Potty Training & More

I thought it would never happen, but Ethan is almost completely potty trained. FINALLY! He still has to wear a pullup at nap time & during the night, but we're working on it & he's doing really well. He goes all by himself now & after Erik comes home he'll even put his clothes back on for himself. Granted, he's still trying to convince me that he can't do it & that I need to put them on for him.

Evan is getting bigger all the time. He still thinks that he needs to eat everything in sight (even if it belongs to a stranger). At the grocery store yesterday, I let the boys have a sample of the sausage biscuit that they were demo-ing. The lady cut is pretty small (thankfully because I knew Evan would shove the entire thing in his mouth as soon as he got it). So they ate their pieces & then Evan proceeded to cry for the next 10 minutes because he wanted more. Mind you, I fed them before we left to go to the store.

He's also starting to talk more now. Ethan rambled & baby talked quite a bit at this age and Evan doesn't really do that much. He will do it from time to time, but most of the time he's quiet unless he has something to say. For instance, he's started asking for his cup now when he wants it.

The boys will be spending their first night in a long time away from me next weekend. Erik & I are going to Houston for my best friend Jeremy's 30th Birthday Party Roast. Ethan is going to Mammaw & Papa Wilder's & Evan is going to Granny & Grandpa Hamm's house. It should be for an interesting weekend.

Hurricane Ike. What can I say? It's so crazy to look at pictures of Texas City & Galveston and realize that things that I'd known my whole life no longer exist. The dike looks to have been wiped clean on both sides. No more bait camps, no more docks for the shrimpers. And Galveston... wow. My mom's office was on Harborside Drive (Port Industrial or Port I to those of us that grew up down there). The building is at the corner of 37th & is just after you come off of the big 4way bridge if you are headed towards UTMB. It took on 14 feet of water, 4' of which was over the loading dock and into my mom's office. Below the loading dock was the warehouse. All of the saws and metal in stock was under water. Mom's office had to be gutted and she lost all of her pics of the boys. Thank God this is the digital age & I can reproduce any picture that she had. Their house fared surprisingly well. There was no damage other than the loss of a few shingles, and the loss of power for a few days. Mom came up here & stayed with us, while dad rode out the storm in the house in Hitchcock. I'm so very very grateful that he is okay, as is their house. Some friends in the area weren't as lucky. I can't imagine what would have happened if this had been a stronger storm.