Cohen's 2nd Birthday!

Last Saturday we went to Paiton's best friend, Cohen's, birthday party. They had it at Linder Farms and it was so fun! First we had cupcakes and Cohen (with Paiton's help of course) opened his presents.

Yummm! Chocolate milk in a spider cup!

Cohen and Paiton checking out the new toys!

We had a redo of the fair, Paiton begged and begged to ride the ponies, then freaked out when I put her on one, so we watched from the sidelines and waved to Coco!

Paiton made a new, very sweet friend!

Playing in the box full of dried corn! So fun!

Look at that pretty girl! (Collecting rocks - she loves them so much!)

A running action shot! Haha!

I'm going to be two!

And we have some exciting news to share!

On Saturday Paiton went potty in her potty for the first time!!! Woohoo!! We have been trying for awhile but she has just been sitting on it reading her books, but this time, success! Afterward she looked into the potty and said "Well that's gross!" and walked away. Hehe!

When Cadon was being potty trained Papa would hang dollars from the wall that he would get if he went potty like he was supposed to. Well now it's Paiton's turn!

Woohoo! Paiton isn't a typical kid who wants to immediately spend her money, she loves to put her money in her piggy bank! She thinks it's funny because the pig says "Feed me, feed me!" When she puts money in!

And in even better news, she went poopy in her potty today, Thursday!! We are soooo proud of her! She gets a Dora sticker every time and she is so proud of it she is taking a nap with that sticker as we speak!! :)

That night we had a bonfire (probably the last one of the season) at Nana and Papa's. Paiton loves bonfires and it's so cute to hear her talk about it!

Here are just a few pictures from yesterday and today.

Paiton loves this Toy Story chair I got her last year. Yesterday she decided she needed some popcorn while sitting in it, and she decided to put it in the cupholder!!

Paiton got a new hat and I made her model it for me this morning!

Ok this next picture is SO cute you have to prepare yourself!!

Agh!!! So cute!! I think she is picking up some tips from Toddlers and Tiaras, she loves to watch that show, she calls it "the girls in the pretty dresses". :) Don't worry, we will NEVER enter her in those crazy pageants, she just thinks it's too fun to watch!

Good news!!!

We have been trying to keep busy around here and do some fun things! I have a ton of pictures to upload, but I'll do it in sections so it's not too overwhelming! :)

Last week Paiton and I went to Bounce with cousins Amy, Dane, and Alyson.

Paiton loves Bounce and had a lot of fun!

She preferred going down the slides backwards, silly girl!

Our little princess gets just about anything she wants, which includes telling us how she'd like to sit, which one morning was this way:

Matt saw this onesie at Albertsons and though Paiton needed it! Even cheerleaders need naps!

Paiton is such a good girl, and so loving and sweet, however lately she has been testing her boundaries by saying things she knows she's not allowed to. Her favorites are "zip it" (which is hilarious, but totally not appropriate to say to Mommy and Daddy), and "shut up". They get her a time out every time, but sometimes she just seems to not be able to resist!

We have always done time outs with Paiton and they work wonders! She knows what is expected of her and if we tell her she gets a time out she sits nicely (usually crying though) in her time out corner until her time is up, then she gives kissies and says "sorry" and it's over with.

Yesterday was a big day for Paiton. A year ago she had her first VCUG, which showed the kidney reflux she had that caused bladder and kidney infections. Every day since then she has had to take a preventative antibiotic, and when she gets a fever it's a big worry. Yesterday was her follow up VCUG. Two things could have happened: she could have outgrown the reflux and that would be the end of it, or she wouldn't have outgrown it and would have to have surgery to correct it. And....she outgrew it!!!!!!! YAY!!! That was huge news for us and such a relief!

Matt wasn't able to go yesterday because it was during school and basketball practice. We found out I wasn't going to be able to be in the room during the actual procedure because I am pregnant and it's a series of x-rays. So Nannie agreed to go and help me out! We are so glad she did! She helped calm Paiton down and also helped with the yucky part of holding her down while they do the test!

When we got there they said that Paiton was old enough to have sedation if we thought it would help. I decided to go for it. She knew why we were there (having 8 catheters in the course of a year makes her completely weary of doctors) and she kept telling Mom and I "Doctors hurt me!" It was sooo heartbreaking! So we agreed to sedation and she was taken to a room. We undressed her and put her in a gown ("Pretty dress") and got her weighed, all of which was met with terror and screaming from P. She weighed 23 pounds and was given some medicine to relax her, Versed. The nurse commented that she doesn't usually give kids the full amount, but she could tell Pai would need it! We then waited awhile for it to take effect. She did calm down and got pretty loopy! It was hilarious! Nannie was sitting on a chair next to Paiton's bed and she kept telling her "Out of the chair Nannie! Sit on the floor now!" It was so funny! She also would just stare off into space and go between laughing and crying. The funniest part was that she moved in slow motion! Everything she did was soooo slow!

Just after her medicine:

Finally it was time to go to the xray room. We got to go for a ride on the bed!! We got there and they got a catheter in pretty quick, thank goodness! They did good at blowing bubbles and putting a movie of kittens and puppies on the ceiling to try and keep her interest. Then I had to leave while they did the xrays, which was pretty quick. When I came back in her catheter was out and she was ready to go! The radiologist told us that he did 3 tests and didn't see any reflux!! Wooohoooo!!!

She got a popsicle and a wagon ride out of the hospital! She thought that was really cool!

I definitely expected her to fall asleep in the car on the way home, but she didn't!! She just kept doing silly things. She was sucking on her toes and saying "I'm so funny!" She cracked me up!

Then we got home and told Daddy all about how everything went. We thought the good news deserved a celebration dinner so we took a still drugged up Paiton to Red Robin. While we were there she turned to the booth behind us, grinned, and tickled the man sitting behind us! Luckily he just laughed and said he has plenty of grandkids and she must have known he was a Papa! Crazy girl!!

In baby news, there's not much to report! I had a pretty rough weekend being ridiculously sick, I will definitely be happy when the first trimester is finally over, which still seems so far away! :( I am still taking my nausea medicines, which sometimes work, and sometimes don't! You just never know!! My mom came over on Friday to help with Paiton because I was so so sick, and that night Matt took her to Brandon's to play with the boys so I could rest. Sunday was more of the same, just hanging out at home because I couldn't do much! Saturday we went to Paiton's friends birthday party, and I will post those pictures soon!!

The Full Story

I guess I should share the story of baby #2. (Don't worry, not the WHOLE story!)
We were not trying to have a second baby, and this was a total shock to us. I've never really bought the "We're so surprised we're having a baby!" thing before, as it's usually followed by "Well but we weren't really trying not to!" In our case, we WERE trying not to! I took my pill every day at the same time, so this baby truly is a SHOCK baby! We are at a crazy time as we will be moving soon, and I don't even have health insurance! So as expensive as I thought Paiton was, this baby will be even more so!
I took a pregnancy test (Ok, 2!) on September 14, as a reassurance to myself that I wasn't pregnant. Well that backfired!! I don't remember what exactly I said in that Target bathroom, but I know it wasn't nice, and I know that it was followed with tears! We had hoped to have Paiton be older before adding a second baby to the crew. We just love her so much and want our special time with her, she is amazing. When this baby is born Paiton will be 2 1/2, which people say is a really good age difference to have in siblings.
At first we weren't super thrilled with having this decision be out of our hands. The day we found out, Matt confided in his good friend who had gone through the same thing. He bought us lottery tickets to play that day, since we had beaten the odds once, might as well try again! Since I am typing this from work, it's needless to say we didn't win!
I went to my first doctor appointment on Sept. 28. So far the only symptoms I was having was terrible morning sickness and extreme tiredness. Matt was still hoping to find out there wasn't actually a baby in there. As I was telling the doctor about my symptoms she was doing an ultrasound. I don't think I'll ever forget the first time we saw that baby on the screen. She said "There's the culprit!" And there it was, a little lima bean with a beating heart. She gave me my due date: May 20. Because I had lost 4 pounds in a week from being so sick and I couldn't even tell her the last time I had eaten food, she wanted to see me again in 2 weeks.
I went in yesterday for my 2nd ultrasound. This time Lima Bean Baby (as we have fondly started calling it, or Bean for short) had arms and legs! I got to see it wiggling around and got some more pictures, which I will upload later. This appointment I had lost another 2 pounds from continuing to be sick, but since the weight loss had slowed Dr. Jones said I didn't have to come back for another 4 weeks, when I'll get another ultrasound.
The first appointment the heartrate was 124, this time 180, which I am thrilled with because they say a fast heartrate means a girl! This was true for Paiton. We are obviously going to be happy with just a healthy baby, but we are both hoping for another girl! We love our little girly girl so much and we both just picture us having two girls, so send us some girly vibes! :)
We have told Paiton about it, and although I don't think she understands just yet, she says she wants to hold the baby, and she gives my belly kisses. We know she will be an amazing big sister, and quite the little helper mommy!
I continue to battle boughts of nausea along with being so tired all the time. I swear at any given time I could lay down and sleep for hours. It helps that Paiton is such a good girl all the time and I get to work from home. That way we can hang out in our jammies if I'm not feeling up to doing more than that!
Thanks for all the well-wishes everyone, we are excited to share this next journey in our lives with you!

Oops! We did it again!

That's right!! The Locke family is expanding!

Baby #2 is due on May 20, 2011!

Fall Fun!

Alright so apparently I turned into a slacker blogger! I'm sorry!

I will try to catch up on what's been going on!

Paiton has been a busy girl!

She has been eating bananas in the bathtub:

And playing at Monkey Bizness!

Last weekend we did our annual apple picking!! It is SO much fun and we look forward to it every year! We go to an orchard (or a couple) out in Emmett. The weather was really nice and there were plenty of apples! Last year we went too late and had trouble finding any!

The babies loved playing in the pumpkin cut outs!

Paiton LOVED eating the apples! She ate so many! Her and Cadon were on a mission to find "baby apples" to eat!

Big boy Cadon picking his own apples!

Yum yum!!!

Someone is getting glared at!!

Dad doing tricks with the picker:

Typical Brandon face! He carved his initial into an apple, then stuck it in a tree!

Paiton picking apples!

Love my girl!

Just another happy family picture!! ;)

And my funny Paiton stories for this entry:

~The other day Matt and I wanted kisses from Paiton. Instead of kissing us, she licked us each on the face! When I asked her why she did that she said "Those are spiderman kissies!" We have no idea how she came up with this, but it is hilarious! She frequently gives us spiderman kissies now!!

~She has a couple little freckles on her arms now, and she loves to show us and tell us about her "peckles"!

~She is so sweet and getting sweeter by the day. She will now tell us "I love you too!" or "I love you more!" But my personal favorite is this: sometimes she'll grab your face with both her little hands, put her nose right up to yours, and say "I love you soooo much!" It is THE sweetest thing ever!! Melts my heart every time!

~Paiton (for some odd reason) loves the Stevens Henegar and Brown Mackie college commercials. If she sees one she will say "Look Mommy! College!" The other day we drove past one of their buildings, and sure enough, she saw it and told us "Look! College!" It is seriously so funny!! We are hoping she aims a little higher in 16 years when it's time to go to college!

In other Locke news I need to brag about my husband! Last year he won the grant that he applied for, which everyone already knew. Well we are still getting some benefits from that! They gave him free tickets to the BSU Homecoming game last weekend and we got to go! It was a lot of fun and we even got a free dinner beforehand! Matt and I NEVER go out just the two of us, so it was a really fun night!

But that's not all! Last week he won a Teacher of the Month award! It is put on by a radio station here and people write in and nominate teachers. This was the first month and Matt was the very first winner ever!!! It was awesome! He won some gift cards - McDonalds, Walmart, and a couple others I believe. He also got a gift certificate to our favorite restaurant EVER - Mona Lisa!!! He also won a basket of school supplies for his classroom, and his school got some boxes of paper as well!! Which is awesome, because of budget cuts they ran out of paper last year! AND his class gets a pizza party this week!! Way to go Matt!!

Matt with the radio station people and his plaque:

At a school assembly last week the radio station came and presented Matt with his awards and read the letter that was written about him! Here are some bad pictures I took, the gym was dark, and I had to sit far away in the bleachers!

I was hoping to post the letter that was written about him, but I can't find it online anymore. It was very nice! They even talked about Matt on the radio after they had given him the award and commented that "Mr. Locke couldn't have been nicer!"