All set to go

I have officially begun my countdown to the Bahamas. I got my haircut, brows waxed, clothes are set aside ready to be packed, snorkeling gear purchased, passport received, and a new swimsuit. All that I have left to do is get a waterproof camera (or case for our digital camera) and my spray tan a couple days before we leave. I don't have the time to waste laying in a tanning bed every day for three weeks to get a base tan (yes it would take that long for me). Robin has spent the past couple of days researching the islands we will be stopping at and has everything planned out. I made sure to find the best oyster bar in the area to stop at to. All I can do now is hope and pray that we don't get a massive snow storm the night/early morning of Jan 25th/26th that would cause flight delays, and ultimately missing our cruise.

BAHAMA COUNTDOWN: 14 Days

In potty news.... Stephen has been doing great!! Just the other night we were out at a friends house and he had on a diaper. He came up to me and said, "Come on Mommy, bathroom!" Sure enough he had to go poop. He has no problem peeing in a diaper, but hates poop. And there have been many occasions that he wakes up without his diaper on and he (and his bed) are dry. He went down for his nap in his undies today, and woke up dry. We have been making great progress lately. We still put a diaper on when we go out, but we are pretty much down to 2 or 3 diapers a day.

I survived...

...My first weekend of hunting by myself with 3 kids. Daddy came home deerless, but that is perfectly okay with me. I spent "widows weekend" with my family in Milwaukee. I got the super family discount at Kohl's thanks to Gramma Popcorns lifetime discount. So now I am completely done with Aria ( I could have gotten her nothing and she wouldn't care), Lyhna is almost done (just need a couple toys), and I would like to get Stephen some little plastic dinosaurs then he will be done, Robin is done, Wes is done. All that is left is grandma and papa, my niece, and our exchange gifts for my family. Not a bad start before Thanksgiving.

It seems that we are getting farther and farther away from sleeping through the night. Maybe Aria is going through a growth spurt, or getting some teeth soon. She is back to getting up 2 time a night now, at midnight and 4am for a bottle. At midnight I just gave her the nookie a couple times but she definately wanted a bottle. I was really annoyed by this last night. I thought she did this Saturday night was because we weren't at home and she was in the carseat. I hope this doesn't keep up.

I just realized last night that my little Stephen isn't so little anymore. When I told him to go potty, he did without a fight. When he was all done he came running out saying "Mommy, I pooped!" Sure enough there was a big stinky turd in the potty. Normally I have to watch for the poop signals then tell him to go, not this time. Then, when it was time to get his jammies on he said "No Mommy, I do it." Wouldn't you know he got his pants on all by himself, and the top with very minimal assistance. When did all this start happening? I feel like I will blink my eyes and he will be moving out. Thank goodness he will still be my little buddy for a few more years.

Happy Monday

It was a pretty low key weekend for us. The weather was crappy, so the motivation wasn't there. I did try to find a dress for a wedding we are going to next month, boy was that a mistake. I didn't realize that every single teeny-bopper in the fox valley was out shopping for Homecoming dresses on Saturday. I only tried on one dress and gave up. At one store the line for the fitting room was at least 20 people long. I will have to try to go during the week sometime, when there is much less people.

Stephen started his swimming lessons on Thursday. It went really well. I was surprised that he actually did the skills that he was being taught. The only thing he didn't cooperate with was the jumping in part. That shocked me because the last few times we were able to go to the pools this summer all he did was jump in by himself. I think it had to do with the fact that the water was over his head (Even though Robin was in the water to catch him). 1 week down, 6 more to go.

We spent Saturday in the kitchen. We (mostly Robin) get these crazy ideas to make things from scratch. He has been perfecting his cheese making skills for a few weeks now. Then I started to make ice cream from scratch too. Our latest culinary adventure was making pizzas. I made the dough for the crust, Robin made the sauce, and of course there was the home-made mozzarella cheese. I may be biased, but the first pizza we made was the best pizza I had in a looooong time. I think we made a total of 5 pizzas with one extra crust in the freezer. I am so sick of pizza right now. We didn't eat all 5 by ourselves though. Lyhna had a friend over for dinner, so they got a special made pizza for them. Some friends stopped by on Saturday, so there went another pizza and a half. Robin took one to work today too, so that leaves 2 that we ate by ourselves. They were delicious!

Sunday we went to a friends house for the Packer game. I always get a little stressed out when we go to some one's house that doesn't have kids. I feel like all I do is chase Stephen around saying "no, no don't touch that." And now that we are potty training, that has a whole other set of challenges. I have a mini portable potty, that Stephen did really well with. But he feel asleep on the couch, and I didn't think to wake him up to put on a diaper. I was just to happy that he was quite and staying in one spot. Well, that was a huge mistake. I went to pick him up when we were leaving, and there was a huge puddle on the couch. I guess those rubber undies don't do much when he is sleeping. There are many days when he wakes up from naps dry, so I thought I was in the clear. Again, they don't have any kids, so I felt really bad. They acted like they didn't care, and it was funny, but I still felt awful. I cleaned it up as best I could, but I am sure it soaked in the cushion pretty good.

How was everyone else's weekend?

He Did It!!

Stephen pooped on the potty!!!! I was sooo excited, I took a picture with my phone and sent it to Robin at work. He was so cute when we put it in the toilet to flush. He said, "Bye-bye poopy!" I hope that he continues to do it. I just have to keep an eye out for his poopy face.

Time Flies

Where do I start? Aria is almost 3 months old already! Lyhna starts the 4th grade today! And Stephen is almost completely out of diapers!

Last night I realized that it is already time to change out some of Aria's clothes. All the premie and newborn clothes that seemed so big on her when we first brought her home look tiny now. So it is time to get out the bins of clothes from everyone and put back the small stuff and get out a new batch of bigger stuff. She is smiling and cooing more and more everyday. And the best part of all is that she has been sleeping through the night more and more.

I really can't believe that Lyhna is in the 4th grade already. The last 2 years have been kind of rough for her in school. She (like I was) is one of the younges in her class, so her teachers think that she is behind emotionally. I tend to agree sometimes, but sometimes she acts like a teenager. I had a talk with her over the weekend about trying her hardest to have a good school year. No forging signatures in her assignment notebook, no "forgeting" her homework at school most days of the week, basically to take resposibility for her actions and stay focused. I have high hopes for her, she is soooo smart when she wants to be. I think this year will be a challenge to keep her focused since her classroom isn't even a room. It is a section of the library blocked off by bookcases. Only time will tell how things will go.

Now for Stephen. We aren't having as many meltdowns anymore. I think a big part of it was that he couldn't express what he wanted. Now that he is talking so much better, he is able to tell us what he wants or what is wrong. Potty training is going great. We still have some accidents, but he realizes when he starts to go and can stop himself then finish in the potty. We still haven't gotten any poop in the toilet though, but we are getting closer. Over the weekend he was in the bathroom and shut the door so I knew something was going on in there. I left him alone for a couple minutes and when I opened the door guess what I saw. A giant log on the floor! I was very tempted to take a picture, but then I had visions of Jon and Kate Plus 8 so I decided against it. We have started venturing out for little trips in his big boy pants too. He has stayed dry every time so far. So now it is just diapers for naps and bed time. My little boy is growing up!!

Question

How do I get Stephen to poop in the potty chair???? I know when he is going, and when I try to get him to go in the bathroom he runs away and screams at me. So what do I do about the doodoo?

Updates from the potty

So far things are going pretty well. I would say that Stephen is definately getting the hang of this whole pee-pee in the potty thing. He does still have accidents, it seems like my timing is off by 5 minutes sometimes. He will sit on the potty for awhile, get up, then a few minutes later I hear "Mommy, potty." But by then its to late. He definately knows when he has to go, I just think that sometimes he just doesn't care if he is wet or not. He no longer fights me when I say its potty time. Yesterday he even woke up from his nap dry and went potty right away for me. That to me is a huge success. Still no poops though. And I still haven't ventured out of the house without a diaper on him. I think I will give it another week, but most times when we get home he is still dry then goes to the bathroom. Overall, I think this is going much better than I expected.

Chuncky Monkey

Aria had her 2 month check up today. She is doing great and the only concern that I had was her cradle cap that isn't going away. I have to get a dandruff shampoo for her, hopefully that will help clear it up. She now weighs 11 pounds 15 ounces (76%), and is 22 inches long (32%). I guess all that nursing every 2 hours is doing something. She has also started sleeping through the night. I guess I can deal with the frequent feedings during the day as long as she continues to sleep all night long. The worst part about the appointment was of course her shots. The bastards gave her 5!!! She was such a trooper though, by the time I got her dressed and in the car seat to go home she was already passed out. She has been pretty sleepy since.

Stephen did soooo good with the potty training yesterday. He went pee on the potty 8 times, one of which he actually told me he had to go. And we only had 2 accidents. Today is a different story though. Robin isn't being as helpful and consistent as I would like. He took a half day to help me out since Aria and I both had doctor appointments today. So I was gone from about 9:45am to 12:30 pm. Daddy wasn't able to get him on the potty at all while I was gone. So it looks like I will be starting from scratch tomorrow.

Success!

After being away all weekend, the potty training was put on hold. Now that we are home and getting back into our routine, potty training is in full force. So far today, we have had no accidents and he peed 3 times in the potty. Eventually I will have to move the potty back into the bathroom. Right now it is in the living room with a towel underneath it. Sometimes he gets very excited to go on the potty, but other times he goes straight to tantrum mode. I have a feeling this will be a long process, but at least we have a pretty good start going.

We spent the weekend in Oak Creek. Friday Robin and I had a little date night. It was really nice to get out again, we didn't even talk about the kids. It was sooo wierd, but very enjoyable. We stopped at Applebee's for an appitizer and drink, then off to the movies. Step Brother was pretty funny. I think Robin enjoyed it more than me, but we had fun. Then Saturday was birthday party day for Madisen. We were able to float in the pool for an hour or two before the party while Stephen napped. Man, I really miss floating in the pool whenever I want. We had a great time at the party. The bouncy house was a big hit with Stephen. Even some of the adults got in it. Aria was pretty cranky for awhile, but we still had fun.

Tomorrow Aria has her 2 month appointment. So I will be sure to update everyone with her new stats.

Potty Update

We got all of our potty training supplies yesterday, including little toddler boxer-briefs. He is sooo cute in them. We watched the Elmo potty movie and read a couple books. Then I got out his potty chair and he was sooo excited. All he wanted to do was sit on it the rest of the night. So since he was so excited about everything I decided to try setting the timer for every 20 min, then when it goes off, "It's potty time!!!" He would run to the bathroom and sit on the potty. He actually went in the potty twice and on the floor once in the few hours before bed last night. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was just luck, we will see how today goes. I can't believe this might actually happen. I am just as excited about it as Stephen.

It Is Finally Time

Time to start potty training. I have been doing lots of research this week and read the book that my sister gave me on potty training. A lot of what I read says that waiting to potty train after the age of 2 will make it more difficult. Boys tend to be more challenging, but what the heck. I am a stay at home mom and can make it my mission to do this for the next how ever long it takes. So here is my plan:

1. Go get potty training books and a video for Stephen. I think we will go to the library when he wakes up today, so he can start with those ahead of time.
2. Take a special shopping trip with just me and Stephen to pick out big boy undies and rewards, and a timer. Maybe even a sticker chart too.
3. Have a potty party where we get rid off all his diapers and bring out the potty chair. (Obviously I will have a secret stash of diapers for nap and night time).
4.Then next Monday will be the official start of potty training. We will be gone this weekend again so that would be a bad time to start. There is nothing going on next week so we can focus 100%.

I still need to get Robin on board with this too. I am sure he is just as ready to get rid of the diapers as I am. I just need to make sure he understands all "rules" so we are both consistant with Stephen so not to confuse him.

Wish us luck!