Peyton's Potty Tales {Day 4}

I realize that everyone may not be interested in the daily happenings of my children's potty training lives. But I kept a daily record of Colin while he was potty training and it was really helpful to go back and read that when I started this with Peyton. For the most part I remembered it pretty well but there were things I forgot. 

Peyton did amazing today! She wore underwear all day and we were away from the house a lot! We started at Colin's basketball game. She said she had to go potty there and tried 3 times but was never successful. I think she just liked the bathroom. 

After we got home from that she had a birthday party to go to. I stayed with her and kept asking if she had to go. She usually said no but did go once over there. She also went to the grocery store with me and stayed dry. Then we met my parents and brothers at Buffalo Wild Wings. She peed in the potty twice while we were there! 

And, the most amazing part of this day is that she went into the bathroom on her own accord quite a few times and she even had diarrhea and made it in there every time! I'm pretty sure that girl is earning her princess shoes tomorrow! And I better get a babysitter for next weekend because it looks like we'll be taking her on a date to get her bike!

Peyton's Potty Tales

It's no secret that I LOATHE potty training! The idea of it stresses me to no end. The actual act of potty training Colin was really easy because I waited for it to be his idea. I've been waiting for Peyton to decide she needed to potty train for quite awhile. She's a few weeks younger than Colin was when he did it but I've been ready for her to do it for quite awhile. It's probably the fact that I've got two in diapers--and one of them is fully capable of not being in them!

We've always introduced the kids to potty training when they're pretty young (around 18-24 months). I figure it doesn't hurt for them to know what the toilet is and practice, even if it doesn't go anywhere. Peyton showed more interest in it at that age than Colin did so I figured she'd be trained pretty early on--she lost interest though. So did I! 

She started doing it on her own this summer a couple weeks before Brody was born. It wasn't the opportune time but I figured if she was interested we'd go with it. She already had a potty seat to go over the real potty but I took her to the store to pick out another one so she'd have one upstairs and one downstairs. She also picked out some Skittles she wanted as her prize every time she went. She peed in the potty for 2 days straight but then just stopped doing everything. Since I was about to have a baby and I figured she'd regress anyway once he was born I decided to just let it go instead of pushing the issue. 

We also bribed her with a princess bike when she's fully potty trained. A bike was Colin's potty training prize as well. She's known about the bike for months and has talked about it but hasn't taken any steps towards winning it. About a month ago I upped the ante and told her not only would she get a princess bike, but that she'd get to go on a date with me and Ryan to pick it out- plus dinner! She liked the idea but wasn't biting. 

We're going on a trip at the end of March and she HAS to be potty trained for it because Ryan and I have to go to a 2 hour time-share presentation during it and they'll only babysit kids that are potty trained. I was hoping that would be the incentive she needed. So we told her about the indoor water park at our hotel and I showed her pictures and said if she wasn't wearing big girl underwear by then she'd have to stay home...still, nothing. 

At the beginning of the week I started searching pinterest because it was becoming evident to me that if I want her potty trained by a specific date I need to force the issue. I read a couple articles about potty training in 3 days and decided it was now or never. I wasn't going to start until next week because I worked today and I didn't want my mom to have to mess with it. But, we went to Target on Tuesday and Peyton found some princess shoes she wanted. I told her I'd buy them for her but she doesn't get them until after she's been in underwear for 5 days. 

We got home from Target and she immediately pooped on the potty! It's the first time she's ever pooped on there- she's peed a bunch. Of course she thought that meant she got her shoes right then and there but it didn't. She continued to go in the potty the rest of the day! We'd also bought some more underwear at Target so she wore that the rest of the afternoon. That night we made a potty chart for her. She gets to color in a box every day that she's worn her underwear and after 5 days with no accidents she wins her shoes! 

Yesterday was day 2 but the first full day. I'm letting her wear a diaper to bed, just in case, but she woke up dry! We immediately went potty and put her underwear on. She spent the rest of the day either naked or with underwear on. No diapers. She said she had to poop at one point but lost interest after a couple minutes. I'd even given her my kindle to watch to pass the time. 5 minutes later she threw a major tantrum--at least 30 minutes of crying- because I wouldn't let her put a diaper on. I knew she just wanted to poop in it. The poor girl even had one and was trying to put it on by herself. I finally got her to calm down and convinced her that it wasn't happening. I didn't want to put a diaper on her last night because I was afraid she'd poop in it right away since she'd held it all day. Thankfully, she woke up dry again this morning though! 

My mom had her today. She woke up dry again! She said there were two instances where she started to pee in her pants but stopped herself and finished on the toilet! Yay! I'm still counting that as an accident free day because she's at least learning to recognize and is able to stop herself. She's putting in the effort! If she does well tomorrow and Sunday she'll earn her shoes and be well on her way to her bike! And being diaper free! Hallelujah!

I'm interested to see how tomorrow goes because Colin has his first basketball game and Peyton's got a birthday party to go to. I really don't want to put a diaper on her so we may just take our chances and hope she does well! We went to Sam's Club yesterday in her underwear because I knew she was waiting for a diaper to poop in so I didn't put it on her. She did great! No accidents! 

Hopefully she'll keep it up!

Five {and a half} Months!

Time just does not stand still!

Sweet Brody turned 5 months on the 14th. 

And I, for the life of me, do not know where that time went! 

Clearly I'm late in posting his update so this is going to be more of a 5 1/2 month update--because I do not remember what has changed in that two weeks!

Brody's such a happy boy! He LOVES being held. In fact, he will not take a nap during the day if I'm not holding him! He literally wakes up within 5 minutes of me putting him down- usually immediately! 

He's pretty smiley- especially for Colin and he's a Mama's boy-which I love! If Ryan's holding him and I walk into the room or he hears my voice his head is on a little swivel and he kicks his feet and starts making excited noises! I love being his favorite person :) 

He loves to hold our hands. When he gets really tired he pinches me, usually on the neck or arm- it hurts!

He rolls all over the place, both ways. He's about to start crawling! He gets up on his hands and knees and can push himself further. It's usually in the form of a face plant but he gets up and does it again! 

He's a grabby-grabberton right now. He tries to grab everything! Last night he was taking a nap on me (of course!) and woke up and immediately grabbed a piece of paper off the couch next to him and stuck it in his mouth! 

Oh yeah, everything is going in his mouth these days!

He usually sleeps through the night or just wakes up one time. Recently the one time has been between 6-7, which I consider a full night- but after he eats he'll go back to sleep for a little while. He's usually up for the day by 8. Last night, however, he got up at 2:20, 3:30, and 7:20...Ugh! I am a grumpy girl with little sleep! I think he woke up so much because he kept getting out of his swaddler. Hopefully sometime soon he'll learn to sleep well unswaddled as well! 

He usually eats about 4-6 ounces every 3 hours but sometimes I feel like I'm constantly adding 2 ounces and I lose track of how much he's had--that boy can pound the milk!

We've got some family pictures hanging up behind the couch and he LOVES to stare at them! He just looks at them and smiles! A couple Sundays ago he was doing that so I decided to show him a picture of Jesus and see what he did. We went and stood in front of it and he immediately got the biggest smile on his face, touched the painting, and started talking! He's never talked to our other pictures, or touched them. I'm pretty sure he remembers his Savior!

We are so blessed to have this little nugget in our family! I may not be able to get a ton done because he loves to be held but I am soaking up all the cuddle time! I wish he could stay little forever! He's getting so big so fast!!!

Brody, we love you so much!

Colin Turned 7!

Colin turned 7 on January 8th. Time is just flying, I tell you! 

He asked me if I'd come to school to have lunch with him that day. I was going to surprise him and bring McDonald's but then he requested it so it wasn't really a surprise!

I think he would have enjoyed it if I brought Peyton and Brody with me but I thought it'd be easier to go by myself. Ryan decided to come though because he had to work that night so I surprised him with Uncle Ryan!

That night we went to dinner at Red Robin. My mom came with us. Afterwards we came back to our house for presents and cake. I had got Colin some Wii games from my grandma and us. We let him open one before school and I saw that it said Wii U. I didn't even know there was such a thing. After frantically searching it on the Internet I realized that none of the games I got would work. Ryan and I stopped at Target after lunch and thankfully they let me exchange everything. (They weren't going to let me exchange the game he'd opened because he actually opened the package- thankfully we got it worked out though).

There were a couple issues at cake time. Apparently candles were at the back of my mind. We usually just have them. Well, it turns out we only had 6 candles..so don't be fooled. This really is his 7th birthday! 

As soon as we got them lit Peyton blew them all out! We had to re-light them for Colin. Then we lit an extra one so he could blow 7 out!

Brody got all dressed up for the occasion!

On Friday night we decided to have my parents and Ryan and Sam over to celebrate with them. I made cauliflower pizza and we had left over cake. Colin wrote this letter to Jason and Ryan at school that day! It made me laugh!

Happy birthday, big boy!! We love you!!!

Hello December, Goodbye December

December went by SO fast!

Every year time is moving faster and faster and I'm just not sure what to make of it. 

I feel like December sprung up on me and it didn't really feel like Christmas time. 

Maybe it has something to do with not getting back from California until December 2nd, I don't really know. 

We went to the Santa Breakfast on the first Saturday in December. The kids had a lot of fun and were super excited that Nolan was there. Afterwards we went over to his house and played for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun!

The kids threw me for a little loop when they each asked Santa for things they'd never told me about! We'd been talking about what they were going to ask Santa for for at least a month. Colin always said a robot dinosaur and Peyton always said a kitchen. In actuality Colin asked for a Star Wars spaceship and light saber and Peyton asked for a princess--and threw in kitchen when I mentioned it. 

As we were driving home I asked Colin if he'd ever seen a Star Wars spaceship and he said "No." I was like "Do they even make those?" He said "I don't know but Santa can make anything." Oh the innocence of a child!

We also decided to get our Christmas decorations out that weekend. I wasn't too excited to drag everything out but it was fun once we did it. The kids put all the ornaments on the tree by themselves. It actually worked out pretty perfectly! I was making dinner because our neighbors were coming over that night, but we blasted the NSYNC Christmas and let them go to town!

These Christmas tree decorating pictures are my favorite!

There's something magical about them!

Colin's favorite part is putting the star on!

We also loved putting our decorations up outside!

The rest of the month went by in a whirlwind! Ryan and I have a tradition of going on a date at the beginning of December to Christmas shop. It's my favorite! This year we had a marathon date. Danielle came over at 2:45 and we went to see the Hunger Games, shopped, went to dinner, and did more shopping. It was so much fun. 

Peyton, Brody, and I went to Colin's class party at school. Unfortunately I forgot my phone so I couldn't take any pictures that day. Colin and Peyton were so cute to each other. They let Peyton participate in the cookie decorating which she loved!

On Christmas Eve eve the Goodrich's came over to make sugar cookies. A couple days before Colin said we needed to make cookies for Santa. I hadn't been planning on it because I didn't want a lot at our house but I decided it would be a good memory for him. Turns out I think making them with friends is the best idea ever! 

We spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents and Christmas day at my parents. It was lots of fun hanging out with everyone and being together.
Christmas morning Peyton played with her kitchen for about 45 minutes and then exclaimed; "Hey! I asked Santa for a kitchen and skates. I don't love Santa anymore!" She was pretty angry.
Luckily (or unluckily) my mom came through with the skates. I say unluckily because Peyton cannot do them on her own. She kind of can on the carpet but definitely not on hard flooring. I think we need to get her a helmet!!

Ryan got a week and a half off over Christmas break this year. The company he's at literally shuts down over the holidays which is so nice! We loved having him home! He got a lot done around the house- stay tuned for pics! It was so nice to hang out with him every day and to be able to watch movies and relax at night without worrying about getting up early for work (one of us always got up early with the kids but it wasn't him)!

Today it was back to reality and I've gotta say, I may not be a huge fan- if only we could never go to work or school and hang out together all the time!