I almost forgot to introduce the newest member of our family: Tommy the beta fish.
Renee and Jon bought him for the boys while they were visiting at the beginning of the month and he's a big hit. On the way home from the pet store, I asked Jack and Cullen what they wanted to name him. They suggested Thomas, Gordon or Toby. I suggested we not name him after a train. So we compromised and named him Tommy.
One of our daily highlights is feeding Tommy. And, a few times a day, the boys will walk over to his bowl and ask me "What Tommy doin?" Uh, just swimming around... like he always does.
Thank you Auntie Ne Ne and Uncle Jon for the new pet. Please tell Violet she can expect to get a hamster for Christmas from Auntie Kimmy and Uncle Brandon! ;-)
Between traveling over the summer and being on crutches for 9 weeks, potty-training got put on the back burner for a while. But as soon as I got the cast off, I started plotting again about how I was going to get these boys out of diapers once and for all.
The boys had been completely opposed to the idea of using the potty for months now. There was simply no way they were going to voluntarily take off their diaper or pull-up and use the potty. So we went with the potty-training "boot camp" method where we just took their diapers off and refused to put them back on, no matter how much they cried and screamed. We put them on at naptime and bedtime and when we go out of the house- because I'm not yet ready to have them pee all over the floor at Target. So we basically stayed at home, inside for a week straight and had them naked from the waist down.
The first few days were a disaster. Sooo frustrating and I felt constantly on the verge of tears. I may as well have just let two un-housebroken puppies run around my carpeted living room all day. The boys were just peeing everywhere, on everything.... all the time. We had only one or two successes in the first couple days, and that was only when I forced them to sit on the potty as they sobbed that they didn't want to. We gave them candy each time they went on the potty, every couple times they'd get a new Matchbox car, and we'd call our family members and let Jack and Cullen tell them about their successes. These were all great motivators, but they still didn't seem to be getting it at all.
I had to pull up the rugs, cover the entire carpet with beach towels and I was probably doing 2 extra loads of laundry a day. The boys seemed to have no sense of when they needed to go, they just stopped where they were and started peeing. I would force them to sit on the potty every 15 minutes or so but sometimes, they'd get up from the potty and would be peeing on the floor within a minute or two. Those were the times I just wanted to scream. I confess, there were a few moments where I just went into the kitchen and started banging my head against the wall. I seriously considered giving up again and waiting a few more months. But I decided to stick it out for a week. If they still weren't improving, I figured that would mean they really weren't ready.
But on Day 4 or 5, we really started making progress. They stopped crying every time I made them sit on the potty and they even started going over to the potty and using it all by themselves (sometimes). We were still having accidents half the time, but at least it wasn't every single time. On Wednesday, they put on underwear and clothes and went out front to play. They stayed dry for nearly 2 hours and used the potty when we came back inside for dinner. And on Saturday (Day 10) we had our first accident-free day! I was ecstatic!
They still can't seem to hold it for more than a few seconds so I think it will be a while before we can leave the house in underwear, but I am just so thankful for the progress we've made so far.
Before we started, I had read many blogs and books and heard from a lot of moms who swear by this boot camp method. They said they potty-trained their kids in a weekend and were running errands with them in underwear after just a few days. They said not to give candy rewards after the first few days, to just expect the kids to use the potty without a reward. They talked about only have a handful of accidents the first day and none after that. I felt like a total failure at first because I wasn't seeing the same results. This was probably a large part of the reason I was so frustrated, because I was comparing us to other families.
But I'm so glad I stuck with it. Each kid is different and Jack and Cullen have always been a little slow to reach all their milestones. A lot of people say that 2 1/2- 3 years is the best time to potty train and that may be true but I think Jack and Cullen probably weren't quite mature enough at first to recognize when they needed to use the potty. By not letting them wear diapers, I think I forced them to learn a bit before they were ready. Maybe if I'd waited until next spring or summer, they would have been potty-trained in a few days? Or maybe not. We had (and still are having) a more difficult time potty-training but they're slowly learning and making progress. We're not going back now! If we can leave the house in underwear by Christmas time, I will consider it a huge success. For now, I'm happy if they can just continue to stay dry at home during the day. It's 10:15 a.m. and so far so good today!
Last weekend we carved pumpkins to put on the front porch. Jack and Cullen LOVED it, they wanted to help with everything and were fascinated when Brandon started carving them. All week, they kept asking to open the door to look at their "pump-ins."
We've had such a busy month, October has just flown by and so much has been happening. It started out with a sweet visit from Renee, Jon and Violet. We loved having them here, it was so wonderful to be able to watch all the kids play together. It's the little things in life that are the best, one of them being getting to see your kids play with their cousins. I just love it!
Renee and Jon were so helpful too since they were here during my last full week in the cast. They helped me with the cooking, cleaning and running errands and of course watching those three crazy children. They did get to have some fun, though. We rented a minivan for a couple days and went to a few Smithsonian museums on the Hill and to Annapolis and Baltimore.
And can I just say that I am officially coveting a minivan! I loved that we could all fit in the same car, with all the strollers and other gear and everybody was comfortable. I couldn't stop smiling the entire way to Baltimore :-) Kind of ironic as I always swore I'd never drive a minivan. But, at this point, I don't really care what kind of car we get, I'm just counting the days until we get a bigger car. If it's a minivan (and let's face it, it probably will be), then that's just great with me!
Anyways, here are some pictures of our time with Renee and Jon:
It was the most beautiful day in Annapolis, the weather was perfect and we had a great time! We spent most of the time just sitting by the bay letting the kids play.
Cullen
This little girl and her family were also enjoying the view and Jack and Cullen did some major flirting with her.
Playing on the football field at the Naval Academy.
Watching some Navy boats go out to sea
Throwing leaves, Cullen tried to throw this huge handful over the wall but the wind blew it right back into his face!
Then we were off to Baltimore and stopped at the Inner Harbor where we discovered that military and young children could tour the historical boats for free. So Brandon and Jon took the boys and toured some awesome old boats and submarines. The boys loved it! And us girls just enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine by the harbor.
Inside the submarine
Jackson
Cullen
The rest of the week, we stayed home and let the kids play outside together. Violet loved the boys' bikes!
They've finally learned how to pedal so they enjoy riding their bikes now too.
After visiting the Smithsonian museums, we had a picnic on the Mall.
The boys loved the museums too, they talked for days about all the animals and dinosaurs they'd seen.
Trying to get a picture of all three kids together is nearly impossible. This was the best we got.
After Renee and Jon left, we had another busy few days. We hosted the pre-school that week and I taught my first lesson. It was on farms and all the kids seemed to have fun so I'd say it was a success. I put a lot of time and work into preparing for it though. That same afternoon I finally got my cast off! Obviously, I was ecstatic, although it hurt alot and I couldn't walk very well on it for the first few days. I'm doing much better now though, and I have never been so excited and thankful to cook, clean and run errands in my life! Again, it's the little things in life, like taking care of your family. I seriously took that for granted before breaking my foot and I'm so glad God has allowed me to do it again.
Well, 36 hours after getting my cast off, I was on a plane to Seattle for Renee's wedding! And it was a whirlwind weekend for sure! I was sad to leave Brandon and the boys (this was the longest I'd ever been away from them and the first time Brandon had to watch them by himself) but I had SO. MUCH. FUN. with my friends! It was a wonderful weekend, I loved getting to spend so much time with them and to get a break from mothering. I felt so young and free again, haha, I loved it!
The weather was beautiful the entire time I was in Seattle, it never even rained once! When I first landed, it was sunny and gorgeous and I was whisked up to Pike's Place to pick up wedding flowers. A perfect afternoon! And the bachelorette party was the most fun I've ever been to! We ate Moroccan food and had a private belly dancing lesson afterwards! I forgot my camera that night so,unfortunately, no pictures of that, but it was awesome. If you had told me that less than 48 hours after getting my cast off I'd be belly dancing, I'd have said you were crazy. But that's what happened and I had the best time!
For some inexplicable reason, I volunteered to make the wedding cake on Friday- I'm still not sure what possessed me to do that. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I was awake for 23 hours straight on Thursday and I was deliriously tired. I have never made a wedding cake in my life (obviously) and I have only made a handful of "nice" cakes for showers and parties so I'm definitely not experienced in cake making. This is what the cake was supposed to look like. But I could not for the life of me get those roses to turn out like in the picture. Maybe because we were using homemade cream cheese frosting, or maybe because it was too warm in the kitchen and it kept melting, or maybe it was just user error. Anyways, suffice it to say, it was quite the experience and it was only by the grace of God that the cake turned out edible and somewhat decent looking. I was literally frosting it 15 minutes before we left for the wedding. Huge thanks to Shauna who stepped in on the morning of the wedding, just as I was about to give up and burst into tears, and helped me finish decorating the top. Somehow, we managed to salvage the cake and it actually ended up looking ok... from a distance! ;-)
Anyways, forget about the cake. The wedding was beautiful, the rehearsal dinner super fun (thanks to the free-flowing wine), and all in all, it was just a perfect weekend. I am so glad I could be there and be a part of the wedding. Congratulations to Renee and Jens!
T-minus 3 hours until the wedding and we're all standing around trying to figure out a way to save the cake. Oh well, at least we have a funny story that we can laugh about years from now!
Lilly admiring the beautiful bride :-)
Lillian Jacobs: Cutest flower girl ever!
Lilly and her beautiful Mommy
Me with my future daughter-in-law
They're hitched! Hooray!
My best friend and her beautiful family
We took the wedding photos at Gasworks. It was such a gorgeous day, totally worth hobbling up that monstrous hill.
So many memories were made here in high school and college, how fitting that all three of us were back there for Renee's wedding pictures :-)
The cake. Please keep your comments to yourself. Decorating a cake with roses when you've never used a piping bag before is harder than it looks. I think it's safe to say I'll never try this again...
Regardless of how bad it looked, Shauna and I were still proud of it. At least of finishing it!
Juli and I. She did our makeup for the wedding. Thanks Jules, I loved seeing you! Can't wait for your wedding!
Since I got back last weekend, we've been trying (perhaps futilely) to potty train the boys. But that's another post altogether. For now, I'll just ask for your constant prayers!
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