Pipi's Latest Book

http://www.tikatok.com/view/shared/09467fd18fb77f8c2bd195ab458bc6eb

Best Cousins

Wes and Gigi (which is how they refer to each other) are two peas in a pod, pals, amigos, buddies, best cousins.  Sometimes I feel like they interact more like brother and sister than cousins.  The older they get the longer they can tolerate each other, the more excited they get to see one another, and the more fun they have playing together.  They seem to have a similar sense of humor, but definitely have their differences.  Sometimes they get on each other's nerves, but most of the time they want to be doing exactly what the other one is doing.  Andrea and I like to think that one of the best things we did was have them close together:)

I have a feeling this will be a picture we pull out when Weston and Gianna are having their joint high school graduation party!

They also do their share of influencing one another.  If it is okay for his cousin Gigi to prefer pink and wear dresses than why can't he?

And then there is Vance; Gigi is doing a good job preparing him for growing up close in age to a girl cousin.  We can't wait until baby Ella gets here so Vance can have a playmate too!

Remedial Birthday, Potty Training, and New Faces

On Monday I celebrated my "remedial birthday"- it was Michael and the boys way of making my birthday even more special (being a week after the actual day- I was very surprised).  Michael took the day off work (the best present for me) and they did all the little things that I appreciate to make the day special- getting to sleep in, homemade cards, no cooking or diaper changing on my part, going shopping, getting time to work on redecorating our dinning room and kitchen, and a movie night.  I had a great day, but was brought back to reality the next day when my potty training endevor resumed.

Weston + Potty training= UGH! We tried and we are postponing this wonderful endevor. Overall, I really don't think Weston is ready. Sure he should be at the age when children are capable and he does seem to have the understanding, but when you have a boy who could care less he is wet; doesn't like taking time out to sit on his awesome froggy potty (that he was excited about the first day); no longer finds stickers, M&Ms, squirt guns, or the promise of a new movie motivating; and shows no signs that he is ever going to tell Mommy and Daddy he has to go potty after days and days of "training"- it really doesn't set you up for success. I was really working WAY HARDER than Weston in this whole process. Sure he does well if I remind him every hour and bribe him in some way to sit on the potty, but I think the icing on the cake was after training him for days, he peed down his leg, onto the floor, and then galloped around the room saying something to the effect that he made it rain.  Bottom line- you can't train a child who just doesn't care!  So, I don't know when we will try again, but it won't be anytime in the next couple weeks!


As far as Vance news goes, here is a video that explains his latest development- an emerging goofey side. We caught him on camera making he new funny face/gesture and it cracked Michael and I up sooo much because, from what we have known so far, it is COMPLETELY out of character for him:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPSqz9_2l9w

(I am trying to figure out a video posting method, so let me know if you were able/not able to view the video.)

We're Back!

It is a new year and I have decided to try my hand at blogging again.  I was inspired one night when I signed into my account and started looking at past blogs- it was so fun for me to read what I had written and documented!  I also decided that with my second attempt, my view for blogging will be different.  Before I blogged mainly to share info/pictures with others, but now I am doing it mainly to create a memory book (inspired by Andrea) for each year.  It will be a diary of sorts for our children to look back on. 

Now, this blogging thing isn't easy for me and I have literally spent ALL evening and into the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out the best way to upload pictures and videos onto this thing!  I think I finally have the picture thing down, but the videos weren't cooperating, so they will have to wait for another update.  I didn't even come close to making my blog layout look presentable, so bare with me and it should look much prettier in the (hopefully) near future.

So, without further ado- A Lavoy Family Update!

Weston- Almost 2 1/2 years old!

-The boy LOVES to draw, paint, and color.  Sometimes I feel like he would do this morning, day, and night if we didn't introduce him to other fun things!  I have to believe that he has gotten some of Michael's drawing abilities- as he already has figured out on his own how to draw many of his letters (B,P,D, W, E, S, T, O, M, I, H, C, j, i, t, and b), adds an awesome smiley face to most shapes he draws, has his version of Piglet ( an oblong shape complete with a striped body and face), has had the sun thing down for quite some time now, and also draws his own stegosaurus!

-He likes to do most things by himself and takes great pride in doing so.  The other day he came bounding into our room and excitedly pointed out he put his own shoes on!  Michael and I didn't have the heart to tell him he forgot his socks, so we let him go to church without socks on. 

-He cracks Michael and I up with his if/then thinking.  The other day I walked into his playroom and he was standing on his chair with one foot midair about to step onto his table.  Me: "Weston you can't stand on your table."  Weston: (points to the hallway) "Can you go out there?"

-He also has a mind I would love to see into for just one day.  We took down our Christmas tree the other day and this is what I found

Weston is always taking his socks off (no matter how cold it is) and I ended up finding four socks hidden in the Christmas tree.  Case of the missing socks- solved!  Who knows when he put them in there and why.

-He is developing a preference for Daddy and gets extremely excited when Daddy gets home from work.

-He LOVES to watch Donald Duck movies on the computer.  He literally thinks they are hilarious and laughs out loud while he watches them.

-He is FINALLY a good sleeper- goes to bed without a fuss and sleeps in his bed the whole night.  We established bedtime rules and posted them in his room that seemed to do the trick- a couple nights of screaming his head off and realizing mom and dad weren't going to give in made them sink in.  He always falls asleep playing with his ears and finds comfort in sleeping with his "Patron Petey" tucked under his arm.  However, Patron Petey can also be a little creepy when Weston accidentally rolls on top of him in the middle of the night.  Patron Petey says an evening prayer when you push his belly and it always takes me a couple seconds when I am half asleep to figure why there is strange voice coming from the kids' room.

Vance- 10 months old!  So close to a year- I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!

-Vance is still our little sweetie, but also has figured out how to show his will and isn't as content all the time as he once was:) 

-He LOVES his mommy:)  Who can blame him- what is not to love?

-He mostly goes by the name of Vancie around our house, which is a shorted version of Vancie Pancie- a nickname I am sure I will have to apologize later for giving him and one I don't know why I said in the first place or why it stuck.  Weston is the only one who calls him Vancie Pancie in public.

-Chances are if you spend any good length of time with him you will hear his phlegmy throat that he is finally getting better at clearing with a little cough.  This has plagued him since July, and after a round of allergy meds that didn't do anything and treating him for a sinus infection twice, it has been concluded that it is just him and he just has a lot of mucous that drains into his throat.  He could care less that it is there; therefore, he breaths with a rattly throat at times (instead of clearing his throat).  Add a cold on top of that and it becomes even more frequent and louder, but when he doesn't have a cold I think I have become immune to hearing it (it used to be all I could hear because it drove me a little crazy)!

-He is a much better eater than his brother was at this age and he eats just about anything we eat- if it is small enough and soft enough, because he only has his two bottom teeth so far.  Also, unlike his brother, he seems to be a much better teether! (The picture is actually him finger painting with mustard and jelly- a combo he couldn't resist tasting.)

-He makes lots of silly faces and this is one we see often that we love- squinted eyes with a puckered half smile:)

-Vance has good balance, but as soon as you let him go he sits himself down.  So, needless to say, he surprised me the other day by doing this- I turned around to see him up the step ladder and removing an ornament (which by the way the boys were very good at the whole time the tree was up, but not so good at when it actually came time to taking them off for good- it isn't fun to take them off when you are suppose to!)

"The Boys"- There is a bond forming between them that I love to watch develop. I love to think of the fact that Vance doesn't know a life without Weston and Weston won't remember a life without Vance. Every time I see them interact in some way cute (Weston doing something silly to make Vance laugh or them copying each other at dinner time) it makes me glad that we gave them the gift of each other. I also can see something remarkable, it is in the future and I love when I get a tiny glimpses of it- the boys playing TOGETHER. Oh, how wonderful will be the day when it is for more than five minutes, and it isn't mostly some form of Weston torturing Vance, Weston thinking it is hilarious, and Vance just putting up with it.  Even so, it says something when Vance and I have to wake up Weston from his nap and Vance squeals with delight when we walk in the room and I put him on Weston's bed.  (This is usually followed by Vance grabbing Patron Petey and Weston clenching his teeth and grabbing him back, but still I like to think Vance LOVES his big brother and is happy to see him.)

Mike- Almost 28 years old;)

-He is still working for Catholic Financial Life (formally Catholic Knights/Catholic Family) and is enjoying his job.  Overall, it is a tough job that has some great highs, but also some lows.  I don't know when, or even if, I will get used to a commission based job.  However, it does help that we get to go to Cancun, Mexico in March because of this job!  Jacob (Mike's brother) was recently hired as an agent and we can't wait until he and his family move here!!  (Please pray that they can sell their home in Necedah.)  Mike is really looking forward to working along side Jacob and it will be a wonderful change in the work atmosphere for him:)

-His latest endeavor is trying to get a fellowship committee started at church.  He has been running Donut Sunday for over a year now and wants to step it up a notch.  We have loved being back at St. James, but wish there was more fellowship like we had when we attended the chapel at Goodfellow AFB.

-He is doing a wonderful job being a provider, father, and husband for his family.

Maria- Just celebrated my 28th birthday and actually celebrated it with Andrea- something we haven't done in six years!

-I attend a women's bible study every Tuesday that Melanie Frei teaches.  She and I worked together at Youthope when I was in high school and college and I have enjoyed reconnecting with her!  The study takes a look at the book of Psalms and also emphasises basic bible knowledge- like memorizing our books of the bible, so Weston and I are doing this together.  (He can rattle off Genesis through Nahum with little to no prompting!)  The study also provided another learning opportunity for Weston- being separated from mom!  It took a couple of weeks, but he now does great going to the child care while I do my study:)

-With some of my free time I have also been helping Michael's dad get some of his writings printed into books.  I have enjoyed this work and look forward to purchasing each book so our children will have a collection of books their Pipi wrote!  I also like seeing the joy it brings to Michael's dad.  He writes and illustrates stories based on his interactions with his grandchildren, and I think that is so special.  Here is an excerpt from one of our latest creations.

-Other than that I fill my days with preparing meals, changing diapers, planning structured learning activities for the boys, and just plain hanging out with them!

Now if that isn't an update, I don't know what is!  It is officially 3am and I NEVER stay up this late (well, out of my own free will)!!!  So, if there is typos then I will blame it on the time.  Goodnight!

Blog Hold

Okay, I am not totally abandoning this blog- yet, but it is so much easier and faster for me to post pictures on Facebook. So, since at this phase in life leaves me with limited computer time, I am putting this blogging thing on hold. However, I will keep Facebook updated with pictures and videos!

Guardian Angel

Michael was listening to Relevant Radio this morning and found out an interesting little tid bit that I just had to pass on. Father Rocky was talking about guardian angels and explained that you can find out the name of your guardian angel. He said that all you have to do is speak to your angel and simply ask him/her what his/her name is. The first name that pops into your head is his/her name. Michael and I were both a little hesitant to do this for some reason, but we both simply said, "What is your name?" and we were both surprised by what names popped into our heads. The names seemed too random to not be real. For both of us the names came immediatly- almost like our guardian angels were so excited we finally asked! What are their names you ask? Well, Michael's guardian angel's name is Jeffery and mine is Nancy. Michael and I looked up the meaning of these names and Jeffery mean God's peace and Nancy means grace and favor. What is your angel's name?

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

The day has come! I have been patiently waiting for Weston to start singing songs, and Sunday night on our way home from Necedah he randomly started singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star really loud in the car. Michael and I thought it was the cutest thing! Today I caught him on camera singing to himself while eating his snack and playing with his cup. (You may have to turn up the sound at first, but he does eventually get louder.)