Being a mom means....

Even though you had invited a friend over for the night to scrapbook, and you were looking forward to tonight for ages .... when your little girl discovers that there is a huge gymnastics meet in town and decides that she must go, you put a smile on your face and cancel your plans. After all, she has to see "what her future meets will look like when she makes team" and really, is there anything more important than that? Scrapbooking will have to wait....

Oh, and as a side note ... since I'm still breastfeeding, it wasn't an option for me to be gone all night long with Andrew, and I knew she'd have much more fun if she didn't have to leave early, so I sent Matt and Katherine on a Daddy/daughter date night. It's the boys and I tonight. Maybe they'll go to bed early and I can fit a little scrapbooking time in later..... (Fingers crossed!!)

4 hours...

Based on the title, any guesses what this post is about? Let me tell you...

4 hours is the approximate amount of time it took to potty train Caleb. We had two accidents last Sunday morning and since then, it's been smooth sailing! He has even woke up completely dry the last three mornings. Oh, how sweet it is! Not to be cocky, but I think we're done!!

Today, we went to the Playground for Kids with Danyel, Walker and Ryan . My mom and Morgan also joined us. The kids had a blast, running and playing and jumping and general rough housing. In fact it wore them out so much that EVERYONE took a 2 hour nap -- me included. AAAHHHHH, the simple luxuries.

While we were there, Caleb had to go potty. He was a little nervous using the big potty, but quickly went and then said, "Mommy, I need a big high five for that one! That was so easy for me". After we high 5'ed in the bathroom, washed our hands and did our secret handshake (lol) we left the bathroom. He looked up at me and said, "Let's rock and roll, Momma. I'm ready to play". I had to laugh. Where do they come up with this stuff???

Tonight after everyone woke up, we grabbed a bite for dinner and went over to the Launderville's house. The kids had so much playing together, and I must admit... it was mighty nice for the mommies and daddies too!

Tomorrow morning Katherine has gymnastics at 9, and then I need to spend several hours cleaning and doing laundry. We had a play date at our house every day and/or night this week and my house is just DESTROYED. In fact, it's so bad, I'd be embarrassed if my own mother came in! Tomorrow night, Michelle is coming over and we're going to scrap from about 6 pm - midnight. I'm really looking forward to some good girl time and be able to relax after this past week!

It just doesn't get anymore real than this....

Oh man... it's been a day. Where do I even begin?

My morning started off well... Caleb woke up completely dry and sat down on his little potty chair and made us all proud. I was actually shocked that he could hold THAT much all night long. We made a big deal of him being dry overnight and he was BEAMING. He was so proud of himself. We all were.

Anyway, Riley had an appointment to get groomed, so I had to add our neurotic dog to the mix of our usual morning chaos. I packed the kids up in the car, grabbed Katherine's ginormous bag of "stuff", and got Riley. He was so excited to come with us that he could hardly contain himself. He jumped into the backseat and hopped onto Caleb's lap. Then he went over to Katherine and crawled up on her shoulder (he's a 4 pound Maltese) and jumped into the open trunk area. He then jumped back on Katherine and walked along the top of the backseat before jumping onto Andrew and licking his face. At this point, I had had it with him and seriously considered throwing him out the window! I told him to get off Andrew, so he jumped over him and scratched his face. OMG... I nearly had a coronary. I was ticked. He's never done anything this spazzy before, and if he ever does it again ..... UUUUUGH!

So I drop Riley off and head home. When I get there, Caleb is doing the dance and I know he has to poop. He sits on the potty for 10 minutes and nothing. Absolutely nothing. Shortly thereafter, Andrew has the mother of all blowouts. He's my third child, and I've never seen anything like it. Never. It was terrible. Poop was everywhere. Literally, if I had a scissors in reach, I would have cut the outfit off him. The poor little guy had poop on his cheek, on the top of his head, all over his back, his arms, his legs... You get the idea. It was awful. Just awful. So I rushed into the bathroom and drew him a bath.

While I'm giving Andrew a bath, Caleb disappeared and a few seconds later, I heard him yelling for me. He needs to be wiped and of course it has to be done right now.... GREAT. So I rushed Andrew out of the tub and go to find Caleb. When I round the corner to my bathroom he walked out, completely naked and glowing. He pooped all by himself and couldn't wait to show me. So I tell him how proud I am of him and start making a big deal of what a big boy he's becoming and how great this all is. At that moment, for some reason unbeknown to any rational person, he sticks his fingers in his bum and gets poop all over. UUUUUGH. So at that moment, I have Andrew screaming, just out of the bathtub and cold, wrapped in his towel AND Caleb.... naked by choice, a hand full of poop and a smile on his face. Riiiight. I had a good laugh.... there was nothing else I could do! LOL.

Oh, and it wasn't even 10 am yet!!

Keeping with the potty talk --

Up until today, Caleb's been a champ.... no accidents, no misses on the floor, no constantly asking him if he had to go and setting the timer routine. It's been incredibly easy!! Well all of a sudden today, he peed on his jeans. No big deal. I empty the potty chair, change his clothes and we go on our way. About 2 hours later, he calls me into the bathroom and shows me that he went potty. Oh man ..... he really went. I was shocked at the amount in the potty, but once again his jeans were wet, so I change his clothes again. An hour later, he disappears into the bathroom, so I follow him and peek around the corner so he can't see me. I was SHOCKED at what I saw, and certainly got a question or two answered....

As I stood there, peeking through the crack in the door, I COULDN'T BELIEVE what I saw. He took apart his potty, dipped the insert (where you'd pee) it into the big toilet, and got water. He put it back into his little potty and sat down spilling TOILET WATER ever so slightly on the floor and on the BACK OF HIS JEANS. Oh. My. Goodness. Are you kidding me??? My three year old is trying to outwit me? He knows that he gets candy when goes potty, so he puts some water in the potty chair, pulls down his pants, and sits on it ONLY so that he can claim it as his own and collect candy? AAAHHHH, I've so got to watch this one! He's WAAAAY to sneaky for 3! At least the little stinker confessed! LOL.

Thankfully, Danyel and her kids came over to play tonight. Her hubby is gone all week, so we both enjoyed the adult conversation and the kids had a blast. School is cancelled tomorrow due to the cold weather, so Katherine is having a sleepover at Grammy's house. Hopefully I can sleep in a little! After today, I need a little rest!

Christmas in January!

Who doesn't love a good Christmas party, even if it is in January??? Certainly Katherine!!

Since school was cancelled the Friday before Christmas break, her party had to be rescheduled until this past Friday. It was such a great party -- 3 "eating" stations set up in the classroom and 6 craft stations set up outside in the common area.

Here she is with Olivia, one of our neighbor girls who is also in her homeroom class. Olivia is the little girl she often has play dates with after school. It's so nice the two of them have become good friends since her mom and I are friends and she lives so close and can come over to play often.



There were three eating stations in the classroom. The first one was an apple cider/hot chocolate area complete with marshmallows, chocolate chips and whipped cream, the second one was a cookie frosting/decorating area, and the third was a sugar cone area that the kids frosted green and covered with sprinkles. It was supposed to look like a Christmas tree, but by the time the kids got done, they were covered in frosting and about to go into sugar shock! They loved every second.

Katherine got a little carried away and just couldn't help herself. Nothing beats a spoon full of whipped cream!




Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Seybert. She is an amazingly kind, fun, caring teacher and I feel incredibly blessed that Katherine got her this year. She's made the transition into full time school so much easier.





We had a great time!!

Craziness!

That pretty much sums up our lives over the past couple of days. It's been nothing short of pure chaos around here, and as crazy as it is, I've been loving every second.

The biggest news around here is potty training. Up until now, Caleb has refused to wear underwear. Literally. Refused. As in, when I'd try to put it on him, he'd scream and cry, throw a fit unlike anything you'd ever seen and beg for his "diapers with tabs". I've tried it all -- begging, bribing (yea, I'm not above bribing my children, but sadly it didn't work), throwing away diapers, but he just wasn't ready. One of the main problems was that he outsmarted me. It's sad I know, but quite honestly true. I told him that he couldn't go to preschool until he was potty trained. Well since he didn't want to go in the first place it only worked to his advantage and totally backfired on me.

I had planned on starting the potty training process on Monday, but Andrew was sick and very uncomfortable on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we went to the Science Center and Thursday we played with a friend and had gymnastics that night. Friday I had Katherine's Christmas party at school and then took Andrew to get his three month pictures taken. Later that night we went over to Danyel's house for dinner and a play date and Saturday ... the excuses just kept piling up. I must admit, I'm not a homebody. I like to be out, playing with the kids, taking them places and the thought of being holed up in the house for 2 straight weeks made me ill.

With all that being said, Sunday morning I realized that I either needed to buy more diapers for him or just go straight to underwear. So we decided to skip church and hit it hard. It took a while for him to even agree to put on underwear, but he did. And he used the potty chair. And Matt decided to make a Casey's beverage and paper run and bring Caleb with him. So far so good. Until he got home and Caleb pee'd all over the floor. Fun times.

About an hour later, Caleb had to poop. He was holding his little bum and doing the unmistakable dance. Matt put him on the potty and he froze. He just couldn't go. Matt had to run upstairs for 30 seconds and when left to his own devices, Caleb pooped down his leg, all over the floor and made a total mess of the bathroom. It was only 10 am. UUUUUGH!

Thankfully, Matt was home and really took the lead potty training. He bore the brunt of the mess and frustration. Katherine and I made a Target run to get "bedtime underwear" AKA pull ups. Caleb didn't want to put them on at nap time, but finally agreed. The remainder of the day, he didn't have an accident.

This morning he woke up virtually dry and after about 10 minutes of sitting on the potty, he went. I put underwear on him and packed the kids in the car and drove Katherine to school.

Before I go any further, I must confess... Matt and I agreed that we'd sacrifice "nutrition" for a potty trained child, so we dangled candy in front of his face. We told him that every time he went potty in the potty chair, we'd give him a treat out of his "treat bag" which was his Halloween candy. The only thing he couldn't pick were the full size candy bars that some of our crazy neighbors hand out. Those were reserved for poop. Anything else was fair game.

Oh, he was a machine. He didn't have one accident all day. He ate more candy that I thought humanly possible. He couldn't even eat all he "earned". He pooped on the potty chair. I can't believe how easy it was. Literally in less than a day, he was potty trained.

We baked cookies today and right as two sheets were coming out of the oven, my phone rang and I had to take it. It was an important call... At the same time, Caleb had to potty. So, I tell him to start going upstairs and I'd be right behind him. I quickly answer the phone, take the cookies out of the oven, and run upstairs. I find him sitting on the potty waiting for me. He'd already gone! Woo-hoo!

Later today, Caleb told me he had to go, so I got up to take him upstairs, but he told me that he didn't need me. What?!?!? He went. Tonight, while I went to bunco with the neighbor girls, one of the guys and his kids came over to play. At one point, Matt realized Caleb wasn't in the room and finally found him walking out of the bathroom with his pants down. He'd gone potty, all by himself. No coaxing, no asking, nothing. Woo-hoo!! Oh, happy day!

However .... I'm pretty certain that he didn't eat ONE BITE of non-candy food before bedtime. He literally ate candy all day long. But if that's what it takes!

So in one day, my little boy who flat out refused to be potty trained, is just that. He did it on his own, and I couldn't be happier! I'm shocked at how easy it was and am just hoping that when it's time to go to gymnastics tomorrow night we don't have an accident. I'm actually thinking of just taking him in his underwear. The only problem is that we'll be gone for about 2 hours.....

Title? Yea, I don't have one of those today!

Well, I'm pretty sure Andrew is finally on the mend. He slept decently well last night and only got up a couple of times -- which certainly beats the every 20 minute routine he was on the last couple of nights! When I finally woke him up around 7:50 so that I could drive Katherine to school, he was in a great mood. Smiling and cuddly! He was coo'ing up a storm. It was like the fog lifted and he was back to his happy-go-lucky self. LOVE THAT!!

Now on the medicine thing.... Can I just tell you how impossible it is to have him swallow the stuff??? UUUUGH! I have to give him it once a day, and I'd be amazed if he doesn't spit half of it out. I've tried everything -- in the side of the cheek, down the throat, put his pacifier in right after so he'd suck it down, but nooooo... He still manages to get it back out. I'm just hoping he's getting enough of the stuff to make him better!

The boys and I left the house around 9:30 this morning and went down to the Science Center with the Laundervilles. Andrew fell asleep in the car on the way downtown and stayed sleeping until about 12:45 or so. I'm so glad he's finally getting much needed rest.

Caleb and Caden had such a good time at the Science Center today. Michelle and I are always amazed at how well they play together. Actually, we've never heard them fight, which is amazing for a couple of three year olds.

Which reminds me.... My parents got Caleb some GeoTrax for Christmas, and the other day when Matt was putting them together, Caleb said, "Daddy, Caden has these trains too! He's my BEEEST friend. He plays so nicely with me and we share all the time. He doesn't even hit or kick me"! I had to laugh -- evidently at 3, that's what he's looking for in a friend. Someone who doesn't physically assault him. AAAHHH, how simple it is! LOL

Anyway, back to today.... While we were eating lunch, Caden burped so loudly that it startled him and got quite the reaction out of Caleb. Watching this, Michelle and I are about in tears. We're holding back the laughter something fierce. All of a sudden, Caleb decides that he's not to be outdone and starts his super loud fake belching routine, and he just wouldn't stop. All of sudden, Caden looks over at him and says, "It's OK if you burp Caleb, you just need to say 'excuse me' after you do it". We were about in stitches!! Oh, the looks we got!

Tonight we went out to dinner and celebrated my Dad's birthday. Tomorrow is the big day! My sister and Morgan came too, so it was really nice to all get together midweek. And you just can't beat a good excuse not to cook in the middle of the week!

quick...

I need to make this quick so that I can go to bed. I'm exhausted right now.....

Two nights ago, Andrew hardly slept at all. Literally, his longest stretch was 20 minutes, so I woke up (if you can really call it that) Monday morning groggy and calling the doctor. To make a long story short, Andrew has an ear infection (which is his second one in the short three months since he's been born) and wheezing in his lungs. So.... he's been on an antibiotic and nebulizer. At one point, his ear was hurting him so badly that he scratched his poor little face to the point of bleeding in NUMEROUS places. UUUUUGH.... It looks like he's been in a cat fight! My heart breaks watching him in so much pain. He's been pretty unsettled the last couple of days. Here's to hoping it doesn't last long.

I'm off to bed. Gotta get some sleep when I can!