me it takes FORCE! I am convinced my son is The Hulk. I had my arms around him with both hands with a death grip on the opposite forearm and he still almost got away! Unbelievable. It's crazy that he prefers to have food shoved into his mouth than just eating himself! Anyway, after I had forced every bite of food into his mouth, with a little help from Silvia and Danny, we were both covered with sweat and exhausted. Not to mention I had done a shoulders and arms workout routine earlier in the day, so the whole ordeal was especially difficult for my tired muscles! :) After about 2 forcefed bites, he asked to do it by himself. And he did... for one bite. Then it was back to refusing. But it gave me hope... if he realized it was better to feed himself for that short moment... maybe after a few more force feedings he will get the point for GOOD! History makes me doubt that that is likely, but I can hope... right? Wish me luck over the next few days... All I can say is, Luis, I miss you and your wonderful strict presence with our boys! But they are starting to realize that Mom (me!) is in control! Slowly but surely! The best part is... I kept my cool for the most part. Even with his crying and screaming and body-flailing!!! If he had his way, he would eat Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs every meal... and that is not happening! Bring it on Jackson!!!

Dog Fight

Before I explain what happened, I need to give you a mental picture. The Wegers have 2 acres, one acre where the house is and it is nice and landscaped and second acre, which is ugly and where Silvia keeps her chickens and garden... we call this acre "the other side" :) The german shephards stay only on the side with the house and they usually wear shock collars so they can't leave this acre even if the gates are left open. I know some people think that is cruel, but after what I saw today... it is a very GOOD idea!

For almost a week there has been a stray dog living on the other side in the pump house. Poor dog was dumped by someone because he was wearing a collar, but he was starving. The poor thing was literally a skeleton and was so weak he could barely walk. He somehow got in and was pretty much laying there ready to die when Lew found him. Lew gave him food and water and called Animal Control. Well, since it was the weekend, they couldn't come til Monday. So we gave it food and water everyday and just wished they would come pick him us and put the poor dog out of his misery. He cried everytime he got up to eat! SO sad! There was even talk about nursing him back to health and then letting him stay on the other side to scare away the possums that eat the chickens... but they decided against that, prob cuz the dog might eat the chickens. Alsatian, the male german shephard was very aggressive towards this dog, very protective of his home. He would stand at the fence and growl and bark! Well, today I was outside with the boys and the stray dog came out of the pump house and layed in the sun. I thought "wow, he looks much better, he's not even limping anymore!" That was pretty exciting. Alsatian was at the gate barking at him again. I looked away and before I knew it, I heard Alsatian going crazy! I looked back and he had opened the gate somehow and was attacking the poor dog... who was putting up a pretty good fight for being so weak to begin with! Alsatian didn't have his shock collar on! So I started running towards them and yelling at Jackson to go get Grandma. He pretty much just stood there and looked at me. Not very helpful in an emergency situation :) I kept my distance but was yelling at Alsatian to stop and go back but he wouldn't listen to me. After about a minute of yelling at him I ran back to the house and got Silvia. She came and Alsatian listened to her. At first she waid no and told him to stop But then she was saying it much nicer and was telling him "Good dog, good boy." and he came to her. I learned a lot about dog psychology today. Alsatian thought he was protecting his family and when she was praising him for that, he backed off and let the dog alone. Lesson learned on my part. The other dog seemed ok although I didn't get a good look since he crawled back into the pump house. And guess what, about a minute later Animal Control showed up! It was sad to see how they lifted this full grown dog up by a loop around his neck to put him in the truck, but they have to do it somehow. I hope they keep feeding him and someone adopts him, but I doubt it, he only has 1 week. It's sad, but there are just so many strays around her. It breaks my heart. Anyway, that was my experience with trying to break up a dog fight... unsuccessfully. It was scary to see though. I'd hate to be anyone who tried to break into this house!!

Haircuts and Eating Habits

I gave the boys haircuts today... they were badly needed! Jackson did much better than his usual crying/screaming fit during a haircut. He whined a lot, but was pretty still. I bribed him with a "chocolate popsicle" aka fudgesicle!




YOGA BABY! My boys love to exercise with me and Silvia! Today she was doing yoga and this is Jacob joining in! I did a core workout after and Jackson was right next to me with the 3 lb weights and everything!



Jake has been acting and eating very differently lately. We kind of think it's because he isn't handling the change of Luis being gone very well. Pretty much since Luis left, Jake has been incredibly clingy. He cries if I amnot holding him. I love that he wants to cuddle and lay with me all the time... but if I have to set him down to cook or something he freaks out! Also, he is only eating about 1 meal a day... force fed! And he is holding food in his mouth! I fed the boys at 12pm yesterday and then left for church. We got to the church at 1 exactly and I got the boys a drink of water before we went in... and Jake still had a bite of ravioli in his mouth from his lunch. All the way to church! That is dangerous and not good for the teeth! He did it again today. I wouldn't let him go outside to play until he swallowed, so after about 2 minutes with Jax outside... Jake swallowed. It's a fight though to get him to eat. So thisis all very strange behavior for him. But he seems healthy and has plenty of energy. Oh, one sure way to get him to eat... SALAD! My baby loves salad.

Brown Glasses

I don't have a picture yet, but I will post one soon. I called the eye dr and they said that Jackson's glasses have 1 warranty replacement. Surprise! Good thing because the tape was doing a lousy job of keeping them together. Well, it was together, just very lopsided! Jackson was very frustrated by his crooked glasses. So I took him in and they replaced them for free... but they had no black frames, so they gave him the same pair, only brown. Jackson had been about a day without his glasses on at that point and I could tell he was glad to have them back. It makes me really happy that we got him glasses, because he obviously needs them. All yesterday he was being so careful with his face so nothing would happen to his glasses. Even at the Chick-fil-A playplace... He was falling and jumping and rolling very tenderly... it was cute how paranoid he was. (THANKFULLY!) We'll see how long the caution lasts! Please let us make it longer than a week this time! :)

Update on Luis

Luis has really bad internet signal so I am going to post for him. He was able to find a place to rent in Lake Forest, which is where Elyse lives. Thankfully, she had sent out an email and got tons of responses from people in her ward that were willing to rent out rooms. He chose one with an elderly couple. He has the downstairs bedroom and bathroom that is kind of separated from the rest of the house, which is nice for him to have some privacy. He can use the kitchen and living room too, but he so far stays in his room mostly... they do have a piano, so that will be nice for him to play. The price is exactly what we were looking for. He is enjoying the company and is working on a project building an LA Fitness. The project is right by his neighborhood, so on days when he has to go to the site, it will be close, but that won't be often. He mostly works out of the office, which is about a 30-40 minute drive. He is going the opposite direction of traffic, so you know he loves that! He is going to get a gym membership so he can spend time there so he won't be at home all alone :( I have given him a few projects to work on so he can keep busy. I feel bad for him to be out there all by himself and I am here with family to keep me company. Aubry, take Ricky and go hang out with him every once in a while... he needs company! He is going to bed around 9ish so he gets a good night sleep. He seems to already have a lot of responsibility at work and they told him they want him to move up to project manager as soon as possible (He is now a project engineer). So that will be great to get that promotion. He is only 1 of 2 engineers and he is pretty much already doing the work of a project manager, so hopefully it will come quickly. He likes the people he works with. As I learn more, I will post more info! He is keeping his same phone number, so call him in the evenings to help him pass the time!

One week later... broken.

Jackson made it exactly one week of having glasses... and now they are broken. I can't believe it. (Actually I can!) I was very frustrated and a little speechless at first... the yelling came later. Silvia helped me fix them using black electrical tape... but the damage is done. They are irreparable. So Jackson will be walking around for the next 3.75 months until insurance will replace them. I definitely saw this coming, didn't I! The tape held them together fine, until he started pulling his glasses over and under his eyes, just playing... so I had to rework the tape and although they are crooked they will have to do!




Jackson is actually letting Jake sit this close to him. It's a rare sight to see... he usually keeps his distance.

These are the things Kaylee sent me from Forks! I just got them in the mail and I love them. I can't wait til I have a fridge I can put that magnet on :)

Big boy

Jackson had a check-up yesterday and he is a big boy! He was 92 percentile for height and 98 percentile for weight! He is good and healthy! Jake did not have a check up so I don't know his ranking... until December. Nothing really going on here, except we all miss Daddy! Maybe soon Luis will do a post so you call can hear about his new JOB!

Daddy's Last Day in Texas

We had very little time to prepare for this move... which is one of the reasons why Luis is going alone at first. We found out on Tuesday and he left midday today. So yesterday we had a lot of errands to run. We had to do an oil change as well as a few other repairs before Luis' long drive... Silvia took us out to a good-bye lunch at Red Robin. I wanted the boys to do something fun with Luis as a special good-bye activity... we planned on going to The Zone so they could ride the go-karts... but when we went, the track was closed! We were so bummed! So later on, I took the boys to the park while Luis went to mutual for one last time to announce he was leaving and say goodbye! Here are some pictures of Luis' last day. I wish I got a picture with him and me :(


This picture cracked me up. I know it's blurry. When Luis leaned over for a picture with Jake, Jake leaned over as well.



Jake's reaction to hot french fries!

Congrats to Luis!

It's official. Luis got the job with RMS Group and we will be moving back to the LA area. We do not know the actual location of the job he will be working on, so our actual place of residence is still to be determined. He tried calling the company one Friday because he still hadn't heard from them but only got voicemails. We figured they had started the Labor day holiday early. So he planned on calling them this morning, but they beat him to it! They called to ask why he hadn't responded to the job offer they had emailed last week... twice! He never got one! So they checked the email address and he finally got it! It is an amazing offer! The Lord really does look out for us. We were caught off gaurd by how good the offer was, more than we were ever expecting!!! He accepted of course, and negotiated some moving expenses to be included. I am so proud of him. The company loves him and he is really excited about the opportunity to progress within the company and help the company grow! I'm glad he can now put to use that MBA we paid for :) They need him there by Sept 12, which is this coming Monday. He will be leaving on Thurdsay morning... yes, less than 48 hours from now... I am kind of freaking out but there really isn't that much I can do. Luis has things he needs to wrap up on this end, but as far as packing, all he is taking is clothes, air mattress and sheets, laptop, folding chairs/table, and construction manuals! And maybe our microwave for all those Lean Cuisines he will be eating :) And yes... all of this will fit into his Pontiac Grand Prix... thank goodness for full-size sedans! The boys and I will probably stay here for a few months... I am hoping to be out there by Thanksgiving. I am staying behind because, 1. We don't know where we will be living, 2. There just isn't enough time for us to get our entire household into a moving van in 2 days and 3. this will give us the chance to save up a great deal of money to help pay off some debt. We are very excited about that last one!

We are very excited and can't wait to see all our family in California. We will miss Silvia and Lew and the family here of course... my boys have gotten very used to having Grandma and Papa Lew around. We are grateful to be able to put to test the lessons we have learned through our trials the past 2 years! Sometimes it was really hard and having faith didn't come as easily as it did at other times, but we made it and trusted in God the whole time. We are so thankful for the blessings we have received and that are yet to come! Love you all, thanks for your support!

Jackson's glasses

Let me start by saying the glasses are a little big, but the only ones that fit his face. Tomorrow we are buying the strings that go around back to keep them on his face. They kept slipping off and he would end up looking over them. So he only wore them for about an hour today and then I was afraid they'd fall off and get smashed, so he will officially start wearing them tomorrow. I was surprised how thick the lens is on the left eye! I don't know his exact Rx, but part of the paper says his left eye is +2 and his right is +1... whatever that means. He looks so silly, but he is still super cute!

Funny Story

I know you all are waiting for details on the big news, but I had to post this story!

I heard that Jake was awake after his nap yesterday and when I went to get him... this is what I found. :)

He had taken of his diaper... and it doesn't end there. He was pointing over the side of the crib to where his diaper was... but the diaper wasn't alone... it was right next to a puddle of pee. Haha, his sheets were completely dry... he must have aimed perfectly well to pee through the bars of his crib and not get his sheets. I was cracking up and I just had to share!

Random Pictures

I decided to post some random pictures because there really isn't much going on right now. Next week we are going to pick up Jackson's glasses, so I will post those pictures then. Here are some cute ones of the boys. And Silvia's canning day. It really takes a whole day to can. She went to the market and got a 25lb box of tomatoes for $7. So she canned those. Then she canned a bunch of pinto beans from Sam's. Then I had about 2 pounds of dry black beans, so she made refried beans from scratch... it was pretty interesting to see how it's done. She was flipping them in the pan like a pancake. And you can see the finished product... I think she calls it a bean roll or something like that... it looks nasty, but it tastes good :)







These are just a few of the cans... it makes the whole kitchen such a mess, but she got TONS of cans!




See the welt on his forehead? It's hard to see in the picture... but this is what happens when Jackson stands right behind the door Luis is about to open! Doorknob in the forehead!





Our friend's the Erickson's were giving away their son's clothes, most of which are size 5 which is perfect for Jackson. Luis came home from Scouts one night with this big bag full of winter clothes! I only went through about half of it so far, and there are already 10 long sleeve shirts, tons of shorts and jammies, 2 thick winter jackets/sweaters... and all the rest I haven't seen yet! He is set for this winter! I am so thankful for these clothes, it is a major blessing for us! I can't believe my not-even-4-year-old fits in size 5, but he does!