Ainsley kinda rolled over!

Here's a sequence of pictures I took of Ainsley rolling off her play mat! Last Friday, she just didn't want to stay on the playmat. I tried to get her to roll on the floor and she got about half-way!


Here she goes!


And she is off! We did this for awhile!

Rolla Pictures

Jack is throwing the cat (fish) food.

Here's how potty trained we are--Jack loves peeing outside. He REALLY wanted to pee in the water at Meramac Springs, but we all said no, so he had to settle for the plants!
Feeding more fish!
Every boy needs his stick! He loves playing with sticks--I just don't get it!
Jack, Papa, and Grandma feeding the last of the fish before we go home!

My Friend Amy

Here is an article from the St. Louis paper about one of my best friend's (Amy Lasky-Pollock) brother, Jeremy Lasky, who works for Pixar. It's kinda fun to know someone who works in the movie business. BTW--he is an amazing artist and the Laskey's are an amazing family! Congrats!!

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article

We are potty trained!!!!

After many toys and bribes, I'm am pleased to annouce that Jack is potty trained for the daytime. He still has accidents when he is sleeping, but does pretty well at night too! We had to buy many toys to accomplish this feat, but he is potty trained. He loves to pee in the grass, off the dock, in the creek, etc. I guess he is a regular guy! Now, if I could only get Ainsley potty trained, I'd be done with diapers!

Back Home

Well, we ended up staying in Rolla one more day because Daddy was super busy at work. Now we are home in KC and the kids were thrilled to be back. Now, that's not to say we didn't have a blast in Rolla. Jack and Papa ended up catching a racoon on Wednesday morning and had to release it into the wild. Then Papa let Jack throw rocks in creek, which is so much fun!! I'm sure no one realizes how much fun throwing rocks into water can be! On the way home, Jack and Papa cut "Sweet Pea" (Ainsley's nickname) flowers and Jack gave some to mommy, Grandma, and Ainsley--he even had enough for himself. After they got home, Papa went to play raquetball and Jack had to go too! He loves to hit the ball on the Vessell's courts. Finally, it was off to sleep only to get up and go to the pool. We didn't actually go to the pool on Tuesday because Jack was too sleepy. So, we went on Wednesday. He hated it until he realized he could touch, then it was so much fun we couldn't leave. There were large tears when we left!

Ainsley loved being rocked by Grandma and Papa! She also loves sitting in her BebePod seat and playing with her toys on here! She also liked the pool, however, she mostly slept during the pool visit on grandma's lap. But the best part of this girl is she loves shopping! We visited Red Door Gifts in Rolla and she loved it! Mom and I have taken her lots of places and she is just so good. It's nice that she likes shopping!

Once we got home, Jack immediately went to watch his new Thomas dvd and needed to play outside. Ainsley got into her bouncer and played for quite a while! You could tell she missed her toys.

Mom and dad--thanks for a great week! We appreciate all of your help and had so much fun at your house! We can't wait to visit again!

Rolla and Meramec Springs visit

I'm blogging today from Rolla, MO! Jeff had to take a trip up to Minnesota for a work presentation so it was a road trip for the rest of us to Papa and Grandma Russell's house. We arrived Sunday evening--grandma helped us on the way down. We of course had to stop in Columbia, MO, a town I LOVE, to shop a moment. Last night we decided to take a picnic to Meramec Springs and to feed the fish. Needless to say, Jack had a blast! He threw cat food to the fish (apparently, trout love cat food). He was afraid of the waterfalls and had to hold onto Grandma's legs). He wanted to cry when we left. I promised we would come back another time. I know Ainsley had a great time too! She was kicking me in her because she was excited!

Jack ended up getting a haircut in Rolla. He went to Daddy's barber shop this morning. In Kansas City, we visit Shear Madness at Zona Rosa. He loves to ride in the airplane and watch movies and eat suckers, but he usually cries. However, today, he sat in the barber's chair and didn't cry a bit. Now, he thought about it, but never cried!! His hair cut looks great! Thanks Dennis and Mike!

Ainsley has been a hoot this week! She squeals, she is reaching for her toys on her carseat, and wants to turn over! She arches her back when she wants to see something behind her! She is moving and shaking and I'm loving every second of it!

I need to go wake Jack up, which is totally against my whole blog idea (never wake a sleeping baby), but we want to go to the pool before it gets too late toniight!!! Daddy comes home tonight and then we will be back in KC tomorrow night. We miss you Daddy!

Family Fun on the Farm

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Shatto Family Farm this morning. After a quiet week at home--except from a good visit from Aunt Joan, Aunt Nola, Kristen, and Katie, we decided we could all go to the Shatto Dairy Farm for awhile. It is located just north of KC in a little town called Osborn.

This place was packed--there was a tour bus there! It opened at 11 and we arrived around 11:45am. We had to wait to do everything. Since it was so full, we decided to only see the baby cows and milk a cow. Luckily the wait for this was like 20-30 minutes. Jack and Ainsley both loved looking at the baby calves. Most were between a couple of days old to a couple of weeks old. However, we were fortunate to see a calf born TODAY! It still had the umbilical cord attached! There was a lady just standing in the pen holding the calf up--so it wouldn't fall! That was pretty cool!

After seeing the baby calves, we walked to the milking area. We thought for sure Jack would at least touch the cow, but we were WRONG! Jeff ended up milking the cows and petting the cows while Ainsley and I took pictures. We milked a cow named Bambi and petted a cow names Patches. We then walked to the milking stalls and out of the barn!

After seeing the cows, Jack wanted to go bounce in the big bouncer. This did not go well because he wanted to do what the big kids did, and he ended up getting bounced around too much! After some huge tears, we decided to go home. I think the line for lunch was around 45 minutes long and the hayride was about the same. To sample a few products, the wait was around 20 minutes. It was fun, but incredibly busy! I would recommend this adventure to anyone, but maybe go during the week when they are actually using the farm instead of showing it off!

Jack and the Seadoo

Jack loves driving the Seadoo at the Lake. However, we do believe he now doesn't like the innertube. We went on a ride on Sunday morning and unfortunately, Jack and Jeff fell off together, backwards, so mom bailed too. Jack screamed and kept telling me he wanted to go home. Poor Jack. Unfortunately for him, dad and mom will make him get back on the tube next time we are down there. Let's hope we don't fall off!

Great Grandparents

I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of the Great-

Grandparents with the grandkids. I think

Grandma said it best, "My cup runneth over!" I do believe they had a good weekend with the grandbabies!

Hailey Paige Beisser and Ainsley

This weekend I finally met my new niece, Hailey. The girls are exactly 6 weeks apart to the time! We had a wonderful weekend seeing Kelly, the great-grandparents, grandparents, and Matt. It is amazing to think that Ainsley is 11 weeks old this week and Hailey is 5 weeks old. The picture on the left shows Ainsley in the hairbow and Hailey to her right. I can't wait to watch these girls grow up!! What fun it will be!

Wacky, Wild Day

After leaving the Lake this afternoon after a wonderful weekend with family, meeting my new neice Hailey, and seeing great-grandma and grandpa, which I will blog about later, we encountered huge thuderstorms. Here we were, just riding along, listening to the NASCAR race (go Junior!) when the radio station started in on severe thunderstorm warnings. Now, we drive 54 alot when we go to the lake, but we just aren't familar with the counties. We can see the thunderstorms, but really don't know where they are located. After numerous interruptions, which really was begining to irritate us, I finally pull out a map of Missouri to see where these counties they were talking about were located. Low and behold, we were headed right toward them. We talk about it for a minute and decide to head on because we were hoping they would pass before we reached the really bad part. Then we hear yet another warning, but this time it was a TORNADO WARNING. We listened to the information again and realized we were headed right toward it. What are we to do? Here we have our two kids, a dog, and a car full of stuff, really don't know where we are in relation to the storm and have no radar in the car. I really wish with today's technology we had weather radios in cars and now I really would like a radar in my car so I could see the storm. It is amazing what we rely upon when in these situations.

A couple of minutes later we enter a town called Weaubleau, Missouri--approximately 4 miles east of the 54/13 interchange. As we enter town we hear the tornado sirens. We start to look around as to where to stop, but we have no idea and just follow the other cars out of town. We listen to the radio, look at the map and decide to go ahead because it seemed the storm was north of us. However, we were WRONG. No more than a mile out of town we see this ominous wall cloud in front of us and it kinda seems like it is rotating. We begin to realize THIS was a tornado. We turn to go back into town where we stop at a Shell gas station. I run inside and ask the ladies where is the storm shelter. They then tell me to get my family and come into the store and get into the cooler. Needless to say, I was SCARED! We had to get the kids out of the car and of course both were sleeping, and leave Roxy in the car. We felt terrible for her, but we made it out okay. We stayed at the station for about 45 minutes before getting back into the car. The ladies at the Shell station were wonderful! We later found out the Baptist church across the street and down a little is the storm shelter--just so you know if you are ever in Weaubleau, Missouri, you know where the local storm shelter is located.

We met another family from Lawrence while during this adventure. We both had two little kids and had been visinting the lake for the weekend and also really didn't feel like hitting the ditches with the kids. We also met another wonderful lady and her three kids. She was so nice--she bought Jack a sucker and chips because he was so scared. The people in the town were so friendly and welcoming. We called our families and let them know we were okay. Of course they were happy and scared (we had just called my parents to let them know what was happening in case we were stuck in the cooler in the Shell station because of the tornado and our phone lost signal for a bit so they were a bit more scared), but also asked if we took any pictures and of course I didn't because it was just scary. I can't really describe it but a large cloud touching the ground and rotating around. Fortunately, I don't believe there was any damage, but now I can saw I have seen a tornado. By the time we got to Highway 13 we saw the sun again--all the way up to Kansas City. I couldn't believe how nice it was to see the sun!

Happy Father's Day!!!

After yet another storm night we will be heading this weekend to the Lake for Father's Day weekend. Ainsley will meet her Great-Grandma and Grandpa Doty this weekend before they take off for their summer vacation. We will also get to finally meet my neice (cousin) Hailey for the first time! I'm so excited to be an Aunt. Finally a kid I can spoil and send back home to mom and dad. I can't wait for the day that Hailey will come and visit and play with Jack and Ainsley by herself. My aunts and uncles used to take Rob and I for up to a week during the summer doing all sorts of fun stuff. I remember before my cousins Jeff and Amy were born my Aunt Shirley taking us to Oceans of Fun and Kaledescope here in KC. My other Aunts--Joan and Nola would take all of us cousins to Worlds of Fun, the diner in Forest City, and the city pool in Oregon, MO. Those were the fun and easy days! I only hope I get to make those memories with my neice.

I hope all the men with kids out there have a wonderful Father's Day!

Potty Training Updae

I kept both kids home yesterday because I wanted to concentrate with Jack on potty training. On Wednesday night, Jack and I visited Target to find toys, aka--bribes--for potty training. We purchased everything from paratroopers to trucks to trains to dvds. We were very successful yesterday! We also made a potty chart so everytime he tells mommy or daddy he receives a stickers. After he receives a designated amount he receives a toys. Yesterday he was so successful he received three toys!!! He still won't poop in the toilet, but he is now telling me as soon as he has finished--Hey, that's progress for us! We'll take anything right now! I'm hoping he will have this down pretty soon. Keeping our (yours too!) crossed...

Ainsley's 2 month Check-Up

Yesterday was Ainsley's two month checkup. She received her 3 shots and an oral vaccine. She's a bleeder with the shots, but she doesn't scream as much as Jack does!

Weight: 1o lbs. 5 oz (50th percentile)

Length: 23 inches (75th percentile)

She smiles, she coos, she SLEEPS!! It is amazing, she looks like Jack, but they have completely different personalities. He was always nursing and awake--I mean he never slept! Ainsley eats regularly, just not constant and sleeps! Now, I know the blog name is never wake a sleeping baby, but sometimes I have to a night or she will sleep all night and I will have tons of pain since I am still nursing!!! Our family has decided Jack has Jeff's sleeping habits and Ainsley has my sleeping habits. I forsee the future: the girls sleeping in and the boys out playing on the weekends at the crack of dawn--Oh yea--that has already happened!

My kids are amazing--I can be having a rotten day and just a smile or a lion kiss will completely change my mood. I love you two!

Jack at 2 months

Ainsley at 2 months

My kids are amazing--I can be having a rotten day, but a smile or a lion kiss will completely change my moode. I love you two!! I have a friend, Janel, who said, "Keep a camera around because they change so much". Man she was right. Thanks for telling me because our camera is always out!

Our Exciting Weekend

I know it's Wednesday, but I wanted to share our new swingset with everyone. Jeff has been working on this on and off since Ainsley was born and I'm not going to go into the story of purchasing this swingset from Costco, but with 34 steps to the swingset it has been completed! Jack loves it! So do our neighbors--we had them all over on Monday night to play and the little ones love it! Jack says thanks daddy and grandpa's for making the best swingset ever!

The Joys of Potty Training

We are and have been working on potty training with Jack for awhile now. He knows exactly what to do, but will not go in the potty. We bought a little potty and a potty seat(which he prefers). We bought him Thomas the Train, Elmo, Shrek, Mickey Mouse, Army, and Cars underware, but he still will not officially potty train for us. He will wet his pants and will then go to the potty, but only then--he will not tell us he must go!!!! We have given him Skittles, Jelly Beans, Starbursts, but again will NOT tell us he must go!

After a trip to Wal-Mart today, I bought him a little airplane like my brother had growing up. It is just a little Matchbox airplane for $2.27 at Wal-Mart. I showed it to him and he was VERY excited to have a new airplane or big jet as he says. He really wanted that airplane tonight, so we told him IF he told mommy he needed to go potty, he could have the airplane. No more than 3 minutes later, he said, "Mommy, I need to go potty!" We rushed to the bathroom and he went!!!!!! Finally, some success! We were so excited in our house. I will buy him as many airplanes as it takes to get him potty trained!

If anyone reading this has any other ideas on potty training, PLEASE comment to me or send me an email. Any help would be appreciated!! I will also be starting a sticker chart--when he lets me know he needs to go, he gets a sticker. After three stickers, he will get a toy from Target or Wal-Mart. However, I think I hope we found the trick with the airplane! Keep your fingers crossed...

What a Beautiful Day!

After another stormy night and the weather radio not working, we have an absolutly gorgeous day on our hands. I decided to let Jack stay home today instead of going to Bambi's and this morning we took a nice walk. Ainsley slept during the entire walk, but Jack and I found this huge snapping turtle in a neighbor's yard! I really haven't seen a turtle that big.



After our walk, we went to a neighbor's house to jump on the trampoline. Jack loves to jump!!We had lunch at Taco Bell (sorry dad--we just had to eat out!)--Jack wanted nachos and of course they forgot to put those in the bag, but mom managed to save the day by giving him cinnamon twists. Now he is supposed to take a nap, but when I last checked, he was wide awake! This is not a good sign for the afternoon. I was planning on going to Target after his nap, but that may have to wait until tonight or tomorrow.



BTW--our deck is finally finished! We have been living in this house for 2 years and have never had a deck we could really use. I can't wait until this weekend to put out the deck furniture and eat out! Now we can entertain outside and feel like a normal house!



I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the great weather!

Update on Weather Radio

After a couple of emails, I found out that I am supposed to put the radio on Channel 7. NO WHERE in the instructions does it say to program the channel. I informed the company of this information. Let's see what happens. So...whoever buys a weather radio--make sure and put it on the correct channel!

Weather Radio

So, I just purchased this so called wonderful weather radio that will alarm you when there is a storm warning. It also let's you know about watches in the area. Gary Lezak of KSHB, channel 41, says everyone needs a weather radio as does every other weather caster in the area. So I purchased one, mainly because we had a tornado in early May that hit just over the hill from our house. I really was trying to be very responsible and purchased the Midland WR-100 from Walgreens. Well...all I know is ours doesn't work. So much for the great weather radios. I have already emailed the company concerning this problem. I will keep you updated. However, I will say, everyone really does need a weather radio. After the early May storm, I would suggest everyone get one--just make sure it really works!

Bandwagon and just for Fun

So, I've been on maternity leave long enough to realize I wanted to blog like everyone else and to help save on the phone bills and to share my (our) exciting (NOT!) time here at home! So here it is--nothing special, just random thoughts, big events, and just everyday happenings in our world. I will try to update as much as possible so check back every so often to see what is happening in our world. Please feel free to comment--I would love to hear your thoughts! Here we go!