Grown up Two Year-Old

We were cleaning up before bed tonight and we looked over at Connor who had his arms curved out like he was hugging someone and we hear him say:

"Hold me, Connor!"
"I can't hold me, I'm myself!"

We laughed for about 3 minutes straight.  He is a silly kid.

In other Connor news, this big boy is potty-trained!  I'd been thinking I needed to do it for a few months now, but hello, new baby, so I finally decided to do it a few weeks ago.  Having two kids in diapers is great motivation to get it done. :)  Jeremy had just finished classes and it was still a few weeks before our move, so I figured it was as good a time as any.  Connor's been interested in going on the toilet for a few months and has randomly done so, so it wasn't too hard to get him going.  After a couple days just staying home and him running around naked, he really got the hang of it.  We've finally conquered his phobia of going #2 (he would do it, it just took some pep-talking) and he is doing awesome!  He hasn't been in a diaper during awake time since we started, and within a week he was in underwear 24/7.  We've had a couple accidents here and there - all at home thankfully, but he's really doing amazingly well.  He's very proud of himself and loves to get up on the toilet by himself.  He then exclaims to everyone in the house "I went pee/poop in the toilet!" and demands high-fives from everyone.  Way to go Connor!!  We love you!

Graduation Boat Cruise

FYI - I posted five times today.  Sorry for the overload.  I was going to schedule them out, but I figured what the heck, I'll just put them all up.  So keep scrolling!

Saturday, May 11th, Jeremy's parents came into town and that night Jeremy's class had a River Boat Cruise.  It was our first date since Anna was born and it was very fun!  We had a great time and it was so nice knowing the kids were in such good hands.  I'd been pumping for 2 months and having Jeremy give Anna a bottle every so often so she'd be used to it - all in preparation for that night - and then she pretty much slept the entire time and they didn't even have to feed her.  Haha.  Oh well!

The boat went down the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers - they come together and form the Ohio River.  It was fun to see the city at night and enjoy an evening with some good friends.  I forgot my camera, so I just have a few pictures taken from Tom's iPod.  They served dinner on the boat and then had dancing.  Jeremy was tearin' it up on the dance floor. :)  As the night went on, more and more people got drunk and a little crazy, but all in all it was still a great night!

Mary and I at the end of the night

 On the top deck of the boat, with a blurry city in the background.

 Ready to eat!

We joke about only having "quarterly" dates (it's true though).  Hopefully we can find some nice Young Women in Portland to babysit for us so we can go out a little more often!  I sure like my husband!

Natural History Museum and Opa!

One day Jeremy's parents were here we all went to the Natural History Museum.  It was free that Thursday from 4pm-8pm so it was perfect!  We were surprised how few people were there, considering it was free, but it was great!  The boys always love seeing the dinosaurs and everything else the museum has to offer.

Papa and the boys...and the saber-toothed tiger

Dinosaurs!

Connor hanging with the zebras.  I liked this exhibit because it reminded me of the safari I went on in South Africa many moons ago - zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, giraffes, and water buffalo.

Anna and I and the water buffalo (by the way, here I am sporting my Ergo, which is the best baby carrier ever!  Love it!)

After the museum, we walked across the street to the Greek Orthodox church for their annual Greek Food Festival!  Opa!  It was fun to eat yummy Greek food and enjoy some live music and dancing.

And here's a little taste of the fun music/dancing!

Fun with Grammy and Papa

Here are some other random pictures from the week with Jeremy's parents...

We put their air mattress on top of our bed during the day and George wanted to take a nap, so I joked that he could go on top of the air mattress on top of our bed.  I guess he didn't know I was joking, because we talked by later to see this.  Hahaha!  We couldn't stop laughing and of course had to take a picture.  He was all wrapped up in the blanket and sound asleep!

Our weather was (and is) all over the place.  One of the first days they were here, Connor had a fever and it was pretty chilly outside, but Jeremy, his dad, and Eli went to the park and went on a little nature walk.  It's so green this time of year!

Grammy and Anna at the Open House the school had the night before graduation.

And after graduation we went out to eat.  The boys were cold in the restaurant so they were snuggling. :)

The day they left - they were so nice to help us help our friends move that day.  Jeremy and George helped pack a pod and Debbie and I wrangled 5 kids. :)

Thanks for coming to visit you guys!  We love you!

Graduation!

Graduation was Saturday, May 18th.  It was kind of anticlimactic since Jeremy finished almost 2 weeks before, but it was still nice to do the last thing.  Due to losing Eli for a few minutes after (heart attack), we failed to get any pictures of Jeremy and his parents, but we got some nice pictures before that incident...

Graduation was held in the "Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall" in Pittsburgh.  It was a neat building.  Here you see the stage and the Gettysburg address on the wall above (which I may have been reading during the Dean's talk...oops).

The best we could get of Jeremy walking in. :)

The best we could get of the kids...

Yea!

Friends and co-workers!  Erik's doing the same rotational program at Eaton as Jeremy.

This kid just wanted a cookie from the reception.

And to growl.

Mini Tepper-ites and best buddies these last 2 years.

Hehe, Tom and Jeremy trying to wrangle the 6 kids.  I think they were the only guys with 3 kids.

Wives and supporters.  It's our diploma too! ;) Haha. (And seriously, why is it so giant?)

Yea for graduating!

I'm so behind!

Behind on blogging, that is.  I'm right on schedule for our move though!  And that's what's important at this point.  We are moving on Wednesday!  Craziness.  Jeremy's company is moving us, so there's not that much I have to do, but we've been going through all our stuff to make sure we're not moving junk or things we don't want anymore.  It feels good to do some spring cleaning!  The movers come pack us all up on Tuesday and then load up our stuff on Wednesday.  We decided to be crazy and DRIVE to Portland instead of fly, so we'll leave Wednesday after we finish cleaning.  I know, why would we choose to drive?  Quite a few reasons actually, but basically we figured it was going to take a week for our stuff to get there anyway, so rather than hang out it in a hotel for a week, we could see lots of people along the way!  We get to see 2 of my sisters - one in Iowa, one in Idaho, and we get to stop in Utah and see tons of extended family, friends, and our house!  (PS Riverbend Ward friends - we will be going to church there on June 2nd!  I hope to see you there!!!)

So that's what is on our minds this week.  Planning a 2600-mile road trip is quite the job!  I'm 100% off dairy and we don't eat fast food, so finding healthy stops along the way has been a big job, but I think I have found plenty of options for us now - along with some parks and such in case we need somewhere to run around for a bit.  I'm a little nervous about the trek with 3 kids smashed in the back seat of our Camry, but it will certainly be an adventure!  Our stuff will be arriving in Portland sometime between June 5-7 (we'll know for sure later), so we should be there in 2 weeks!

We've also had lots of fun the past couple weeks.  Jeremy's parents were here for Anna's blessing and Jeremy's graduation and lots of other fun things and we had a GREAT time with them.  It's going to take me a few posts to catch up on everything, but here's a teaser for now.  More to come later!

Blessing Day

Yesterday was a very busy Mother's Day.  It started off the night before - Jeremy's parents came into town that evening and then about an hour later, Jeremy and I left for a Graduation River Boat Cruise put on by his school/class.  More on that later (it was very fun!).  So we had a great time, stayed up way too late when came back and were chatting and then woke up and it was Mother's Day!  I had choir practice, we blessed Anna, Jeremy sang in a men's octet, I spoke, and Eli gave the Article of Faith in Primary :).  It was a busy day!

The highlight though was Anna's blessing.  It was beautiful.  Jeremy's mom made this incredible dress for her which will be a treasured family heirloom.  She looked beautiful!  It was so nice to have them there with us and it was a very sweet blessing.  It was a special day!

Oh, and I finally have a video of Anna that I can post!  This was taken on Debbie's phone last night.  She's a cute girl!

2 Months!

This cute chunky monkey is 2 months old already.  I took her to her 2-month checkup the other day and she's a whopping 14 lbs. 4 oz. (95th percentile) and she's above the chart again on height.

For those wondering about my diet, I am 100% off of dairy.  I've been off a lot of dairy for a long time, but the pediatrician suggested I go completely off.  No butter, cheese, sour cream, milk, etc.  Don't pity me though.  It is SO WORTH having a dream baby.  I've never had a baby so happy and content at this age and seeing as she was the complete opposite before I ditched the dairy, it's the only thing I can attribute it to.  I'm enjoying trying things I hadn't eaten before - so far I'm loving Almond Milk with granola for breakfast and even to make pancakes and waffles (some recipes work better than others).  And who knew pizza without cheese is still super delicious?  I for one did not.  We also made chocolate ice cream using coconut milk last weekend and holy cow it was soooo good.  I'm also trying to mostly avoid citrus because she seems to get fussy again when I have a lot.

In other news, we signed a lease on a house in Portland!!!  Yippee!  We'd been looking for a couple weeks on Craigslist and getting a little discouraged not finding what we were looking for (most stuff was too big/nice/expensive or an apartment) and then this gem popped up and we were so excited!  It's a little less than we thought we'd have to spend, but still has everything we were looking for - 3 bedroom, 2 bath, FENCED BACK YARD!!!, nice neighborhood, KITCHEN COUNTERS!!!, laundry room, garage, etc.  So I called on it and the landlord sent me a bunch more pictures over the next couple days and then Jeremy's cousin's husband's brother's wife went and looked at it for us! Haha, crazy connection.  I had talked to her on the phone before and texted her a few times about areas and she was so nice to offer to go check it out.  She went and loved it and said we better snatch that up so we did!  We feel very blessed to have found something so quickly.  Jeremy's company would have paid for us to fly out there to look, but it's so far over there and we wouldn't have been able to go for another couple weeks, so this is great.  Our least starts June 1st!  Oh boy!