Logic

Lillian:  "Mommy, guess what?!"
Me: "What?"
Lillian "When the sun goes down it turns into the moon!"
Me: "Oh really?"
Lillian: "Yes, and when the moon goes down it turns into the sun!"

Makes sense to me.

Baby News

I just realized I'm 24 weeks (or about 5 months) along and besides announcing I'm pregnant, haven't really said anything else about this pregnancy. 

Here's how I'm doing:

1.  This is the first week in 24 weeks I haven't had to take Zofran (which is for nausea... ahh, how I love you Zofran).  In fact, this is the first time in 24 weeks I have felt half-way decent.

2.  I'm still very, very tired.  And finally found out why.  Yesterday my doctor's office called and said I had passed the glucose test (yay!) but my hemoglobin is low.  Apparently I need more iron.

3. The baby is healthy and kicking and Carlin has felt it move a couple of times.  The kids, however, want nothing to do with Mommy's weird, moving stomach.

4. No, I'm not carrying twins and Yes, I still have 4 months left.  Sigh.

5.  Belly pictures?  Not right now, I've gained lots of weight plus haven't showered yet today, so I'm not feeling particularly attractive.  However, my SIL Heather, helped pick out a cute dress that I will put on and show off through pics.  Perhaps after I get my hair-cut.  Maybe that will make me feel less frumpy. 

Lillian is 3!

How's it going world? 

Since I use my blog as my journal I wanted to post pictures of Lillian's birthday.  But what I really wanted to talk about is potty training and since I don't have much energy these days (you try potty training two kids while pregnant...) I'm combining the two posts.  So, here is my Worst-Mom-of-the-Year confession in hopes that it will make other moms feel a little bit better about potty training.

Samuel posing with the awesome strawberry cupcakes.

I hate it.  I'm quite convinced it is of the devil.  It is the one thing I've been dreading since we had our precious Samuel 4.5 years ago.  October of 2011 we tried potty training.  After reading countless books and asking the advice of experienced moms out there, I decided to try the 3-day method.  This is where you ship off your other kids to family or friends, shove tons of juice down the potty-training kid and then stick by their side 24/7.  This works the best if you have tile/laminate type flooring or it's summer and you have a backyard.  When the child goes pee you exclaim "Oh look!  You're going pee!" And you pick them up and take them to the toilet.  every. single. time.  Until they get it.  This might possibly have been the worse method for me (who has been known to be OCD about the cleanliness of her house) to choose, but I did it.  I rolled up the rugs, put layers of towels on the couches and moved the majority of toys to the dining room.  Halfway through day 2 we had success.  Samuel was potty trained (#1 not #2, that comes later).  I rejoiced and thought to myself "Yesssss!  I CAN do this!" 

Lillian was so excited she kept trying to blow-out the candles before we were done singing.

And then we hit the regression period.  I had been warned this would happen.  I calmly took it in stride.  The number of accidents increased.  And increased.  And increased.  Soon Samuel wasn't going to the potty at all and I was going crazy.

And I mean crazy.  It got to the point I wanted to shove his nose in it like you do a cat or dog.  We took a little breather at that time and switched to Pull-ups.  (Don't worry, no need to call DHS).

I've tried EVERYTHING since.  Seriously.  You name it, I've done it.  With both kids, because Lillian wants to be just like her big brother.  I've done sticker charts, rewards, little treats every time they went, setting up a movie in the bathroom, making a big deal out of it when they went, being encouraging, calling Grandma, promising they could pick out any toy they wanted if they would just go in the potty.  And I was serious.  I was so desperate I was willing to spend ANYTHING to get my kids to potty train. 

Oh and what about making them clean it up and change themselves? 

Yep, I've done that too.  Lillian enjoys it a little too much and gets excited about putting clothes in the laundry.  I've left them in the wet clothes too.  Samuel doesn't even notice 95% of the time.  Not even kidding. 

Uncle Mitchell, Aunt Heather, Jenny and Nick (who aren't technically related, but we consider them family).

The only thing I hadn't done was put the potty chair in front of the TV.  But I wasn't going to cross that line.  I just couldn't bring the bathroom to the living room.  Besides, seeing how (not) successful the DVD in the bathroom was... I was pretty convinced it wasn't going to work.

Grandma W and Uncle Ben

Samuel started preschool last fall and went in pull-ups.  It was just the way it was for our family.  Samuel has had a rough couple of years with hearing loss and what not and the teachers knew what was going on with him.  But then I got a phone call from his teacher right before Christmas asking where we were at with potty training.  I told her we had never really backed off, we still asked him if he needed to go, encouraged him, and gave him little treats and high fives when he did do it.  She said to start sending him to school in underwear after the new year.

I said okay... but I had my doubts.  I went and checked out a bunch of picture books and movies from the library (I'm pretty good about knowing where all this stuff is now...) and we really started pushing it again.  I made the kids watch the movies and every day we read the potty training books.  I had decided to send Samuel to school in underwear this past Monday.

Lillian was very insistent we have birthday hats.  Sadly, Daddy's head was too big.

Monday morning came and in my most enthusiastic voice I explained to Samuel that today was the day he would wear his big boy underwear.  Failure.  He screamed and cried and kicked.  I gritted my teeth and forced the underwear on him.  He ran away and changed back into the pull-ups.  I told him he could just be naked then. He sat down and cried for an hour straight.  I walked away.  Next thing I knew he was fully dressed in pull-ups and all the underwear was mysteriously missing.  He had hidden it behind the recliner in the living room.

Even Grandpa joined in on the fun (sadly we never got pictures with Grandma and Ben in their hats).

I sent him to school with a note explaining how the morning had gone.  He came home wearing his big boy underwear and a smile on his face.  A few minutes later he had an accident.  And then another.  And then another.  He had managed to stay dry at school, but it wouldn't last at home.

Tuesday morning went a little easier.  He wore his big boy underwear and Lillian insisted on wearing her big girl panties.  Oh the amount of accidents I was cleaning up that morning!  By the time lunch hit and Samuel was off to school I had gone through my entire stash of chocolate (for me, not the kids).   He came home from school dry and then promptly had an accident.  It was looking grim.

An hour later I heard the toilet flush and a very proud Samuel came running out.  "Mommy!  I went pee-pee in the potty!"  What?!  I couldn't believe it, but he was dry and remained dry for the rest of the evening. 

Samuel wanted to do everything Uncle Mitchell did...

Yesterday he had one accident and that was it.  Today, so far so good.  I'm holding my breath hoping it actually sticks this time.  I've been praying.  A lot.  Maybe the Lord is getting tired of hearing about potty training and is answering my prayers.  Lillian is half-way there.  If it keeps going like this I will have two potty-trained children before the baby gets here in May.  And hopefully no regressions. 

So there it is friends.  My 1.5 year battle with potty training.  It is true what they say, kids potty train when they are ready.  I'm just afraid mine might not ever be ready.  Keep your fingers crossed for me and remember, if I can do it you can definitely do it. 

One last picture of the yummy cupcakes...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Carlin, Aubrey, Samuel, Lillian and Baby #3

I would like to say I had every intention of writing and sending out Christmas cards out this year, but that would be a lie.  Truth is ever since late August or early September our lives have been turned upside down once again and besides sleeping and eating I haven't felt like doing much.

Most of you already know, but Baby #3 is on its way and it has already been one hectic ride.  I have been sick, had a threatened miscarriage, been tired beyond words, and haven't felt like doing much.  I'm 21 weeks along and still feeling all around crappy.  The good news is that with lots of anti-nausea meds and even more sleep, I'm keeping it under control. 

Overall though, I'm excited and can't wait for May 13 so that this baby can get here.  And what are we having you may ask?  We don't know!  We're waiting to find out when the baby gets here.  What can I say, I like surprises. 

As we welcome in the New Year, I found for the first time my goal is to sit back and do nothing.  Yep, that's right.  I have resigned myself (mostly) to accepting the fact that minimal cleaning will be done on the house, projects will probably be put on hold for most of the year, and I will need to simplify schedules so I can rest during this pregnancy and then do nothing but hold and enjoy the baby when it gets here. 

I hope everyone had a great 2012 year, we sure did and if you want to know about it please feel free to look back at last year's posts.  Happy 2013!

Non-Gingerbread Houses

My Mother pointed out I hadn't updated my blog recently.  This is her way of saying "I want to see pictures of the kids."  And I can no longer claim to have a broken camera since we bought a brand-spankin' new one for Christmas (and of course, have to use it to record all of the holiday happenings) plus, I discovered THREE SD cards and one USB stick stuck in the nether reaches of our PC.  Don't ask. 

I pointed out to my Mom not much has been happening unless you want pictures of me changing poopy diapers...  I figured not. Lucky for you, we actually did something last night and remembered to take pictures of it!

Thanks to my best friend Whitney, I remembered there are these things called graham crackers that you can use to make gingerbread houses and the whole process is so much easier.  So, last night we made graham cracker houses and had a crazy dance party and saw a dancing light show. 

Here are the kids showing us their silly poses:

Pretty sure the kids had already had too much sugar and we hadn't even started yet. 

The final products:

  Lillian was too busy eating the candy to concentrate on building anything more complex than a lean-to. 

 My masterpiece.  As you can see I took it very seriously, (not really - I just made a triangle and stuck a graham cracker and candy on top).

 Carlin's castle with a lake and walkway.  Samuel took way too much glee in toppling the turrets.

 Samuel's ancient ruins - as you can see this was pretty serious stuff.

Of course, as soon as they had enough toppings (meaning, Mommy had said no more candy), they delved into eating them.  This is one of many goofy faces Samuel keeps showing the camera.  I suppose it's better than his deer-in-the-headlights look...

This Thanksgiving

While driving to Stillwater to spend Thanksgiving with my family, we overheard the following conversation from our kids:

Samuel: "Look horses!"
Lillian: "Yah Samuel, we can be cowboys!"
Samuel: "But we don't have cowboy clothes."
Lillian: "Oh."
Samuel: "But I have a blue dinosaur costume."
Lillian: "Yah, and I have a butterfly costume, Samuel." 

And this epitomizes what I'm grateful for this year most of all: my children.  I love taking time and listening to their conversations which only make sense to them.  I've learned to take a step back and appreciate their logic, humor, and curiosity.  Like last night when I found them playing under Lillian's bed with all of their blankets and when I asked what they were doing I was told by Samuel "To just walk away Mommy." 

Samuel loves to make me laugh and not just in a "oh Mommy found that funny I'll do it again" way, but I'm rather convinced he comes up with things he thinks will make me laugh.  And when I do respond with real laughter his little face lights up and he gives me a hug.  I believe he takes after his Dad, both make it a goal to make me laugh once a day and it works.  I mean who wouldn't laugh between Carlin's "old man pants dance" and Samuel's "bum-bum dance."  (In which he holds one hand in the air while the other one holds his bum and he bounces it up and down.... don't ask, cuz I have no idea).

Lillian literally sings and dances her way through life and I love sharing in her enthusiasm and imagination as she scares monsters and ghosts away for me.  She is truly a ray of sunshine with her curly blonde hair and big blue eyes.  She loves being included especially when cooking and I'm happy to share it with her. 

Yes, this season I'm grateful for my children.  And while we have our ornery moments and our bad days, most of the time if I just take a step back and listen I find two children who are completely amazed by the world around them. 

Thank you Samuel for squishing spiders for me.  Thank you Lillian for always knowing when I need a good cuddle.  And thank you to both of you for fighting over my lap and begging for one more book at night.  It might be a stalling tactic, but it also might be that you just love to read.  

Happy Happy Halloween

As Samuel says. 

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween and we didn't wait till October 31 to start. 

We made Spooky Trail Mix (complete with ghost droppings and witches broomsticks), Mummy Hot Dogs, Creepy Rice Krispie Treats, Jack-o-Lantern Quesadillas and Mouths the days leading up to Halloween.

We also decorated the house and made pictures and played pumpkin games.

We couldn't go without making some Jack-o-Lanterns.  I carved the kids pumpkins via their instructions and cheering and was done after that, hence only three pumpkins this year.  I'll let you guess which one was Carlin's... 

And then it was the much anticipated day of Halloween! 

We had chili, cornbread, junk food, and oatmeal pumpkin cookies that I tried to make into oatmeal cream pies using marshmallow fluff...

Trust me - they are oh so delicious and moist!

Then we were invaded by a blue dinosaur.

And it was very important he was a BLUE dinosaur.

And the cutest butterfly I've ever beheld!

As with most butterflies, they are constantly in motion and it is hard to capture them on camera, especially your phone camera.

It was everything Halloween is supposed to be and I woke up suffering a sugar-hang-over.  The kids however wasted no time getting into their candy and have been bouncing off the walls since...