calvary versus the potty....

it has been officially one week since we have started the daunting task of potty training calvary. he has done quite well and i am ridiculously proud of him. he has only had 5 accidents since monday and most of those accidents were trying to make it to the potty and just being a little too late...

in the midst of all his success we have had some insanely funny moments too...

one of the first times calvary ever made it to the potty to pee he forgot to get locked and loaded (meaning he wasn't set up behind the pee baricade) and he sent a stream all over his big sister. thankfully she thought it was as funny as we all did and we just laughed and changed clothes.
as a result of all of this excitement we have not left the house in one solid week. i ran to the store last night and kyle has made it out a couple of times, but other than that we have been homebound. i am looking forward to getting out and rejoining the rest of the world but i dare say the developmental step we have made in calvary's life was well worth it...

the battle wages on...

since naptime has finally come (cheers from the crowd!) i decided to post an update on the calvary versus the potty war.
last night before dinner calvary finally pooped in the potty!!! yay! (you know that you have officially become a mother when you are excited about poop)
he had another accident later that night, but kyle and i were still very excited about the one little victory because he has actually never gone in the potty before. he's sat. he's gone ON the potty. but this was a first.
this morning we woke up to a little boy excited about wearing "under-way-er" and we started right away...
and right before lunchtime calvary finally peed in the potty! this was another first.
so, so far today we have pooped in the potty twice and peed once and had 2 accidents...

CALVARY 4 POTTY 4

calvary versus the potty part 3...

the morning has started strong. morale is high and we have had no accidents...yet. i am remaining optimistic and have tried to retain a successful level of nagginess in order to create the best atmosphere of success. the only thing not good is my attitude. i have been in a foul mood ever since the kids started throwing poptarts at breakfast.
its going to be one of those days.
i am trying to keep us all together in the same room so that calvary cannot run off and hide and defile his underwear...but the one minute i left the room to check on oliver jack i returned to calvary's room to find all the pillows and blankets on the floor. that would not be that irritating except for the fact that i had *just* changed the sheets and put the blankets on the bed! sigh. i really am in awe of those mothers that manage to keep their houses spotless, have dinner on the tables every night, play with their kids, and keep a smile on their face ALL the time. what if all the fun we have is overshadowed by me being irritated and angry about these days where it seems as if they are sabotaging me...sigh...
anyway, it is almost 11:00 and no accidents!

calvary versus the potty part 2...

it started this afternoon with diaper rash.
i decided that we would start our crash course on cold turkey diapering today. his bottom was sore and he did not like having anything done to remedy his problem. so i convinced him that having underwear on instead of a diaper would help him. he decided that he would lose the diaper and garner these new duds instead...
the first accident happened about 2.5 hours after nap...he came lurking out from behind my closet door and admitted, as if he could hide what had occured, that he had peed. little did we know that his drawers hid another secret for us...
kyle went off to the bathroom to change his pants and as he did calvary stepped on the underwear smushing said surprise into the fabric of his big boy pants. at this point kyle was too grossed out and i had to take over by swishing the soiled pants into the toilet like a 17th century scullery maid.
not to be defeated this soon in the game, we put on another pair of underwear on calvary.
the second accident occured about 1.5 hours after the first while i was putting oliver jack to bed.
harper took care of that one. i'm still not quite sure where the accident took place and harper informed me that she put the soiled underwear in the washing machine....which had clean clothes in it....it is so nice to have a helping hand...


there's no going back now. surely he has to sit on the potty sooner or later, right? he likes the underwear. he knows when he's going. he can pull his pants up and down. all signs point to yes.

if we're keeping score: CALVARY 2 POTTY 0

calvary versus the potty part 1....

about 8 months ago we mentioned the potty to calvary and he screamed as if we had asked him to sit on a fiery, hot iron lid hovering over a basin of piranhas...



about 4 months ago we mentioned the potty to calvary and he simply stated, "my body doesn't work that way."



about a week ago calvary decided that he wanted to wear "under-way-er" and we let him...unfortunately his body still does not "work that way" and we have had many pairs of underwear to clean....



last week calvary forgot that he had on diaper and not underwear and he sat wiggling at the table until he finally looked at me and said, "peepee coming out" with this huge grin on his face. harper laughed and asked, "does that feel better," to which calvary replied, "mmmmmm warm".



once last week kyle made a ghastly bargain with the boy that resulted in calvary pooping *on* the potty---not *in* the potty...



i decided that we have conquered the final state of readiness--emotional readiness. calvary is finally ready to buckle down and finally be house broken!



so, ready or not, we are going to take the plunge--hopefully not literally. i realized that now the biggest thing holding calvary back is a lack of consistency. we put underwear on him but then we are going to the store so we put on a diaper. in my defense he has just started not screaming at the mere mention of the toilet in the past few months and we have been a little busy the past few months. my hope is that after we apply some consistency calvary will learn quickly...





calvary in his under-way-er

oliver jack...

photo from friday on oliver's 2 month birthday...

love or lust?

so kyle and i were watching the history channel and i learned something that i would have never ever thought...not even if i was trying to think weird thoughts. the show discussed many humorous things but the funniest, or funniest to me, topic was the topic of limbs.
apparently, research shows that it was so long believed that men were so tempted by legs, "limbs" as they were called, that the mere sight of them would send a man into a sex crazed fit. no "limbs" were safe; even the legs on furniture were said to cause a man to lust. all limbs were to be covered, from legs on a woman's body the the legs on the dining room table, to help keep a man's thoughts pure.
thus the creation of a tablecloth.






we do not have any tablecloths in our house and that explains so much...

2 months and counting....

today oliver jack is 2 months old! i keep looking at him and thinking, i do not even know this little boy and he has been here for 2 months already!?

as of 2 months jack-jack:

weighs 13 lbs.
is 24 inches long

sleeps 5-8 hours each night
is very social; smiles, laughs, and coos whenever stimulated
is reaching for objects with his hand and loves to put his entire hand in his mouth
loves to sleep in his bed; the conditions have be just right for this one--soft, warm, and quiet.
is loved fully by his sister and brother---harper and calvary are unbelievably sweet to him. harper is my biggest helper...especially in the car. she acts as mommy in the car; feeding him a bottle in a fix, wiping his mouth if he spits up, putting in his paci if he gets upset, and playing and talking with him if he gets upset. calvary is surprisingly adoring of him. he refers to him as "my baby" and speaks sweetly to him and if he cries he offers his very own, very loved blanket as a source of comfort.

my favorite time with jack jack is the first morning nursing. all is peaceful in the house and it is a quiet time that i can share with just him. there are not many moments that he gets undivided attention, and because he is relatively low maintence, he often gets less attention than the others. it has been harper and calvary for so long (almost 3 full years) that it is hard to imagine a new addition but thankfully oliver jack has been fully embraced and is a perfect "fit" for our family.

happy valentine's day

Make a Smilebox greeting

nonsensical realizations...

i feel thinner in warm weather.

freezing time...

i took oliver jack to the doctor last week and dear dr. anne said something that has stuck in my mind ever since. she said that not enough people enjoy their kids these days; she went on to say that there has not been one day that she has not had fun with her kids. i must have had a look of disbelief because she quickly clarified that that did not mean that she did not have *hard* days, but at least once, in even the most difficult days, she has found moments of happiness with her children. that i can relate to. my new goal is to remember that this is happening so fast. i am focusing on the legacy that i am leaving behind for my children. i do not want them to remember me as a mad mommy that cared more about the condition of their room than the condition of their hearts. i am trying to gather myself each morning and pray that God helps me to focus on those precious moments that are seriously slipping away---oliver jack is going to be 2 months old on friday! 2 months of his sweet life has already passed and 2 months more calvary will be turning 3 and 4 months after that harper will be turning 5 and starting kindergarten. i am learning to focus on the underlying frustration more than the object of my frustration---for example, harper's dirty room is the object of my frustration but the underlying frustration is her not doing what i have asked her to do. i do not want to use enjoying my kids as an excuse not to teach them respect for others and respect for property, but i do want to see their hearts and for them to see mine. i cannot believe how fast they have changed... on top of remembering to enjoy the time more, i also want to chronicle their lives with more diligence.
my friend, and talented photographer, lori jackson came to our house on saturday to take pictures of our family. i always hate having my picture taken; i feel so awkward. however, lori makes the process as painless as it possibly can be for me :) it was great having her at our house because she took pictures of the kids in their own element. she brought her friend allyson with her and they took pictures of the kids on the trampoline, in the backyard, on the swing set and one of them actually climbed on the trampoline with the kids to get pictures! talk about wanting to get a great shot! she set up in the living room and took some studio shots which was awesome because anyone with a newborn knows how important a schedule is to communal sanity. the brief moment that oliver jack was awake was taken advantage of without having to get in the car and travel. inspite of some interesting behavioral moments from harper and calvary i think we had a really good time. i hope that lori and allyson enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having them here. whenever i look back on the pictures she has taken of harper and calvary i truly feel like she has frozen a moment in time---unmanipulated, pure, and beautiful---
tomorrow is a new day and i pray that i make the best of it with my husband and my children. if they only knew how much i love them...

http://www.lorijacksonphotography.com/

the month in pictures....

a little smile...

overpriced gifts at the circus...






cute little tiny body...

without oliver jack...

wacky tacky movie day after being stuck inside because of cold, nasty weather.

jack-jack loves sleeping in sissy's bed.

my glasses are SO funny...