Swiper no swiping!

A week ago we learned that Jimmy will be moving to a new position at the beginning of January and relief filled the air.  I won't steal his thunder and tell you what exactly he'll be doing, but he will be getting out of police work and we will be able to get off food stamps.  (ok, the food stamp part is a joke, but this new job is not only a great opportunity, its pay is a heck of a lot better than being a police officer.)    Jimmy is rightfully sad to be saying goodbye to the good people of the New Carrollton City Police Department, his take home car, and beloved gun belt.  He'll get over it soon enough.   I insisted we celebrate this accomplishment with sushi and a babysitter :)))

Another milestone from last week included my entering the fun category of "late twenties."  yay.  I was surrounded by birthday wishes and had a chance to exercise my right as the birthday girl and had some good ol' fun.   Friday the 3rd I went out for dinner and drinks with former co-workers while Jimmy babysat and Saturday Jimmy and I went out with Kevin, Katie, Justin and Megan for Hibachi and bowling.  Both nights were a perfect break from my daily routine and I had a great time with friends. I couldn't think of a better way to ring my next year.

This past week, Ashton has been pant-free as part of potty training and we have had no accidents!  We are going to be adding special underwear to the mix in the next day or so, so he can get used to pulling them down.  I think we're going to be fully trained by Christmas.   We have a little routine after he uses the potty: we do the pee-pee dance, wash our hands (as a little reward, he can wash as LONG as he wants), then we get a sticker.  He's so proud of himself. However, according to Ashton, the entire family is in training.  You haven't lived until you've seen Ashton run in the bathroom and yell "YAY DADDY!!" and start the pee-pee dance when Jimmy successfully uses the toilet.  This never gets old.

Ashton going potty all by himself!  (please ignore lunch all over his shirt)

Sweet baby Rea doesn't stand idly by with all of the attention on Ashton, so she decided to start pulling up and standing this week.  She'll just stand with nothing to hang on to for a couple of seconds, which hasn't given me enough of a chance to grab the camera and snap a shot, but I keep trying. Also as she gets older and more mobile she has started to really get on Ashton's nerves.  I call her Swiper because she'll come right over to him and swipe whatever strikes her fancy.  He is incredibly tolerant of her, but after a couple swipes of his paci or toy he gets agitated, so I've taught him to say "Swiper, no swiping!"  Just like Dora. 

Reagan playing with her music table.  Just saw the doctor and she's 17 lbs and 9 oz and 26 3/4 in long.  Our peanut is getting big!

Here are some recent videos of the kids: 

Video of Ashton showing some tricks
Video of Reagan eating
Ashton washing his hands