potty training. . . . .

Day One (1017/11)
Kyler got up we got all excited to go pee. Showed him his "loot" he gets for going pee on the toilet and poop. Got his sticker chart printed off. Had him open his Big boy underwear. He was so excited. Sat on the toilet. He went. Mommy cheered, Kyler smiled.
He had an accident an hour later...but it was MINIMAL. really barley enough to wet his underwear. He came to me and said "burrrr mommy, all wet" so we tried to pee again...success. New underwear.
The day continues. He is so excited to get his candy and put a sticker on his chart. It is a happy potty day. Only changed his underwear 5 times....i thought that pretty successful for a first day.

Day Two...today
Kyler wakes up. Mommy helps him into the bathroom to pee. We take off his drenched pull up :) and sit down. Nothing. Please try. Nothing. 5 minutes. Nothing. put on underwear. 2 minutes later. Pee on my floor. We go into watch Diego for a while. See him making the Pooing face. Run to potty. Poops tiny bit. Get down. 3 minutes later, making face again when i come into the room from getting Brooklyn out of bed....pants full of nothing i want to touch. We try, nothing. Go out and play. Pees his pants. Change pants. Sit and try again. This time he is not happy. He is crying that he has to try. So we get down. 5 minutes later. Pee on my floor. We try on potty. Tears. No pee. We remind him of Mater toy he gets if he can stay dry. EXCITEMENT. He pees. YEA! 5 minutes later. Pee on my floor. Seeing a trend?
So i let him go play. asking him if he needs to pee. "NO mommy, no pee". Ok ok ok. I ask again. "NO PEE!!" Ok, i set the time for 15 minutes tell him we are going to try when the timer goes off. 10 minute's go by i go upstairs to ask...peed in his pants. (by now i am feeling a little frustrated, besides add that Brooklyn has been screaming all morning to the day...equals a mommy that is going to loose her cool real soon.) We changed his pants again. Which might i add that i am fine with accidents. I am fine doing lots of laundry. I realize this is all part of the process. I'm not complaining...just stating facts. So don't comment that i need patience. I have it, just want to complain, and this is my blog so i can.)
So we eat lunch, get down. Other daycare kids go pee....now this is when he is usually so stoked to go pee. This is why i thought he was ready cause he always wants to go pee when the other kids are told to before nap. So the other kids all go, he is avoiding me. I ask him to come pee. Reluctantly he comes, i help him up and holy smokes...... a fit and tears to go on the record. So we got down. I know he has got to pee its been over an hour and he has had lots to drink. So i let him come in, we read a book. Then go to try again. Crocodile tears, me being nice ask him to try and pee so we can go for a nap. His responds

"never ever, ever, ever pee again mommy, ever, ever!!" 

This in his loudest saddest voice. I take the hint. We get down i say we need a diaper then because i don't want him to get cold and wet during nap. I lay him down to put it on and you would have thought i stabbed the kid. He was out of control. We try on the potty again. Nothing. nothing. nothing. He then says, to me again. Never ever ever ever mommy. So we got down. This time he let me put a diaper on. He then went in layed down and has not budged since.
Ya. I think we are done potty training for a little while. I will let him go if he asks. But we are not pushing it. I only started cause i thought he was ready. I think he is, but isn't. So we will take it slow.
There you have it. I doubt you really care...but this is my journal. So there is my journal entry on how much my boy will go on the potty. Never, ever ever again. :) Funny kid.

Moments

I need to pack the diaper bag for a SLC trip tomorrow. I need to bathe my son. I need to clean and mop the kitchen. I need to vacuum my floor. I need to get something for my hunting husband for dinner before he gets home. I need to start a load of laundry. I need to put finishing touches on the Primary Program for Sunday. I desperately need sleep, and yet i am going to stop and post about how thankful i am for my little boy. I need a moment to remember him, remember how much i love being a mom and that that is why i am who i am and this is my "dream" and forget about the million (literally) things i should be doing.

This kid is special. He is insanely crazy at times. He drives me up the wall a lot. He makes messes quicker than i can clean others up. He is also one of the most sensitive kids you will meet. He knows when you are stressed. He knows when you cry you need a hug. He knows when mommy is loosing it. He is a lover. He is my special boy. He is a helper. He is handsome. He is my everything. He is my favorite son so far. He has a smile that can melt you to your chin.
So I am loosing my cool tonight. I had a Primary Program Practice today. I had to work till right before i left, so i couldn't do much for preparations...yes i work at home, no i cannot just take off when i need something, no i cannot get things done i want to even though i am home. (this is a lesson i need to learn, but having a hard time remembering just cause i am home doesn't mean i can do what 'stay-at-home' moms can) Anyway, i am also trying to get all the paperwork done with banks to sell our car. I am exhausted from having a sick little baby girl who we cannot figure out whats wrong and why she is all of a sudden not sleeping well and just fussy. I finally got home from the practice/dr appointment with Brooklyn and sat down trying to feed the inconsolable baby. Kyler got his movie on so i could do what i needed to with Brooklyn. I am running around getting bath ready, getting dinner for Ky. He comes in as calm as can be and starts putting away the little chairs we use for daycare that were still out in the kitchen. He knows i usually do this right when they all leave cause they are in the middle of the floor and right in the way. I hadn't done it, so he did it for me. Then smiles and says, "there you go mommy" and then gives my leg a hug and goes back to his movie.
*sigh* i might have shed a tear or two...or twenty. He is the perfect little boy. I love him. I love his little ways of being the sweetest boy in town. Thanks Ky. I love you more than you will ever know.

This Little Lady

. . . .IS FIVE MONTHS! Shock, serious shock.
At five months she:

• is my favorite daughter i have ever had so far! :)

• She has the cutest smiles that light my whole life
• She also has the most UN-lady like cry you could ever come across! Its a deep deep throat yell. Seriously, i hate it. its loud, loud loud and really not what you would imagine coming out of such an adorable girl. 
• She is not a cuddler. Nope not at all. She arches her back all the time and really only will cuddle....well never. :) She will let you hold her to put her to sleep...but this happens rarely lately.
• She loves to eat rice cereal. She is really starting to move her mouth right and can chow down. Today i added a little apple juice to her cereal and she was smacking her lips the whole time. It was CUTE. 
• She will take a bottle. Formula or breast milk...doesn't matter. But i still breastfeed her all the time....just gets a bottle when a. we are traveling or b. when i am gone and someone is tending her. 
• She loves kids still. They get the best giggles out of her. 

• She is hard hard hard to get to giggle if you are over 6 years old. You have to work hard, and then most of the time its a forced laugh.
• She is starting to put everything in her mouth
• She talks talks talks, and is loud loud loud :)
• She still loves to be swaddled. I keep wanting to wean her of it. but for now, she loves it and its a hard thing to break cause she wakes up so easily when not swaddled. 
• She can sleep though anything. Poor girl was born into a noisy daycare house. She can sleep through serious noise. 

• She loves her brother. 
• She isn't as great of a traveler as Kyler...but he was the ideal traveler...she is just slightly above average i think :)
• She is a chunk. She got weighed at the Dr last week and was 17.5 Lbs yup gained a pound in a  month. 
• She got her first ear infection and sore throat this past month. Bad mom. She had it for over a week before out of desperation for more sleep on my part i took her in...ya she was sick...i felt slightly selfish that i took her only cause i wanted sleep. But i did want her to be healthy too, such a catch 22. :)
• She is almost sitting up. Almost
• She refuses to roll over. She was rolling from her back to her tummy, but has not tried at all this month. I guess she is content, or to chubby to roll...i think it might be the latter. 

Overall she is a joy. A loud, but very cute joy. I love her chubby self to death. I love dressing her, i love doing her hair, i love love her to death.

Toilet Training

Its been about 2 weeks since Kyler has taken a 'real' interest in going potty on the toilet. He has in the past wanted to go on the potty, so we bought a toilet seat for him...but then it really died off and nothing ever came of it.
Then about 2 weeks ago Kyler said he wanted to go pee on the potty too, when all the daycare kids were taking their turns going in to go potty. I blew it off. Bad i know. A few minutes later he asked again, again i blew him off (BAD i know) then the third time i gave in i took him in pulled his pants off, diaper off, put him on the toilet and nothing. Nothing, nothing nothing. We sat in there for 15 minutes. So i put him back into a diaper and we went to nap. That night i thought we would try again before bath time. He always pees in the tub. It grosses me out, so i told him to pee before we got in. He proceeded to try. "stuck mommy" "oooooo, too hard mommy" "cant, it stuck mommy" was all i heard for a minute or two. I told him he could do it, kept encouraging him and HE PEED!!! Did it all on his own. I freaked out in happy shrills! Scared the little man to death! :) He got in the tub and didn't pee. blessed.
Now he asks to pee everyday at nap time and then before bath. He has yet to pee again, but he wants to. He wants to be like all the other little boys i tend that can go in and pee. Today i was hurrying, didn't want to take the 10 minutes to try to not have anything happen (again lazy bad mom)so when he wanted help to get his pants unbuttoned i ignored him. (bad bad mom) a few minutes later he asked again (again i became a bad mom), so he then took matters in his own hands. . . .

SIDE NOTE We have been working hard with him to get himself undressed completely. We started working on this after the first night he peed in the toilet realizing it was getting close, and the poor bugger couldn't get his own pants down or shirt off for that matter. The diaper is a whole other issue. he for the life of himself cannot figure out how the heck to take the stupid diaper off. Other kids do it in their sleep and my guy cannot figure it out. Doesn't matter how many times i or Brandon show he he has no clue. We have had to take it off him every night. He wants to, i can tell, he gets super super frustrated at the dang thing cause he cannot find the dumb tabs to get it off.  I guess i value other skills more and never bothered to encourage him to undress and he hasn't wanted to do it himself yet. But now, he can get himself undressed...if he is in the mood. If not, he will fake try and say "oof, too hard mommy!"

So onto the rest of the story. I had ignored him, he becoming so independent went into the bathroom (all unknown to me who was getting the other kids ready for naps.) took his own pants off, took his own diaper off! He then got the potty lid on the toilet and couldn't get on top, so then he had to ask for help one more time...so in comes my 3/4 naked child into the room "mommy, pwreese help me" Gosh, nothing like a plea of a 2 year old to melt your heart...so we went in and tried...nothing....nothing and still nothing. He was mad. We got dressed and i could tell his was sad.
So knowing the time must be here to try and get him totally trained i would like all your advice. I am the kind of person that hates the "this is the only way" method approach. My way of doing things is to read lots of opinions, and figure out my own way of doing things. ... so come on tell me what worked for you and what didn't. I'm on my way to potty training my first, and i wont lie...I'm scared to death! :)

Wisconson

Last week I got to run out to Wisconson for a quick trip. Me and my mom took off on Thursday the 23rd and flew out there taking only my littlest lap infant. :) We had a great time. I miss these guys like crazy. It was driving me nuts, i just had to get out there and see them. We came home on Monday night, and it was quiet lovely just being able to hang out at their beautful home and have good converstaions. We got to see a little bit of Wisconson...kinda wish i would have taken pictures of all the corn fields and awesome red barns...i was in farm heaven out there. It was so beautiful. On Saturday we went into Madison and walked around the farmers market they have by the capitol. It was neat. Made me wish i lived close enough to partake in that kind of an event more often.
I love my brother. He is a true champion. He is a work horse. He is smart. He is loving. He is wonderful. He is my friend. He has an amazing wife, seriously amazing. I want to be more like her. I envy her talents. She is awesome.  He has 2 of the dang cutest kids in the whole world. Enoch is so entertaining. He is so smart. He is just so cute. Tessa made me smile the whole time. Her adorable personality is so captivating. I couldn't get enough of her smiles. They melt ya to your toes.
Im so happy we went. Brooklyn did so well flying out there. So good. Then we kinda messed her schedules up the whole time we were there...so the flights back were a little rougher, but for a 4 month old...i think she did really well. I love traveling. I love flying. I love my mom. I love my daughter. I love my husband who took care of my son for the weekend. I love my sister-in-law who watched him for 2 days. I love my neighbors little boy who wached Ky one day too. I love the girl who subbed for my daycare so i could go. I love my awesome neighbor who also watched one of my daycare kids too. I love everyone. Im feeling really lovey right now. :) In the end of this short but wonderful trip i want more. I want more time with my brother and his family. I want to see more Wisconson with my family, and i want more time off! :)
Here are some pictures of the trip

Good Lookin Family

The capitol...while we walked around the farmers market

Enoch got a dollar to spend at the farmers market. He wanted to get a balloon..but that booth was not there...so he wanted to get his face painted....it wasn't there either. So he settled for this awesome sprinkle cookie. Good choice and awesome patience for a kid!

Such a perfect couple...in so many ways

remember i told you how awesome Missy was...ya...she made these lovelys. (yes, they tasted as good as they look)

Grandma with 3 of 8 grandkids

Really look at this adorable little girl!!!

puppy love

Our awesome neighbors have this puppy and Kyler adores it. He picks it up and carries it like this every time...all i can think is that is how i carry Brooklyn all the time and this is his "baby". Can you do anything but love that pure happy face on him? I rarly catch his real smile on camera cause he always wasnts to "cheese".

4 MONTHS

My beautiful baby girl is 4 months old! I think being #2 she is growing up so much faster. I felt like i got to enjoy Kylers littleness a little bit more it being just the two of us; but with Brooklyn i don't only have Ky, i have 5 others here as well. I am missing her littleness...makes me sad.
At 4 months here are a few facts about my little beauty. . .
*she still loves her baths...and demands to have one every night or else! :) She doesn't care the method....in her whale tub or in the bobby with big brother, it doesn't matter, as long as she can get wet and warm she is happy.
*She reaches for toys and has a killer grasp on rattles. This is what makes me so sad. I was doing a development test on her 2 days ago she was ahead in a couple areas... man why must my babys be advanced in smartness and advanced in size? This is why i am super baby hungry by the time they are 12 months.
*She is sooo close to rolling from her back to her belly. Crazy i think usually they learn belly to back first, but she doesn't even attempt it, but when on her back she can get all the way onto her side, all she has to do is kick her one leg and she will be over.
*She and big brother have been sharing a room for about a month. They do so well. This mostly in part because she sleeps through the night, most nights. (last night she woke up 3 times to eat, but i think she is in a growth spurt.)
*She LOVES kids. She will giggle at anything they do. So cute.
*She is super stingy with her giggles when adults try. Slightly offensive, why cant the one who feeds her, cleans her, and plays with her get the most giggles?
*She loves her big brother and is fascinated with him. (who couldn't that kid moves like a mad man and i will admit when i am not on my last limb with him, find him fascinating as well)
*She is drooling like crazy...kinda afraid teethers are on the way...oh me oh my! :)
*She will take a bottle if it is perfectly tempered. :) Too cold and she will let you know. She hasn't had any formula yet, which is fine by me. I might regret it later, but free is free. :)
*Her hair is still super curly. You wouldn't know it if i don't put gel in it, because after it dries it goes completely straight.

*She hasn't lost any hair expect for a slight receding hairline in the front...mostly only noticeable when i do pigtails.
*Yes, i put pigtails in my 4 month olds hair, and they are cute!! :)
*She loves to be swaddled super tight.
*I thought she was going to be the perfect binki baby...nope. She will take it when she is super tired and swaddled and mommy or daddy are holding her, other than that, no way Jose! (and then again i am grateful, yet another kiddo i don't have to wean from it later on.)
*Now that i said she doesn't take her binki, she has been known to suck on her 3 middle fingers...bugger those are attached, meaning harder to take away later. :)

*She is a talker. Jabbers all day long. And can get super loud.
*I will add her stats to this when we go to the Dr next week. But i am sure she is about 17 pounds.
*Lately i call her Pea...like Sweet Pea but shortened.
*Overall she is delightful. I see her moodiness come through often. Makes me worried for the future. But i also cant wait. She is such a joy to have in our home. Daddy is wrapped around this baby girls finger tighter than tight. It makes me laugh how in a split second he can go from being so mad a Ky for being his crazy not listening self, to being so attentive and happy to Brooklyn. It cracks me up. I told him he would be like this, he denied such behavior would ever come of him. I beg to differ. :)

Stats:

Length: 25 inches 67%
weight: 16. 5LB 87%
Head: 16.5 81%

Super Yummy

To make a what could be a short story a lot longer just because i can, i am going to tell you about the creation of these yummies

You see there is a certain someone who brought some beyond amazing zucchini cookies over about a month ago. I. fell. in. love. They were AWESOME! They had flax seed, chocolate chips, and the secret ingredient....orange zest. I might have eaten them all...all but one for Brandon to try. They were that good. Since that day i have asked that certain someone 4 times for the recipe...I was not going to give up. The devine combination of orange zest, the soft yumminess that zuchinni creates, and the chewy effect of the flax seed. Oh i am still dreaming. I was talking to a friend about the certain someone and the wonderfulness she shared with me. I also told her i was not going to give up on getting that recipe. This friend, then proceded to break my heart. The simple words, "she does not share recipes" ruined my life. I could not believe it. I might have shed a tear or so if i would not have been in a public place. The next day was spent searching online to find a recipe that had all those ingredients in it. IMPOSSIBLE. It doesnt matter that you can find almost anything on the internet. You cant find THAT recipe. So i found a recipe that called for lemon zest and thought i would do my own spin on those cookies. They didnt have flax seed, and i am a little unsure of how to bake with flax seed so i had to forget about that ingredient. I might have experimented...but i think it turned out so so yummy. Here is the recipe. It is going to be mastered over time. I might even venture to figure out the whole flax seed ingredient. But these are too good not to share when there is an over abundance of zuchinni avalible.

Orangey-Chocolaty-Zucchini-Goodness Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
2TBS orange zest (this is alot, i like me my orangy flavor, if you are unsure, do less your first time)
2 to 3 cups flour (i measured out 2 cups and it was still pretty runny, so i kept adding more a little at a time till it looked a little thinner than normal cookie dough)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnomon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips (you know how many you like in cookies, i add about a cup, but i dont like lots)
Walnuts (i didnt add these, but i would have if i would have had some. Darn being on house arrest, or at least thats how it feels when i have a house full of kids)
1. in a mixing bowl cream butter, and sugars. Then beat in egg, zuchinni and orange zest.
2. Then add flour, baking soda baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
3. Add chcolate chips and walnuts
4. drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheet.
5. Bake at 375 for about 7-8 minutes, or until lightly brown.
6. Devour with a glass of milk. You will be happy. I promise. :)