Happy Birthday to Me!

 From December 31st (my birthday) to January 27th Graham asked almost every day when it was going to be "Happy Birthday to Me?"  :)  The day finally came, and as is completely typical for Graham these days, it went from this:

To this:

in a matter of 10 seconds.  Only to be saved by some 'cash monies' sent from the great grandma and grandpas.  And now we're back to this:

Ahh, life with a 3 year old  :)  He wen on to open gifts from Mommy and Daddy and we celebrated with brownies.  All and all, a good 27th of January was had by everyone.

 

On Saturday the 29th we celebrated again with a Buzz and Woody party and family and friends.  There was complete chaos, tantrums, tears and plenty of laughter... all the makings of a great 3rd birthday.  He ended the night by helping himself to what what left of the cake  :)  Happy birthday Peanut, Mommy and Daddy love you to pieces!

Catching Up

I am so far behind on blogging I have actually dreaded writing a post  :(  I somehow feel this pressure to have to catch up on everything we have been doing since my last post, which to be honest was a quick snip it as it was.  Needless to say the daunting task of trying to get my "pregnancy brain" to remember what has gone on in the last 2 months just seems too over whelming, so here the a few details in the life of the Ahlers' that I can remember and then I am just starting fresh:

• We moved, yay!  On Jan. 14th we closed on our new house in Iowa City and we are in Heaven.  More room, better layout, awesome neighborhood and schools.  We are thrilled!
• Graham's 3rd birthday.  With a small set back on theme, we were supposed to do 'How to Train Your Dragon' but we couldn't get the decorations, we settled for Toy Story and had a blast.  Pictures to come in the next post.
• The month of February :(  I am going to chalk this month up to a solid D- in the books.  With the exceptions of 2 warm days and surviving leading an entire MOPS meeting, February has not been the best month on record. 
• Graham is really, really struggling behavior wise.  We've tried nearly every discipline/ reward strategy in the book, but the combination of his age, his strong will and being cooped up from winter is not boding well.  It's a work in progress.
• We are also STILL working on pooping on the potty... longest year ever!  I don't know that we are any closer, but I keep telling myself we are as we have until Sept. to get it mastered.
• The baby keeps pinching some crazy nerve in my lower back that sends shooting pain down my right leg and makes functioning/ sleeping practically impossible.
• And on top of it, it snowed again... super fail.  Now we are stuck back inside, BOO!
• So what's a gal to do?  Sometimes you just have to give the month an "N" for needs improvement and hope next month brings new hope.

So that's where we are... hoping for good behavior, warm weather and a new baby sister.  Hoping spring comes soon!