Sleeping

If you look closely at the photo you can see Preston sleeping with his arms stretched out. He is just so sweet. Good night!

Carpet

The Dalbey home now has carpet on our stairs and I am so thankful. I am looking forward to not avoiding the carpet spikes, not worrying about slipping on the wood and not hearing the dogs go up and down every day. Here are a few photos of the finished product. I think it looks great! First, a view from the family room.

Second, Preston admiring the view from the landing.
Third, Preston looking down from the top of the stairs.
Finally, here is the view from the top of the stairs.

the past few days

The past few days have been very busy. Again, lets play catch up.

First, we finally picked out our carpet for the stairs over the weekend. They are being installed on Thursday. No worries, photos will be posted.

Second, I took some time last night to organize the clothes that have been given to Peyton. Here is a picture of everything washed, folded and sorted by size in their proper drawer. Yes, I know, I am way beyond organized...I am a perfectionist.

Third, potty training is still going. We have our ups and downs but that is ok. On Saturday we had no accidents. On Sunday we had 1 accident, on Monday we had no accidents, today we have had 3 accidents. Thankfully these accidents are not major and Preston even caught himself today in the middle of an accident. He is learning and that is our goal. Here is our little man with his construction hat.

Finally, I am 32.5 weeks pregnant. I feel tired and am trying very hard to not complain. My prayer is that I will have the energy to be present with Preston each day before little Peyton arrives. We will try to keep you all updated via our blog. Oh yes, at my 30 week appointment she was measuring at 31 weeks. It is very encouraging to hear that our little girl is healthy and growing.

Catching up

Here are a few updates from the Dalbey Trio. First, Preston continues to be a happy boy and just loves playing with his train set. Sometimes I can't pull him away from his trains or he insists upon bringing one his trains wherever we go. If he doesn't have a train in his hand he is telling me about the trains and their various adventures. He is super sweet and very creative. Here are a couple pictures of Preston playing with his trains the other day.

Second, Preston is making progress on potty training. He usually has about 1 accident a day but stays dry the rest of the time. He likes his big boy underwear from Grammie and Papa and goes willingly to the bathroom when we ask. The phrase that seems to work with him is "clean and dry". We ask him frequently if he is staying "clean and dry" and I think he understands what we are asking. We are still working on potty training when we leave the house and when Preston needs to go #2...I am sure we will get there in time. I am learning that potty training is simply that...training your child to do something new and it just takes time. Some people have asked if we are trying to get Preston potty trained before Peyton is born. While that would be great, I am not counting on it. I just want Preston to learn what it means to be a 'big boy' and encourage him to start doing things himself - perhaps a little bit of healthy independence. I will admit that we would like to have him completely potty trained by the time he is 3 (in August) so he can go to pre-school. Thankfully, we have plenty of time.

Finally, the big news of the week from the Dalbey family is that Steven passed his NCE or National Counselor Exam on Saturday. This is huge! Steven is now one step closer to being a Licensed Professional Counselor (no longer a Counselor in Training). We are very proud of him and thankful that he will not have to take anymore tests! We love you!

Well, that is all for now. I have some other random thoughts but I will save them for another day. Happy Snow Day!

talking v eating

At dinner tonight Preston did a bit more talking/singing than eating. It was super cute and here is the evidence.

Runner Boy

Here is a video of our runner boy, Preston. Tonight, he ran back and forth from the living room to the dinning room for more than 10 minutes. I guess he wanted a little exercise...or maybe he misses the warm weather as much as I do. Enjoy the video.

Preston Update

Happy New Year! Here is a quick Preston update for our readers. Preston is now 29 months old or 2 years and 5 months. Wow! Time goes by so quickly. Preston continues to be a happy and healthy boy. Here is a picture of him on New Years Day.

Here are a few things that Preston has been up to the past month. First, he loves to play with his trains. He will stand at his train table and play for, sometimes more than an hour. Second, Preston loves to tell stories just like his daddy. He loves to share about the adventures of various characters and asks daddy to help with the story. It is really sweet and we can see his creativity growing each day. Third, Preston has been working on potty training. Here is a picture of daddy reading the potty training book to Preston the other day.

So far potty training is going pretty well. Every time he uses the potty he gets an M&M (his favorite treat). We also set a little timer to go off every 30 minutes and then take him to the potty. While he is doing very well with #1 (he has only had a handful of accidents) he is a little more nervous about #2. I'm sure he will get the hang of it...it just may take a little while. We will keep you updated.

Chicago

I just spent 2 full days with these girls in Chicago:

These 5 girls are part of a small group that I lead from our Church youth group. I enjoy talking about life and faith with these girls every Sunday afternoon and thought it would be fun to have a mini trip to spend more time with them. As you can imagine, we had a blast. We did a lot of hanging out, shopping, walking around Chicago and eating some yummy food. Here we are out to dinner on Thursday evening.

Here is a picture of us walking on Michigan Avenue.

Thank you, ladies, for a great trip. I really enjoyed spending time with you and I laughed a lot.